Undiscovered

Several weeks ago, while browsing on MySpace, I came across a Maltese musician I had never heard of before: Cordin Sky. That's the name he uses for his solo recording project. Through his MySpace page I discovered that he is also involved in several other music projects, including several bands and a small independent record label called Hospital Home Records. His real name is Mario Cordina and he now lives in Szczecin, Poland. By virtue of his current location, he is now one of the ever-growing number of Maltese musicians based outside Malta.

This week's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast features music from five recording acts with Hospital Home Records. Mario Cordina is involved in each of these projects in one way or another. The opening song comes from the Polish ska band Skambomambo, which is fronted by Mario singing in English. The song I've selected is called Made in Polska and, if nothing else, it highlights what a perfectly named country for this genre of music Poland really is.

Mario regularly infuses Maltese elements into his work with Hospital Home Records. One of the more prolific projects he is involved in is called Ambulanza. This Polish band's brand of raw funk sounds quite contemporary with just the right amount of retro grooves. Superstar is one of several songs from this band available on MySpace, and you can also hear it on this week's podcast.

Szczecin (pronounced shta-chin) is in the North West of Poland, close to the Baltic Sea. This makes it quite close to Germany, so it comes as no great surprise that Mario also collaborates with German musicians from Berlin and Bremen. This particular group records as Doctors Space Lab offering a celestially themed brand of electronica, which should go down well with all sorts of star-gazers. Listen to Moonride and you'll see what I'm on about.

This is not the first time that I've put together a whole podcast stringing together different songs from different acts connected by the same musician/s. One obvious example is the podcast about the genealogy of Xtruppaw. In this week's podcast, the common denominator is Mario Cordina, who is now based in Poland. Among the various projects he is involved with he is also the producer for a young Polish singer called Mila Maj. I believe that Mario brings a remarkable sensibility to Mila Maj's songs. Crystal is the one I've picked to play, but every other song I've heard from Mila Maj clearly bears Mario's mark.

It's probably most fitting to end this week's podcast by playing something from Cordin Sky, which is Mario Cordina's solo project. He clearly has other collaborators on Cordin Sky, but by his own admissions this is where and how he works out new ideas before they're unleashed into the wider Hospital Home Records family. If For the People is anything to go by, it's a good way to see how much of himself Mario Cordina is putting into his new-found musical career in Poland. I'm looking forward to hearing more new stuff from him and his collaborators over the coming months. Once you hear this podcast, I believe so will you.

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