Re-uploaded by request 3/6/2023
Well, I don’t know about all of you, but this journey so far has been quite
the learning experience for me. I’ve listened to musick that I’ve never heard
before now, learned about the history & politics that aided or hindered the
creation of musickal ideas. I had fun with the Valkenvanian April Fool’s &
the Secret search beneath the Vatican
(What did anyone expect? Unknown punk or death metal bands in the world’s
smallest & most unilaterally religious country? C’mon.). Finally reached
the last country in Europe. Nestled in the
midst of the Middle
Earth Sea,
what a place to catch my breath before setting out on a safari into the Musick
of Africa. Out of respect for this passage of discovery, I’ve decided to post
up some Old Skool punk rawk & some ancient/modern traditional folk melodies here
on the island of Malta.
Let us travel back to 1979. Like the true punk foremoshers from jolly old England,
Erich il-Punk, the crust behind Abstrass, started out jamming with friends at
his house. This lasted only long enough for all the neighbors to complain to
the Marsa Police station boys about ‘noise pollution’. Then it was out on the
streets for Erich.
Shortly Erich was crashing in the streets or at the fortress. He hung with
the other punks at the time at their hangouts at the Valletta lazy corner, on
the Triton Fountain, at the Imperial Cafe’, or at the squatted fortress of
Tigne’ point in Sliema. Tigne’ Fortress had been used for storing torpedoes
during the occupation of the British forces in Malta. Later on the Maltese
government & some cultural association gave permission for local bands to
take the huts & turn them into rehearsal rooms to form the Rokarja AST project.
Every year most of the bands that rehearsed at Tigne’ participated in a three
day Rock-A-Buzz Festival. At the time, Maltese punk was simply chaos &
noise. So amongst the bands that rehearsed at Tigne’ Fortress, there were violent
clashes with the skinheads & rockabillys, with the ‘Teds’ & the ‘New
Romantics’.
Erich wanted what all good punks wanted at the time…he formed a band. As you
can imagine, the scene in Malta
was very primitive. There were only four punk bands at that time: Abstrass, The
Unemployed, the Rifffs, & Davey Jones (who played ska & new wave punk).
At that time there were only a handful of gigs happening.
Unfortunately, by the mid-80s apathy had taken over the still infant scene.
The old veterans from the scene died, left the country, or went into
hibernation. The punk scene nearly vanished. If not for Abstrass doing their
occasional gig, the scene probably would have completely vanished. Performances
at the Rock-A-Buzz Festival, Manoel Island, Rock Café, The Edge & the Rebel
Riders Festival in 2002 maintained the Abstrass tradition of sporadic but
keenly expected (not to mention well-attended) live performances, partly due to
Eric’s particular vocal style & spur-of-the-moment onstage antics. Over the years
Abstrass went through many line-up changes. By the summer of 1986, the line-up
had firmed to a core trio consisting of Erich il-Punk – vocals, Ray il-Bahri –
guitar & vocals, & Ray il-Hamiemu -drums with someone different on bass
until 2001 when James in-Nemlu joined for good.
As it was, it took 25 years to release their only cd entitled Hard to
Understand. Strangely enough for a crusty street punk band, Hard to
Understand is a concept album.The tracks on the cd revolve around the world of
an ordinary individual’s struggle to get through the day while trying to cope
with all sorts of worries, ranging from social injustice, spiritual tension,
& impending global issues. The cd went over really well with the local
punks because Abstrass had mixed their 80s style with new tunes that still
remained faithful to their old school punk rock style.
Tracklist –
Hard to Understand
Wish I Never Be (Existed)
Under Pressure
Alcoholic
The Bastards’ Lies
Going Underground
Murder in the Vatican
Pope
Malta’s
Burning
Blair’s Bullshit
Make Love not War
Bonus tracks –
Generation Terrorist
World Downfall
(Bomb) Conclusion
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Etnika is one of Malta’s
leading modern folk bands, founded in 2000. The four founding members were
composer Ruben Żahra, traditional instrument maker Ġużi Gatt, researcher Steve
Borġ, & musician Andrew Alamango. The project’s roots started forming in
1999, when researcher Steve Borġ identified a collection of old Maltese songs
at the library musical archives at King's College London. The melodies had been
published by Welshman Edward Jones around 1807.
Borġ presented the material to Żahra & the others. They were intrigued
with the idea of reviving these forgotten songs.
Composer Ruben Żahra had just returned to Malta
after years of academic studies at the Conservatorio di Musica di Frosinone,
the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome
& the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.
Folklorist Ġużi Gatt at almost the same time was intrigued by an article he
had discovered written in 1977 by two British students J.K. Partridge &
Frank Jeal, entitled 'The Maltese Żaqq' which they published in The Galpin
Society Journal. The article detailed the demise of the Maltese bagpipe, the żaqq. The article remains one of the
most scholarly & informative works written about the instrument. The
authors also noted that the Maltese people in general showed little interest in
their own folk culture, with little or no interest in preserving its own native
bagpipe. This fact deeply disturbed Gatt, a traditional instrument maker by
trade. He sought out Toni Cachia Il-Ħammarun from Naxxar. Toni was one of Malta's
remaining Maltese bagpipe builders & musicians. Well into his eighties at
the time, he had been playing the traditional instrument since the late 1920s.
Cachia agreed to help Gatt in his quest of saving the żaqq from extinction.
All these diverse developments converged to form Etnika, under Żahra’a
musical guidance. They gave their first public concert during the Evenings on Campus Festival on August
29, 2000 at the Atriju Vassalli
at the University of Malta.
From this performance, their debut release Nafra came to life.
The album has eleven instrumental tracks, three of which
were taken from the Edward Jones's
publication of 1807 that Steve Borġ had discovered in London. Etnika focuses on the resurrection of Maltese
traditional instruments & music. The idea is to use the ancient instruments
together with that of other classical & modern instruments in order to
create a new Maltese repertoire. The music portrays a unique synthesis between
ethnic timbre & contemporary composition.
Among the instruments used are: żaqq (bagpipe); zummara (reed pipe); flejguta (whistle flute); zafzafa (friction
drum); & tanbur - (a drum). These are combined with flute, clarinet,
violin, guitar, piano, accordion, tuba & percussion to create a totally new
way of making Maltese music.
Nafra features Ruben
Żahra on żaqq & other traditional instruments, Godfrey Mifsud on clarinet, Mario Frendo on
violin, David Grech on guitar, Tricia Dawn Williams on piano, Jason Fabri on
drums, & Joe Camilleri l-Bibi on percussion. Original compositions are
by Ruben Żahra, using the traditional melodies as a starting point, but
expanding them in the tradition of Piazzolla, Copeland, Ives, & Bregovic.
Etnika is an ongoing
process, which is committed to the promotion & awareness of Malta’s
music heritage. It is based on the hypothesis of an instrumental form of music,
which was played in the past by roving musicians, on instruments indigenous to
the islands. Central to this program is the faithful reconstruction of ethnic
Maltese instruments & their projection onto a contemporary platform through
performances. Most of their work now falls under the catch-all banner of
Soundscapes, which includes: Nafra – a new band of Ruben Żahra’s that is the
international performing arm of Soundscapes; Crossbreed – another band that
blends traditional & contemporary musical styles, consisting of some
members (like Tricia Dawn Williams)
from the original Etnika 2000 show; & two projects, Icons & Pan –
multimedia productions combining music, theater, dance, & video under the musical
& artistic direction of Ruben Żahra. They are working diligently to
preserve & revive a near-dying musical heritage.
Tracklist –
Preludju
Grinta
Interludju
Harba
Parata
Raghaj (rai)
Interludju II
L-Ghanja tal-Mewg
Interludju III
Tama
Hidden Track (Gheluq)
Adios Europa,
NØ
