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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Ġenerazzjoni

It's easy to get away from the pettiness of the Local Council Elections this weekend. If you want something or someone to admire, just look at the Sex Pistols' upturned finger at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Will erstwhile drummer extraordinaire Michael Briguglio ever publicly admit that fighting the system from within is only for martyrs?

Things are quite drab on a number of new(ish) fronts. The Theatre Museum in Covent Garden is in danger of closing and Gozo Plus is officially no more. But if you're stuck on the rock and want to see something truly spectacular just head out to Theatre Anon's Agamemnon at the MITP in Valletta. While there are many beautifully striking scenic moments in the performance designed and directed by Paul Portelli, I especially liked Pierre Portelli's installation at the end of the show.

I've been wanting to blog about my recent visit to Malta for several days. I've been very busy this past week so instead of one entire blog entry about my visit to Malta we'll have to make do with snippets and comments from the various blog entries that appear here about all sort of other topics; including this, which is actually an entry to publicize my most recent podcast.

If you'd really like to read about my visit to Malta, you can get a few snapshots from postings by seven (yes, seven...I'm so flattered!) bloggers I crossed paths with during my visit. Here are the links in chronological order:

- Reesa captures MaltaGirl's meeting with Toni Sant

- MaltaGirl meets Toni Sant at the Labyrinth

- Nigredo attends Toni Sant's first lecture at UoM

- Aldith attends Toni Sant's first lecture at UoM [in Maltese]

- Peklectrick meets Toni Sant at UoM

- Il-Fre meets Toni Sant at UoM [in Maltese]

- Il-Fre spots Toni Sant at Adrian Grima's Rakkmu launch [in Maltese]

- Ġużè Stagno's rude awakening at 11pm

Besides these blogs, you can also read a few words about my first-ever encounter with Xtruppaw through the latest news update on their website.

Anyway, on to this week's podcast. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the recording of my two-hour conversation with the most brilliant new band from Malta. One of the many things we spoke about was the various other bands these musicians are (or were) involved with. So this week's edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor features music mentioned during that part of our conversation.

Noel Cuschieri is the lead singer with Cyberia, whose self-produced track 444 opens this week's podcast. Interestingly enough, the keyboardist in Cyberia is Antoine Vella, also known as half of that most excellent duo Particle Blue.

Last Saturday I attended Particle Blue's most recent gig at Naasha's. During that show and the wonderful conversations I had into the wee hours of Sunday morning with the artists and other people at Naasha's that night, I came to see why Particle Blue's album is called Generation Hope. Toni Moog is one of the tracks on that album and it appears on this week's podcast as track two. I should add that Claire Tonna's creative energy is blinding. It's been quite a while since I met a Maltese artist worthy of the attention she deserves. In another life I'd probably drop down on one knee and propose to her without any hesitation.

Xtruppaw's Jeffrey Galea was at the Particle Blue gig at Naasha's last week. His presence reminded me of the interesting things that happen when artists cross-pollinate each other. One way to do that is by viewing or listening to each other's work. Another way is to play in more than one band. Ir-Rex, Xtruppaw's bassist, seems to hold this to heart since he plays in a handful of bands. To punctuate this thought, I'm playing a track off Filletti and Friends' CD called Mercy, where Rex not only plays bass but also contributes an amazingly high-pitched backing vocal.

To understand the genetic making of Xtruppaw, I close this week's podcast with a recording made about 10 years ago by most of the members of Xtruppaw, when they played in a metal band called Victims of Creation. Originally published on a CD produced by the sadly-no-longer-with-us Brainstorm Records, Lotions and Potions (Toke 1) is one of the most unusual recordings I've ever heard from a Maltese band.

I see that this blog entry is already long enough so I'll stop here for now. I hope I'll find some more time to blog some more over the coming days, before next week's podcast.

The RSS feed for the podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also add the latest episodes to your My Yahoo! page.

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a busy little star you are! 

1:35 PM, March 13, 2006
Blogger G said...

I found a way of getting away from the pettiness of the local council elections... concussion! 

7:36 PM, March 13, 2006
Blogger gybexi said...

grazzi tal-poddati Ton!

Kieku m'ghamilthomx int kien hemm bzonn isiru xorta wahda! :) 

10:53 AM, March 18, 2006
Blogger Toni Sant said...

Grazzi tal-kumment Gybexi! Sew qed tghid. Fil-fatt ghandi certu herqa biex nara lil Mike Bugeja jibda jippoddja fuq l-istess linji. Aktar ma jkun hemm poddati Maltin u/jew minn Malta aktar ahjar, nghid jien.

Intant, taf li hemm haddiehor li beda jippoddja minn Malta ricentament, hux? Se nghid xi haga dwaru fil-bloggata/poddata li jmiss ukoll. 

11:14 AM, March 18, 2006

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