Malta Diary Hip-Hop Hooray – and throw in some rock, some rap … and Malta is making its mark in the world of festivals and concerts

• ALBERT FENECH

  e/mail – salina46af@gmail.com

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerome.fenech

  My Blog: https://myreachingout.wixsite.com/myblog.

  

  Right ho – so yes, there is an age gap, a great age gap

  and I now stand (or sit) at the end of one extreme in the

  music world.

  My late father loved classical music, opera and light

  classical. On Sunday mornings, aged four and my

  brother aged barely two, we sat and listened to an old

  gramophone (remember the one featured on past His

  Master’s Voice labels?) as he cooked Sunday lunch and

  put on large 78 discs and played Mozart, Verdi and

  Beethoven.

  

  When dear dad was in a “lighter” mood it was Bing

  Crosby, Doris Day and Edmundo Ros and his Latin

  American rumba orchestra.

  All these ingrained a musical love in me that I still carry

  today.

  Later, as a growing teen, Bill Hayley and his Rock ‘n Roll

  

  entered my world (classed by dad as “rubbish” and “the

  end of decent music”) and later still Chubby Checker

  with his “Twist” and undoubtedly Elvis, Cliff Richard,

  Roy Orbison and a host of others.

  My musical journey saw its sunset with The Beatles and

  The Rolling Stones in the 60s and like dad, the rest was

  a virtual disintegration of music as far as I am

  concerned.

  Am I therefore qualified to write this piece?

  The situation is this; buoyed by wonderful summer

  weather (that is if you like being roasted alive by blazing

  sunshine – but apparently many people do) and starry

  summer nights, Malta’s Ministry for Tourism has

  embarked on a committed musical path to make Malta

  one of the most attractive concert venues in the

  Mediterranean – and it seems to be working a treat.

  

  This is what I am writing about and NOT the music.

  A number of outdoor evening concerts have been drawn

  to Malta and with them thousands of young tourists

  from throughout Europe have flocked to Malta to enjoy a

  summer break, holiday and attend various concerts.

  Of these only two struck my fancy.

  

  One was the first-ever performance outside Britain by

  the BBC Concert Orchestra which regularly performs on

  BBC Radio 2 and 3.

  Their open air concert on the Floriana Granaries,

  compered by the much-admired actor Charles Dance

  was to say the least spectacular and attracted many

  thousands.

  The 70-piece orchestra was conducted by Richard

  Balcombe and performed classic film scores from Out of

  Africa and The Magnificent Seven as well as some of

  today’s most popular film songs from films such as The

  Greatest Showman. Bohemian Rhapsody, Frozen and

  Mary Poppins Returns.

  There was also music from films made in Malta and the

  whole show was rounded off with a spectacular

  fireworks finale to the main theme from Star Wars.

  Guest vocalists included Louise Dearman (Wicked),

  Hannah Waddingham (Game of Thrones) and Bradley

  Jaden (Les Misérables).

  Incidentally, the show was free of charge on a first-

  come, first-served basis.

  The other has to be the annual concert given by Malta’s

  world-famous tenor Joseph Calleja last Saturday, this

  time round accompanied by the much-loved blind Italian

  singer Andrea Bocelli.

  The rest of the concerts did not mean much to me but

  scores of thousands of youngsters begged to differ!

  Controversy did its rounds too. Surely enough, the

  concerts attract publicity and they attract thousands of

  visiting followers and fans to listen to rap, hip-hop and

  what have you. However, among the thousands there is

  always a percentage of drunks, drug traffickers and

  druggees and Malta Police had a hectic time rounding

  some of them up.

  

  Residents in various localities complained bitterly of

  rowdy, urinating and vomiting youths at all hours of the

  days and nights. Standards of dress, or perhaps more

  accurately lack of dress, particularly by young women

  eager to show off their physical talents in the summer

  weather and let everybody see their tattoos, also came

  under heavy criticism.

  The first to set the scene in early summer was the Lost

  ‘n Found Concert stretching over a long weekend in

  various localities and estimated to have drawn 10,000

  visitors just for the concerts and the music.

  Naturally, cash tills jingled merrily in bars and

  restaurants, hotels and apartments were packed and

  taxi drivers worked 24/7 and the airlines were kept

  happy too.

  

  The Isle of MTV Concert has become a regular annual

  fixture too, held on the Floriana Granaries and estimated

  to have attracted 50,000 followers (mainly Maltese) with

  much screaming, swooning and fainting. With the day-

  time temperatures registering close on 40 degrees, the

  stifling heat was apparently no deterrent.

  Setting the scene and responsible for all the swooning

  and screaming were guys like DJ Martin Garrix, Bebe

  Rexha, Ava Max (who apparently is a female Yank of

  Albanian descent) and Wiley.

  I had never heard of them before and do not particularly

  want to hear of them again but, as I said, the age gap is

  a gulf!

  

  Amidst all this, former Oasis star Liam Gallagher

  breezed in to give his own concert on the Granaries,

  once more in conjunction with the Malta Tourism

  Authority and once more entry was free of charge.

  

  To cap it all, around the 15th ofAugust (a PublicHoliday

  and the Feast of The Assumption) there were two further

  evening concerts, including Summer Daze, once more

  attracting bumper attendances and once more keeping

  the Police busy with drugs traffickers and druggees.

  The Martinez Brothers kicked off proceedings on 11th

  August with a performance in partnership with well-

  known Malta clubbing brand GRINGOS.

  

  However, the main events took place over 14th and 15th

  August at the Ta Qali National Park with “underground

  legends” in the form of Paul Kalkbrenner, Loco Dice,

  Green Velvet, BBC Radio 1’s Monki and local favourite

  Carl Bee all performing on the first evening.

  On the second evening it was David Guetta, Tyga,

  James Arthur, Danny Howard, Alle Farben, Tenishia and

  a number of local artists.

  And what exactly are “underground legends”?

  Search me; not my cup of tea naturally, but it takes all

  sorts.

  I wonder what Mozart, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra

  would have made of it all?

  ALBERT FENECH

  __________________

  __________________

  MALTESE SAYING

  “The oil will always surface in the water”

  This indicates that sooner or later, finally the truth will

  emerge and be known. As oil will always surface on

  water, at some point or other the truth of a situation

  will become known.

  _________________ _______________

  

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