Easter Parade

I'm in Malta right now. I had hoped to record this week's podcast before I left Scarborough, but there was too much to do and so I made it here today. This is the first time I've made a podcast in Malta.

The technical quality on the sound of my voice is quite a giveaway. Rather than the warm sound I usually get from one of the microphones I have at home I used the iTalk plug-in on my iPod to record my voice this week. Desperate times require desperate measures...or something like that.

This may be the first year in many that I'm not sticking to the ritual of listening to Jesus Christ Superstar on Good Friday. I forgot to bring the CD with me to Malta. Perhaps one of the radio stations will do the decent thing of playing it for me. We'll see. In any case, I didn't want to miss the opportunity of producing an Easter podcast this year, especially since I now have my own copy of Ikun Li Trid Int, and I've managed to dub the entire rock mass by Tony Grimaud from 1984.

Before getting to those goodies I chose to play a couple of tracks by contemporary Maltese singers who clearly fit into the Christian genre. The first of these is Chris D'Alfonso who recently announced that he's working on a new album to follow-up on the success of his debut release Blueprints. From that album you can hear the title track on this week's podcast.

Someone else who is working on new material in a similar vein is Robert Galea. I completely spaced out on his 2006 CD Closer, and I must admit that it is entirely my loss. Although the idea of a seminarian from Malta who currently resides in Australia is hardly the way to entice me to listen to someone's music, Galea's stuff is quite appealing and nicely crafted. To show how far this delightful musician has come I've picked something pre-Closer. A song in Maltese called Libbisna bil-Qawwa, which is an excellent way to introduce more Maltese language material on this week's podcast.

I can now finally play a couple of tracks from Ikun li Trid Int. I've selected a song called Karriera, sung by composer Manwel Mifsud as a duet with Merga. Sammy Bartolo sang the part of Jesus and you can here is beautiful smooth baritone voice on the track It-Tielet Waqgħa. I would like to thank my good friend Mario Axiaq for helping me sort out my own copy of Ikun Li Trid Int. It is one of the most treasured recordings in my possession. You can rest assured that I'll play at least one more song from it this time next year.

The same goes for Grimaud's rock mass. This week's podcast comes to a close with the final song from that glorious religious event/rock concert. I believe the track I called Just a Little Love. Since I'm in Malta I'm hoping to meet Grimaud with a CD dub from the cassette I've treasured for years, which podcast listeners have heard me play from on a previous, non-Easter related edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor. Perhaps he'll grant me a full interview. That could make a good podcast for a future date, if all goes well.

This week's podcast, which is number 61 in the series, will probably have to hold until I return to Scarborough after Easter. This means that there will not be a new podcast until the weekend after Easter. I plan to blog anyway before then, so I'll refrain from wishing you a happy easter until then.

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