Strong international mix for song festival finals

The Gibraltar International Song Festival keeps on growing and gaining exposure in the international scene.

That was the message at the launch of this year’s festival held at the Sunborn and which will take place on Saturday 2 June at the Tercentenary Sports Hall.

The festival continues to receive hundreds of songs on an annual basis from all over the world but in particular from Latin America. This year there have been some 300 entries from 24 countries.

John Dawes was keen to point out that the quality of the entries was improving all the time.

This year there are songs from authors, composers and interpreters from Chile, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Venezuela and Gibraltar. Two of the finalists are from Gibraltar.

Acting Chairman Johnny Jones, together with Mr Dawes (rules and regulations), Dylan Ferro (production manager), Joe Cortes (show director) and James Victor (advertising), presented the ninth festival in its present edition which will see the return of the well-known Spanish singer Rosario as the main artist.

The festival will have the same format as last year where the 12 songs will be presented and then move on to a concert event with the guest artist.

Rosario proved a huge success several years ago when she performed at the Gibraltar Music Festival.

Dylan Ferro said it had not been easy to get her back as she is extremely busy working as part of The Voice Kids in Spain and The Voice in Mexico. In fact she will fly in from Mexico before her performance on the Rock but, he insisted, that after her success locally at GMF and the audience response she was keen to return – “she got a really good buzz when she performed at the GMF”. She will be bringing her full band back to the Rock.

Sadly chairman Joe Carseni was not present at the launch as he has been unwell lately but will return from America shortly for the event in June.

Tickets already on sale have been increased and cost between £35 and £65. The festival has also launched a new website: www.gibisf.com