Keep the Music Alive

Images by Darrin Zammit Lupi

Previously the domain of humble village bars, Maltese music has recently made a powerful comeback and is now as relevant and urgent as ever. POCKETMALTA chats to three local bands who are keeping the music alive – while making it new

l-Budaj stood on stage, his voice rich and deep, filling the theatre, creating waves, stirring the emotions of the audience. On stage, he appeared larger than life, as if he were singing not just for himself, but for us, for our past, with the strength and depth of our ancestors. His voice poured out, a half-lament, while the band backed him with their various instruments.

The year was 2003 and the performance was Bumm Bumm, by local band Etnika, performed at St Elmo in Valletta. Since then, Il-Budaj has sadly passed away and Etnika has become a household name standing for a mix between the traditional and the innovative.

“Initially Etnika set out to create a social awareness of folk music, instruments and a traditional context which has virtually become extinct, except for a few pockets here and there,” says one of its founders and frontman Andrew Alamango. “There was always a strong sense of vocation and commitment to a project that changed people’s perception towards their own culture and music, the understanding that traditional stuff could be revamped, rearranged and given a function in today’s context, without which it would be useless,” he says.

But Etnika disseminated more than information regarding folk music, says Andrew, “but exposed the hidden roots and, primarily through performance, disseminated an emotion which became catchy and addictive, like the music produced.”

Meetings with performers such as Il-Budaj, the last members of a tradition which was quickly fading away, was probably the most rewarding of all the band’s aspects, says Andrew. “The passing on of tradition, a new responsibility with an added value.”

Even better was working alongside these people to transmit the very nuances, lyrics and aspects that identify us, he says. “Working with Tommy, the tambourine man, Toni Cachia il-Hammarun, il-Budaj, and the ghana (a type of local music) singers and guitarists – towards a common sense of creating music and moving people with it – were the highlights of Etnika.”

The discovery of Maltese instruments led to the discovery of a way of being, the discovery of traditions and of melodies and music unique to these parts, says Andrew. “It also confirmed our belonging to the bigger picture of a Semitic Mediterranean culture, which we have inherited with the rural traditions. The bagpipes, flutes and reed flutes, the zafzafa, friction drum, and the tambourine, for instance, are all in the Med tradition which we form a part of.”

The making and building – using raw materials, which themselves opened a world of information in terms of using the elements of skin and cane – was particularly interesting, he says. “The information on these instruments has now been documented, written about, instruments made and their use and playability used in a new context. This has led to a new generation getting interested and taking up these instruments with pride and with the intention of creating a new meaning with the old. Research was an integral part – but it could not stop there as we’d have had yet another generation referring only to documents.”

The Maltese folk music tradition compares to the size of the island, says Andrew, and Malta does not have the lengthy repertoire available in Spain or Italy. “Outside the known ghana tunes and motifs, little exists… some rhymes, children’s games, a couple of songs and some scarce recordings... the instrumental tradition on folk instruments was never written or highly developed. Only fragments survive.”

In the absence of a repertoire, Etnika took the scraps, added, created, pasted and joined it all together to give it some shape. “We had to continue building – and possibly creating – a tradition which would be accepted and palatable – yet not far from the roots.” Etnika has moved in and out of this concept along the years, he says, at times staying true to the concept, at times moving away, depending on the needs and creative intentions. “Sometimes we used other Med styles to add flesh to the dinosaur bones and fill in the gaps of a culture whose identity is bigger than its physical parameters.” All aspects of oral culture have been included in Etnika’s shows, says Andrew, and interpretation and innovation on this was necessary to be deemed as hip or cool and valid within today’s context.

The approach seems to have worked as Etnika has travelled extensively all over Europe and the Mediterranean with its performances – about 14 different countries in all – to folk and world music festivals, has been featured in a multitude of documentaries and films including Mezzo and Arte, and has become known overseas as an innovative and entertaining band spreading the word of Maltese folk music, says Andrew.

One of Etnika’s founder members, Ruben Zahra is also behind Nafra, an acoustic ensemble portraying Maltese music heritage within a contemporary scenario. “A Nafra programme is a concert recital,” explains Ruben. “Nafra is not your regular folk band – all musicians are classically trained and the music I compose is technically very demanding and challenging. The main protagonists are the traditional Maltese instruments supported by a chamber group which usually includes viola, piano, tuba and percussion.”

Like Andrew, he explains that Maltese traditional instruments are part of a wider cultural context, the Mediterranean basin. The zaqq (Maltese bagpipe), for instance, is very similar to the North African prototypes. “So it’s very clear that these instruments were absorbed into our culture from the Arabic world – just like the Maltese language,” says Ruben, who also lectures on Maltese traditional music at the University of Malta as well as giving seminars at foreign Universities.

Ruben is in fact also involved with research and documentation of Maltese music. “Research is vital for my work and for the music of Nafra,” he says. “I am committed to providing the necessary tools to foster the performance practice of Maltese traditional instruments.” To this end, he has recently published A Guide to Maltese Folk Music, which comes with a CD which provides an audio guide of 25 tracks to the instruments, folksongs, dances, street cries and nursery rhymes. Even more recently Ruben has also launched two traditional Maltese instruments on the local market: it-tanbur (Maltese tambourine) and il-flejguta (Maltese cane-flute). “This is the first time that Maltese traditional instruments are made available from regular retail outlets. Hopefully this will encourage musicians to pick up the instruments.”

Much, unfortunately, has been lost, says Ruben. “Just to mention one sad story: there is literary and iconographic reference to a type of folk fiddle or violin that used to be played in Malta. I traced four different 19th century lithographs and paintings portraying the instrument but unfortunately we do not have a prototype in any museum or any reference to the music, for that matter. Research and fieldwork provide me with valuable raw materials of melody and rhythm – my task is to develop that material into a new composition,” he says.

Nevertheless, the value of Nafra’s concerts does not rely on the sole fact that it is “folk” or “traditional”, says Ruben, and the band already has concerts coming up in Rome, Brindisi and Paris. “We deliver a really good music concert. The moaning zaqq, the exuberant tanbur and dissonant zummara are an added bonus contributing a unique quality to the repertoire, but the audience appreciates us for the quality of the music and performance.”

Another band has recently made its appearance and taken the local music scene by storm. Relative newcomers Brikkuni have already made a mark by winning the national Ghanja tal-Poplu competition. The band’s aim is nothing less than “to change the face of Maltese pop music as we know it,” says frontman Mario Vella. “A bold claim, I know,” he says, “but we wanted a band that could speak to the average Joe while satisfying the needs of a more demanding listener.” Lyrics tend to focus on satire, local politics and way of life, utilising the Maltese language in various musical contexts.

The band is also remarkable for its confident and unapologetic use of the Maltese idiom, a far cry from a few years back when Maltese music was considered the domain of the elderly or village bars. “You could say that Maltese music has made a comeback with a re-emergence of local bands singing in Maltese,” says Andrew from Etnika. “It reflects a stronger sense of identity which does not need to be justified or explained. It is what it is and, unlike a few years ago, people feel no need to excuse the fact that it’s Maltese...” he says, thinking. “And that’s a good thing.”

Etnika’s CDs are available from all leading record stores. www.etnika.com.mt. www.myspace.com/etnikafe. Nafra CD is available with the publication A Guide to Maltese Folk Music and is also available with tanbur (Maltese tambourine) and flejguta (Maltese cane-flute). All these products are available from local stores or online www.soundscapes.com.mt . You may also contact Sierra Book Distributors for free delivery : www.sierra-books.com tel: 2137 8576. Brikkuni’s debut album Kuntrabanda can be purchased either from D’Amato record store in Valletta or directly from the band; just leave contact details on their facebook page and they will deliver (locally). Brikkuni’s next performance will be held on 3 January at MITP, St Christopher’s Street, Valletta.