The Boys are Back in Town

Xtruppaw Lajv Is-Sibt 12 ta Lulju 2008.

If I Was

If I was in Malta today I would most definitely be at Warehouse No.8 in Marsa listening to Danjeli's Kakofonija live. My Facebook friends know this from reading my status message, and my podcast listeners know this from listening to last week's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast. Danjeli's live concert is as much an historic event for the Maltese music scene as the release of Is-CD tal-iXtruppaw in June 2006 or Claudio Baglioni's version of L-Aħħar Bidwi f'Wied il-Għasel more recently.

It's events like this that make me realize that my weekly podcast is an excellent way to keep in touch with what's going on in the Maltese music scene. This week's edition contains tracks that have either just been released or relate to upcoming gigs. The first song is one that's apparently making a big splash on the local airwaves this summer. Muxu's Beat My Drum is one of the most catch tunes I've heard coming from Malta so far this year. Produced by Jay Omaro it's pop laden R&B track, which cannot be easily dismissed as just another song in this genre. Listen to it closely and I'm sure you'll be singing it over and over in your head for the rest of the day, if not longer.

Former Radio Malta 2 Reggae Club DJ Manwel Tabone has metamorphosed into dub master Manwel T. His mixes and dubs have already appeared on previous edition of the MMI podcast. A few days ago he released a new bunch of tracks and I've selected Umtha Welanga Dub (feat. Mind's Eye Dub), which will surely delight anyone who likes this type of music and probably everyone else who enjoys good music.

Eve Ransom have released their second new song for 2008. Paradox is a well-made follow-up for last February's Just The Way I Am. The band's grungy sound is crowned by ex- Scream Daisy guitarist and songwriter Brendan Jackson's voice. I honestly can't imagine a different voice for this band. I have a feeling that this band sound quite good live too. Please write back and let me know if you've seen this band live and agree or disagree with this. They're appearing at the Splash & Fun Park on the 5th of July.

Another upcoming gig that will undoubtedly attract a nice crowd of die-hard metal fans is planned for July 18 at Remedy in Paceville. Norm Rejection will continue their reunion activities leading towards new recordings and , The July 18 gig will be the first time that the band's new bassist - the most prolific Rex - appears in public with Norm Rejection. I'm particularly looking forward to a recording of their new song Kemm Hawn Dwejjaq fil-Pajjiz. Evidently, plus ça change.

Martyrium will be sharing the bill with Norm Rejection at Remedy. This monster black metal band are currently preparing to release their third CD, Awakening the Ancient, which should appear later this summer. You can listen to a preview of the new material on their MySpace page. To close this week's podcast I've selected Eden from Martyrium's 2001 debut CD Withering in in Voluptuous Embrace.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

Is This Love

Reggae fans around the world mark the death of Bob Marley this weekend; he died on May 11, 1981. It is therefore fitting that this week's Mużika Mod Ieħor opens with a tribute to the Jamaican legend by Mind's Eye Dub. I Wanna Love You is an innovative dub on a classic song and it bears the hallmark of David Magro, Malta's own most prolific reggae musician.

The rest of the 113th MMI podcast consists of hard rock tracks, starting out with a new recording by Joe Mizzi called Falling Apart. I'm ashamed to say that I've somehow not managed to include anything from Joe Mizzi in the series to date. This is extra shocking when I realize that he has released 2 CDs -- Unrest (2005) & The Zero Chain (2007) -- since this series started and I happen to know (perhaps I should say knew) Joe on a personal level too rather than just as a musician; we first met in the early 1980s. Anyway, this will undoubtedly be ratified, starting right now.

A few weeks ago I joined the Maltese Metal Scene Community at undergroundfactory.com. It is a wonderful example of a subculture within a subculture. Through it I've discovered a couple of metal bands that had escaped my attention until now. One of these bands is Blind Saviour who are poised to release their debut album The Master Plan. From it you can hear The Episode, which is one of two songs featuring singer Rachel Grech. The other song comes from Weeping Silence, who have recently released a new CD entitled End of An Era. From it I've selected Deep Regret, mostly because this was the only track I could get my hands on without waitng yet another week to feature this band on my podcast. Rachel Grech's voice is a welcome change on the local Metal scene, however, I need to hear more from these two bands to make up my mind in terms of which one suits her better.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

Reckoner

I've keep relatively quiet about the 2008 Malta Song for Europe so far. I've given a couple of comments through the MaltaMedia News Service, but not much else on my blog. So before the fans start rolling I thought I'd empty my pockets of all the loose change that's gathered there since last May's Helsinki debacle.

I must confess that if it weren't for my academic interest in the performance of Maltese cultural identities I'd have seriously lost interest in the Malta Song for Europe this year. There's absolutely nothing new or exciting about it. I'd even dare say that there are are couple of abysmal elements among the 17 semifinalist, but I suppose I'm still fuming from the disgusting snub Jo Zette (i.e. Ray Calleja) was given in the previous selection round.

Pamela sings what is undoubtedly the most beautiful song on the 2008 semifinal list. Whispers is one of Paul Giordimaina's best compositions. Pamela has a great voice and she has sung Paul's songs to perfection in recent years. Unfortunately, the SMS-happy audience that votes for each year's Malta Eurovision entry will only pick her as the sacrificial lamb once all other obvious contenders have been exhausted. Never forget what happened to Olivia Lewis.

If Malta wants to get a chance at qualifying for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final, the Malta Song for Europe winner must be Mary Spiteri. It doesn't really matter which of her two songs gets through to this Saturday's final. Mary is the one performer who can get the sort of buzz going on the international Eurovision circuits needed to cut through the jungle of mixed messages and garner enough points for Malta to get through to this year's Eurovision final. Anything less and any solid chances in Serbia this May will be thrown to the wind.

And just because simple minds like simple things, here's my personal pick for the 8 songs that should make it to Saturday's final, in order of appearance on the semifinal. The actual selection will undoubtedly be marginally or greatly different.

Elinor Cassar: Give Me a Chance (Paul Giordimaina/Fleur Balzan)

Mary Spiteri: My Last Encore (Ray Agius - Godwin Sant)

Morena: Vodka (Philip Vella - Gerard James Borg)

Pamela: Whispers (Paul Giordimaina/Fleur Balzan)

Klinsmann: GO (Dominic Galea - Claudette Pace)

Jean Claude Vancell: Contradiction (Jean Claude Vancell)

Chris & Moira: All Right (Chris Scicluna - Moira Stafrace)

Mary Spiteri: If You Believe (Paul Abela - Raymond Mahoney)

As you can see, Mary Spiteri's pulling power is so strong that it's next to impossible not to include both of her songs on Saturday's final 8 list.

Continuing a little tradition I started two years ago, my Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast this Saturday will feature my personal selections from the Malta Song for Europe without much thought for the actual contest.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Quick note added on Friday morning:
I'm disgusted by the whole thing. Whispers didn't make it to the final. Unbelievable! Mary Spiteri is not in the final. Understandable...but still a great shame. If I warm up to the idea of watching the final on Saturday, I guess I'll be horribly disappointed if any song other than Give Me A Chance (it's so not the best Giordimaina/Balzan song) is the winner. Still, the winner will probably be Klinsmann with his homage to Busted's Air Hostess or Morena with a moronic song. Anything else and you can get ready for another national disappointment in May.

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

2008 looks like it's going to be a very eventful year. And is it just me or does it seem like there's lots of things going on already? I've always thought that the new year takes a week or two to get back in gear after the holidays, but this year seems like the exception to prove the rule.

Anyway, the true purpose of this blog entry is to bring you news of a podcast featuring the Listeners' Picks from Maltese music released in 2007. The songs selected to top each of the five categories are but a sample of the excellent releases from last year. I've already shared my observations about the smorgasbord on offer in 2007 elsewhere. I would not have been surprised if the final results on the poll for 2007 was different than what we've actually ended up with. In some cases the number of votes was very close.

Scream Daisy had Ira Losco hot on their tail for weeks in the 2007 Top Albums category. The band managed to outdo the former Eurovision singer with just 4 votes. On the other hand, Scream Daisy's Pretty was voted the 2007 Top Online Music Video garnering more than twice the votes of the next contenders on the list, who were Winter Moods with their video for Marigold beautifully shot at the Manoel Theatre. Scream Daisy were the runner-up in last year's Singles/EPs category, so I'm not surprised that they've swept the board in two categories this year.

Two bands managed to get an equal number of votes at the top of the 2007 Singles/EPs list. Xtruppaw undoubtedly delighted thousands with their Forza Malta (B'Għajta Waħda) while The Rifffs more than made up for last year's position with Jack the Ripper, the follow-up single their comeback release Life of Crime from 2006.

The top place in the 2007 Internet Releases category was also equally conquered by two acts. Ray Mercieca's other band, The Characters, hit the spot with their power track One In A Million, the second of their releases for 2007. Yet the great and pleasant surprise is to see newcomer Dean Saviour receive as many votes as the behemoth band. His Marshmallow Girl is a delightful song indeed. I always expect newcomers to do well in this category but now that established acts are also using the Internet to release new material it stands to reason that its not as much a foregone clear win for newcomers. The Areola Treat would have certainly picked up more votes had their been fewer well known names on this list. I have great expectations for this band in 2008.

Mathematikal came out the clear victors in the 2007 Overseas-based Releases. Their Electrophant EP clearly shows why not everybody with a computer can produce electronic music worth listening to. Jon and Jay have a broad musical sensibility, which is something that can't escape any discerning listener. No other overseas-based released managed to receive more than half the votes they got. I'm very pleased that the 2007 list of overseas-based artists is much broader than the one we had the previous year.

All in all, I'd have liked to seen Danjeli's outstanding Kakofonija album receive more votes, but I have a feeling that most people's taste in music is more conservative than mine. This poll is not about my personal picks but you can say that to some degree my choice of nominations flavors the whole process. We'll see what this year brings...but I'm pretty sure we'll find a number of releases to admire and rave about before this time next year. As that famous line for the old Bette Davis movie goes: "don't let's ask for the moon...we have the stars!"

I'm quite satisfied with the way the voting worked out on Facebook. I'm forever grateful to my friend James Attard who developed the app that has enabled everyone to vote on Facebook this year. I'm sure we'll enhance it some more next year, whether we keep it on Facebook or not.

Speaking of enhancements, this edition of the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is a special edition in that it presents the results of the Listeners' Picks from 2007. In keeping with a tradition I started last year in an attempt make it even more special by presenting it in an enhanced version. I'll be working on that over the next day and I'll post some more information about it as soon as it is available.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

Ninu Ninu tal-Milied

Although my weekly music podcasting series is on a hiatus for the holidays, there's a two-part podcast of traditional għana with a Christmas theme, produced by Ġorġ Mifsud-Kirkop.

This year this seasonal podcast takes on a special meaning: a tribute to the sadly departed Dr Mifsud-Kirkop who passed away just a few days ago.

Part two appears next weekend.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Saving My Face

The Mużika Mod Ieħor 2007 Listeners' Picks poll is open for your votes. In the first couple of days since we launched it, it has already attracted a good number of people. Although I'll be very pleased if we get over 200 people voting on this poll, I'm secretly hoping that we can come close to the seemingly impossible 1000 unique user mark.

James Attard has developed an exclusive application for Facebook to ensure that voting is done in a way that's much more fair and visible than what we had last year in the first attempt at holding this annual poll. Any compliments about the technical aspects and how well this Facebook app works should go directly to James. I take full responsibility for anything else...especially the titles included (or not) on the lists in each category. The final results, of course, are up to you and the other MMI podcast listeners. So please make sure to invite all your Facebook friends to vote too.

It gives me great satisfaction to say that the MMI 2007 poll does not involve some convoluted jury nor is there any money making scheme from SMS voting. Taking full advantage of the power of the Internet we've placed the emphasis on the people who really matter to any musician: the listeners, or, to call them by their proper name, the fans. If you're a Facebook user you can vote. That's it. No gimmicks, no scams.

There are five categories this year. 'Online Music Videos' joins 'Albums', 'Singles + EPS', 'Internet Releases', and the 'Maltese Based Overseas' categories. James has also provided links for each of the video as they currently appear on YouTube.

The total number of titles nominated this year is 112, with 26 albums, 22 online releases, 19 overseas-based, 13 videos, and 32 singles/EPs. Nominations were gathered between September 14 and November 26, based mostly on tracks played on my weekly podcasts. However, I have also included several recommendations by my podcast listeners.

Have you voted yet?

In A Moment

Starting on Monday, listeners of my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast will be able to vote for their top picks from the 2007 Maltese music releases. This year, the voting will take place on Facebook. White Crimson bassist James Attard has developed an exclusive Facebook application for the MMI 2007 poll. Voting through Facebook enables us to take into consideration a technical issue that bothered us last year, with regards to controlling multiple votes from the same person/s. This year it's one vote per category for every registered Facebook user. This should minimize, if not eliminate, unfair multiple voting.

The 92nd podcast in the MMI series opens with another track from Jewls Verse's album Taking It Easy. This time I've selected Fallen Angel, which is truly a highlight on this collection by Lino Busuttil, aka Ozzylino. I've already featured two tracks from this album on the series and it is indeed one of the best 2007 CD releases from Malta. Whether my listeners agree or not is still to be seen as the voting progresses.

I'm pleased to report that Mystic Diversions have released a new album. I'm particularly interested in this Italian band since the Aidan Zammit here is the same Aidan Zammit Lupi that many who follow the Maltese music scene know and love so well. The new album is called Wave a Little Light. From this album you can hear one of Aidan's compositions on this week's podcast; it is entitled Soledad Sensual. Naturally, this album is nominated on the 2007 MMI Listeners' Picks in the Overseas-based Maltese musicians category.

I don't always manage to get copies of all the CDs released in Malta. Many musicians and singers are kind enough to send me a copy of their releases though the postal service. I'm very grateful to them. One new CD I'd really like to get my hands on is Niki Gravino's new album The Politics of Doublebeds, due to be released at the end of this month. I heard a track from it on his MySpace page, but for this week's podcast I chose to play Fingers one of the three tracks on his 2004 EP Vitamins & Eye Cream. The new album is nominated for the 2007 MMI Listeners' Picks poll, even though I haven't heard it. That's a rare occurrence but there are some things we know are worthy, no matter what. Franco Tartaglia plays guitar in Niki Gravino's band, and as Tartaglia is already nominated on the 2007 MMI poll for his tracks on MySpace there's surely no harm in having him indirectly nominated again for Gravino's album.

Looking into 2008 there are several new album releases in the pipeline. One of them comes from a band called Colourblind. This band has been around for about 10 years but the upcoming album is their first full-length CD. Any band that sticks together for so long is worth a listen, and you can do this through Paper Planes the closing track on this week's podcast.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here.

Over the Rainbow

Radiohead released their seventh studio album today. That in itself is a remarkable thing but this is not just another album release from an established rock band. In Rainbows has been released as a pay-what-you-will unprotected download only; the CD release comes later. As if that's not enough of a refreshing change in itself, the invitation to pay whatever includes the possibility of actually (legally!) getting a free download. No strings attached.

This is the most daring move ever to eliminate all the middlemen in the music industry. This is not some unknown act trying their luck on MySpace. This is Radiohead: an influential band the likes of which only come around once every decade or so. I don't just mean in terms of popularity but also innovative creativity in rock; think Beatles (60s), Pink Floyd (70s), U2 (80s)...Radiohead are undoubtedly next in this lineage.

I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to publicly point out that I'm quite a fan of this band. They originally hooked me with the amazing Creep, their first single back in the early '90s. By the time they released their 3rd album OK Computer in the summer of 1997 they had simply swooped me off my feet.

I've just finished downloading In Rainbows so I haven't really heard it yet. I know I'll like it...and not just because I want to like it.

So Far, So Good...So What!

I've compiled a list of alternative music from Maltese recording artists released so far in 2007. In keeping with what I started last year, my plan is to poll my blog readers and Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast listeners towards established the top favourite releases of 2007.

I am incredibly impressed by the even larger number of releases this year. As ever, I have a feeling my list is not complete. Please let me know if you think there are any additional titles I should add to this list before starting the voting in November. The list is not meant to be fully comprehensive - I am selective - but I would like to include as many titles as possible at this stage, so please don't hesitate to contact me if you think I've missed out on your favourite 2007 release.

Here's the list, so far, in alphabetical order:

Aaron Benjamin In My Head Ailas Town Ambulanza The Bubble Andre' Camilleri & the Broken Hearts One Fine Day Arachnid Compelled to Distort Beige Anything Bitterside Start Again Bomba Hold Your Ground [track] Cable35 It's Over Caligula Surreal [tracks] Carra Be Yourself [album] Carrie Flooded Roads Charlie Calleja Dancing with Dolphins [tracks] Chasing Pandora Mock the Mocking Bird [album] Chemical Orphan What If It Was You Christabelle Borg Tonight Club Murder Preserved in Pain Corazon Hawn Jien Cordin Sky Man With The Microphone Cynic Pictures Aim High Dean Saviour Marshmallow Girl Deckchair Gurus Summertime Demis Ethereal Travel Different Strings …It's Only The Beginning Drive In Your Eyes Explicit Objection/Games Fakawi Eileen (Live) Franco Tartaglia In Memoria Fraser Gregory No Ordinary Eyes Freddie Portelli Hangin' On Grimaud (w/Marc Galea) Purple Haze ipconfig lagggggg Jean Claude Vancell Of Hopes & Dreams Jean Pierre Zammit Wipe Every Tear Jewls Verse Taking It Easy John Galea Faded Popstar jon lukas/WOODENMAN Fade Away JPG Return Karm Debattista mssp Agħmilni Bħalek Karm Debattista mssp Ħejju Triq għall-Mulej Kristina Casolani & Toby Search L-Amerikan Għana tal-Fatt Manuel Casha Tifkira Marc Galea My Journey Marilyn Mifsud Evicted Marty Rivers I'm Available Mathematikal Electrophant/This is Plonk Melchior Sultana No More Mind's Eye Dub Trod On Dub Mindstate My Adrenaline Prayer of the Dying Structures of a Dying Matter ReAct Dismissed Recoil The Great Divide Renee Cassar Waiting Scream Daisy Bees Shilloo's Tree Expression/Waiting for Your Smile Shockleader Say NOW! Sin Selection Casanova Sixth Simfoni feat. Rachel Fabri Breakthru Skimmed Where is Your God? Skorba Temples of Devotion Sky of Yuggoth Transmissions from the Chthonic Depths Slur (Ann de Gaetano) Back to You South Central Crystalling Starbrights You Ran Away From Me Stillborn Thy Feeble Soul Stoned Joker Alone Subculture Resist the Abuse The Areola Treat Disco Party The Characters So Alive The Monitors Fade Away The New Harmonics Red The Rifffs Jack The Ripper The Vagabond Project Deepheat Thomas Hedley Just Your Picture On My Mind Thy Legion Proclaimer of Chaos Toby Everytime it Rains Various Malta Song for Europe 2007 Vinnie Vintage Sea to the Salt White Crimson Julia (live) Winona Riders Love Can Do You No Harm Xtruppaw Forza Malta

Icky Thump

Whenever I start making peace with the fact that Malta is not the center of the universe, something happens to upset the balance. This time it's the news that there were 12 reported sightings of Madeleine McCann in Malta this week.

I would have been much happier if the week had moved along smoothly, bringing along with it the beginning of summer, the end of main business in my academic year, and the first anniversary since Frans Baldacchino il-Budaj passed away. Today's rerun of my special podcast in memory of Il-Budaj was planned weeks ago. Maltese-Australian musician Manuel Casha has even released a new CD to mark the first anniversary since Frans il-Budaj died. I played a track from that new release in last week's edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor.

In any case, Mużika Mod Ieħor will be back with episode number 72 next week. Meanwhile I'll keep myself entertained with short bursts of the mind-numbing offerings on Big Brother and otherwise occupied with work on finishing my Franklin Furnace book, which I plan to take to the publishers within the next 4 weeks or so.

Drain You

Soul Kitchen

The beginning of June is always a time to celebrate the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Since this year happens to be the 40th anniversary, there's more of a public to do about it than most other years. Although I was too young to appreciate that monumental moment in music when it was originally released, Sgt. Pepper has played a very significant part in my life since my early teenage years. This should be less surprising than if I said that The Doors debut album (also released 40 years ago) was as important...even if in some ways it certainly is.

While it's safe to say that my childhood was saturated with religious indoctrination, I was never a member of the Society of Christian Doctrine (better known as M.U.S.E.U.M.). I bring this up since this weekend, the society's founder Dun Ġorg Preca is being raised to sainthood by the Vatican. For most Maltese people this is more significant that any Beatles anniversary.

I suppose it's all about continuity in the end, even if all things must pass some day. My soul salad ends here for today but I must confess that continuity was on my mind throughout most of this week's podcast. This is clearly evident in the opening track. Following from last week's podcast, where I ended with Corazon's winning song from this year's L-Għanja tal-Poplu, I thought it would be good to play something from the man who recommended I feature that song on my series.

Antonio Olivari has recorded a remarkable album called Dark Ages. I believe this album has not been released but you can hear a few tracks from it through his MySpace page and one called Renaissance on the 69th edition of my podcast. This one evokes Ennio Morricone to my ears, even if it's not so overtly derivative. Quite nice, anyway.

Instrumental music dominates this edition of my podcast, even if it's not an exclusively lyric free episode. Brian Vassallo is an instrumentalist whose work I'm including on this series of the first time. He has a considerable amount of recordings available, some of which can be accessed through his MySpace page too. I selected Are We Alone?, which I feel goes quite well after Olivari's track.

I've mentioned MySpace several times in relation to Mużika Mod Ieħor and today I'm even willing to admit that it is how the series keeps going regularly after about 18 months of weekly podcasts.

ON the last podcast in 2006 I played a new song by Ozzylino and said that he seemed to be working on a new album. That album is now complete and it will be released on 07/07/07. He has also adopted a new stagename: Jewls Verse. I've selected Say You Want Me as a pre-release track to include on my podcast but I may even play another cut from this album once it is released. It's bound to be one of the best Maltese albums released in 2007.

Back to an instrumental track to close off this week's appointment. Several Maltese musicians are now active abroad and few are more involved in their own scene than South Central, a duo of electro-remixers based in the south of England. This month they're playing gigs in London and going up as far north as Scotland and close to me as Hull and Doncaster. Crystaling is one of the tracks they've released this year. It's also where I'll leave things until next week's podcast.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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.

White Rabbit

I just finished watching the first part of the new BBC series The Seven Ages of Rock. Simply amazing. This series alone is worth the price of the TV license we pay every year here in the UK. It comes just one day after Patti Smith appeared on Later with Jools Holland and I now realize that I've been going through a gradual detox from the Eurovision Song Contest.

Raphael Vassallo's article in the midweek Malta Today (based in part on questions he asked me at the beginning of the week) is one of the better pieces of journalism I've read about the hazy dream I went through last week. Then again, the real turning point probably happened last Tuesday when I attended the transliteracy colloquium at DeMontfort University in Leicester.

A couple of days ago Freddie Portelli sent me a few MP3s of some new songs he recorded and I thought it would be a good idea to include one of them on this week's edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor. The one I've selected is called Hangin' On and it reminded me to check out what Galea is up to. She recently released a cover of a song called Sally Go Round the Roses originally recorded by the Jaynetts in the sixties. Popa Chubby's guitar arrangement for this song gives it a whole new life but it is Galea's singing that makes it worth playing on my podcast.

For the next track on this week's podcast I decided to stay in the USA and play a track called simply Għana tal-Fatt from L-Amerikan whose real name is Jason Muscat. He is a Maltese-American electronic music producer based in San Francisco and his work is an attempt to mix elements of traditional Maltese folk music (għana) with modern electronic and dance music. In an email he sent me a few day ago he told me that he is seeking to collaborate with Maltese artists and incorporate their work into new original compositions. This track is a remix of an original fatt sung by the Maltese folk singer Vincent Carabott "il-Bukku" accompanied by guitarist Charlie Muscat "il-Paletti", which was originally recorded by Paletti at his Creative Studios in Zabbar in 2004.

To round up this week's edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor I picked a track from a project called Prayer of the Dying, which is driven by Martin Ciappara. About a month ago, his debut CD Structures of a Dying Matter was released by War Flagellation Productions. Interestingly it was also released on tape. The track you can hear on my podcast is called Witches Sabbath but I have a feeling its supposed to be called Witch's Sabbath or Witchs' Sabbath. In any case, I'm sure fans of Black Metal will appreciate it whatever it's actually called.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor 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.

Within You Without You

Raphael Vassallo contacted me today about a feature he's writing for Wednesday's Malta Today. He asked me some questions he is circulating to people he wants to quote in his feature. Here are my answers to his questions.

1. As you may or may not be aware, some people are advocating that Malta pull out of the contest in protest after this year's elimination. What are your views?

My answer is yes...and no. Yes because Malta (as in the Ministry of Tourism etc. ) is not getting what it's paying for from the Eurovision Song Contest. No because it would be a shame if there was no opportunity for any Maltese people to experience the great media circus that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

2. Do you feel that the voting has grown more or less conspicuously political/territorial in recent editions?

No. It's just a matter of numbers. In recent years we've seen a relatively large number of new nations join the contest. For obvious reasons, these new nations happen to be mostly former Soviet states or Balkan states. This makes for a natural affiliation and neighbourly voting. In my view, voting was even more "political" before televoting was introduced about 10 years ago. I'm not making this up. Just have a look at voting records over the years and you'll see exactly what I mean.

3. Many have attributed our dismal past two performances precisely to neighbour voting, etc. And yet, this year's winner (Serbia) attracted votes from practically all countries. Is it possible we dealing with a case of sour grapes?

A large part of this year's general reaction is undoubtedly a case of sour grapes; Certainly much more than anyone who keeps blaming neighbourly voting is willing to admit. In spite of a last minute call for a boycott from an anonymous source, Malta's final points went to Belarus (10), Serbia (8), Bulgaria (7), Russia (6), Slovenia (5), Latvia (4), Ukraine (3) and Hungary (1). These are all countries supposedly involved in neighbourly voting. In the semifinal, Malta's points went to Latvia (12), Belarus (7), Slovenia (5), Hungary (4), Bulgaria (3), Serbia (1).

Interestingly, in the semifinal Malta only received points from Albania, Turkey and the UK. The other 38 countries gave Malta zero points.

Incidentally, I find the 12 points Malta awarded to the UK for the final very farcical. I can only make peace with this by thinking that it was some for of protest vote rather than post-colonial oblivion.

4. One question just for you: In recent years, you have consistently suggested we change tack altogether, suggesting that we send Xtruppaw instead of the usual retinue of pop stars. What do you think that Malta's insistence on sending the same kind of musical representative says about us as a nation?

Although some of the MaltaSong board members are quite passionate about promoting Malta and very generous with their quasi-selfless involvement, they are clueless about what the Eurovision is really all about. The result they achieved this year and last year is proof enough of this. To add insult to injury, they are also completely out of sync with what the Maltese music scene actually has to offer. Xtruppaw doesn't exist in isolation. Then again, simply sending someone like Xtruppaw to the Eurovision, without the appropriate financial and promotional backing is like throwing Christians to lions.

Having said this, I must add that especially with more than 40 entries, the Eurovision Song Contest is just another game. Does the best team always win the FIFA World Cup? And when does the most deserving person win the Super 5? It's about time more Maltese see the Eurovision Song Contest for what it is and stop pushing for the same sort of songs to send as Malta's entry.

As a nation we appear obsessed with the Eurovision Song Contest. Naturally, not everyone is a die-hard Eurovision fan. Author Immanuel Mifsud wrote a very articulate entry in his personal blog just before Saturday's Eurovision final, expressing the disgust of many who feel that they don't form part of the "Malta" represented at the Eurovision Song Contest. Some would say he's upset for the right reason. The Eurovision is not really bringing the nation together the way we'd like to think. It just brings together some people who disagree on everything else, be it political party affiliation, village band club support, or whether Malta should legislate on divorce and abortion.

I believe that whenever we forget that it took Finland 40 entries to get it right and stamp our feet when things don't go our way, we make Malta look pathetic. Then again, giving the Eurovision as much media attention as we do, we already make ourselves stand out as unusual Eurovision fanatics, to put it mildly.

Here's a wonderful excerpt from the Schlagerblog by UK-based Eurovision fans the Schlagerboys who appeared waving a huge Maltese flag during the semifinal in Helsinki and live on Xarabank the following day:

If, god forbid, Scooch do not win tonight, will the BBC organise a two hour TV special for the band, including a live outside broadcast from Natalie's home town of Sutton Coldfield and a live link to Helsinki?

Will past Euroivision celebs be sitting on the panel in Malta and song writers and heads of delegation be sitting on the panel in Helsinki? Will Caroline's Gran be interviewed via the satellite link and Russ's cousins and aunts be flown over to Helsinki to sit in the press centre and wave flags and cheer? Will the Schlagerboys be called upon to add their comments to the nation?

Probably not.

I think that says is all.

Sunshine of Your Love

The visit to Malta is over. In recent years, my trips to Malta are always peppered with all sorts of music events. The most recent visit is no exception and featured a broad range of encounters with musicians and all sorts of gigs, including a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by the National Orchestra at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

It was good to see Frenzy Mono at the Coconut Grove in Paceville on the first night of this visit. It's been a while since I saw a retro hard rock band without a bass player. I thoroughly enjoyed their cover of Deep Purple's Pictures of Home and some of their original numbers are not bad at all. I was dismayed to discover that unbeknown to me Fire were playing at the Hard Rock Cafe on the same night. I found out about this a few minutes after their show ended, from someone who was heading home after just spending a good part of the previous hour hearing them.

The next couple of days it seemed like I was in for a few more disappointments because I didn't manage to get to any gigs, even though I had planned to attend one of the numerous Saturday night gigs. I may be wrong, but it seems like people in Malta still take Good Friday and the previous Friday seriously enough not to organise any live rock gigs. Strangely, though, I have a feeling that I may be wrong on both counts.

Between producing my most recent podcast and enjoying the company of Mario Frendo, who played me a couple of well-made recordings by Nafra (which I'm hoping to include in an upcoming edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor) I missed out an infernal struggle to make it to as many of the following gigs: KDZ's bash in front of Tigulio featuring Muzzle, Salt, Klinsmann Coleiro, and Ozzylino, Sixth Simfoni Live at Luxol with Mindstate; NV Unplugged at St James' Cavallier; and Skimmed with the Areola Treat at Naasha. I actually arrived at Naasha at about 1:00am but the gig seemed long over and there was no one I cared to have a drink with there by then...except someone I think is Brikkuni's front man. I tentatively glanced in his direction but I was either too tired/timid and/or he was too drunk/aloof to care to meet me. A great way to end one of the oddest evenings in many years.

In some way I made up for this a little bit the following day by attending the KSU Students' Festival at the University of Malta's fabulous Temi Zammit Hall with my old buddy Winston Degiorgio. Before I say anything about the Students' Festival I should publicly declare that any time spent with Winston is always a joy. His joie de vivre is contagious, especially to anyone who has known him for more than two decades. Without any hint of nostalgia I must also admit that some previous editions of the KSU fest I attended were more entertaining than this year's event. Still, this year's bunch managed to pull what was probably the best organised students' festival I've ever attended. Slick audio-visuals and stage management made the evening rather pleasant in spite of the fact that at times it felt like one of those dreadful secondary school prize days.

For me, the highlight of the KSU evening was watching Drive open part two of the show. They're a fresh young band which I featured on a recent edition of Mużika Mod Ieħor. I wanted to go meet them backstage after the show. Apparently they're planning to visit the UK this summer, which is an excellent way to see about getting them on the bill at this year's Beached. Going backstage didn't feel right, not least because it was close to midnight by the end of the show, meaning that Winston and I needed to see about getting a bite to eat before going to bed. Surprisingly we made it to the legendary Sunrise in Tal-Ibraġġ where we shared a bottle of nice red wine over pizza.

Since most of my visit coincided with Holy Week and Easter it's quite surprising that I managed to squeeze in so many music-related activities into it. Perhaps this feeling is hugely inflected by my overtly catholic upbringing in Malta in the 1970s. Whatever it is, I didn't feel uncomfortable watching the entire Good Friday procession standing in St. Ursuline Street in Valletta. The funeral marches sounded divine, but the evening was crowned with a chance encounter with Antoine Bonnici Soler who was there to see the procession with Godwin Lucas. As we started chatting following the end of the procession, we were joined by clarinet maestro Freddie Mizzi. It seems like listening to musicians play or talk is indeed one of the few things I really look forward to the most on my visits to Malta.

I had actually already met Godwin Lucas the previous evening at BJs where Winston and I went for a couple of hours after spending some time at the Scream Daisy gig at Ryan's Irish Pub. The audio at the Daisy's gig was muddled, the bar far too smokey for my taste, and the choice of beer ridiculously restricted during the show. I must be getting old or something. For different reasons, BJs is not actually my cup of tea either, but at least there I could have decent conversations with some old friends I hadn't seen in years including my former band mate Mark Attard, Paul Giordimaina, Joe Carr and BJ's manager Philip Fenech, of course. Strangely it felt good to be there in the lull of the storm that is the annual live music marathon.

Just for the record, other music-related encounters during this visit included a Sliema seafront meeting with the delightful Merga, a couple of trips to my favourite watering hole on Manoel Island with the amazing Grimaud, a lovely gift from Olivia Lewis during a 3-minute surprise meeting, a quick chat with Melchior Sultana before sitting down with Clare Agius for an TV interview, and a soothing cup of lemon tea with some figola at Jason Fabri's Sliema home where he updated me on what Etnika has been doing in recent years. You can expect some of that on an upcoming podcast too. I should also mention that during this visit I managed to see a Xtruppaw rehearsal, an experience I now treasure as much as the time I visited them during a recording session for their debut album last year.

I see that this blog entry has turning into a longer post than I had planned, but what do you expect when you don't blog for more than a week! It's so true that "life is what happens when you're busy making plans."

Till Victory

From this morning's New York Times:

Ain’t It Strange?

By PATTI SMITH

Published: March 12, 2007

ON a cold morning in 1955, walking to Sunday school, I was drawn to the voice of Little Richard wailing “Tutti Frutti” from the interior of a local boy’s makeshift clubhouse. So powerful was the connection that I let go of my mother’s hand.

Rock ’n’ roll. It drew me from my path to a sea of possibilities. It sheltered and shattered me, from the end of childhood through a painful adolescence. I had my first altercation with my father when the Rolling Stones made their debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Rock ’n’ roll was mine to defend. It strengthened my hand and gave me a sense of tribe as I boarded a bus from South Jersey to freedom in 1967.

Rock ’n’ roll, at that time, was a fusion of intimacies. Repression bloomed into rapture like raging weeds shooting through cracks in the cement. Our music provided a sense of communal activism. Our artists provoked our ascension into awareness as we ran amok in a frenzied state of grace.

My late husband, Fred Sonic Smith, then of Detroit’s MC5, was a part of the brotherhood instrumental in forging a revolution: seeking to save the world with love and the electric guitar. He created aural autonomy yet did not have the constitution to survive all the complexities of existence.

Before he died, in the winter of 1994, he counseled me to continue working. He believed that one day I would be recognized for my efforts and though I protested, he quietly asked me to accept what was bestowed — gracefully — in his name.

Today I will join R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the eve of this event I asked myself many questions. Should an artist working within the revolutionary landscape of rock accept laurels from an institution? Should laurels be offered? Am I a worthy recipient?

I have wrestled with these questions and my conscience leads me back to Fred and those like him — the maverick souls who may never be afforded such honors. Thus in his name I will accept with gratitude. Fred Sonic Smith was of the people, and I am none but him: one who has loved rock ’n’ roll and crawled from the ranks to the stage, to salute history and plant seeds for the erratic magic landscape of the new guard.

Because its members will be the guardians of our cultural voice. The Internet is their CBGB. Their territory is global. They will dictate how they want to create and disseminate their work. They will, in time, make breathless changes in our political process. They have the technology to unite and create a new party, to be vigilant in their choice of candidates, unfettered by corporate pressure. Their potential power to form and reform is unprecedented.

Human history abounds with idealistic movements that rise, then fall in disarray. The children of light. The journey to the East. The summer of love. The season of grunge. But just as we seem to repeat our follies, we also abide.

Rock ’n’ roll drew me from my mother’s hand and led me to experience. In the end it was my neighbors who put everything in perspective. An approving nod from the old Italian woman who sells me pasta. A high five from the postman. An embrace from the notary and his wife. And a shout from the sanitation man driving down my street: “Hey, Patti, Hall of Fame. One for us.”

I just smiled, and I noticed I was proud. One for the neighborhood. My parents. My band. One for Fred. And anybody else who wants to come along.

Patti Smith is a poet and performer.