Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/274219
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 MARCH 2014 40 A varied selection of performers will be getting together at a unique venue to celebrate artistic 'freedom', in a music-and-poetry night organised by musician Justin Galea. Taking place on March 16 at the Notre Dame Hall, Zabbar, 'Freedom: A Contemporary Performance', will mash together music, literature and dance in the spirit of improvisation. "All artists were invited to chal- lenge themselves and tackle the topic of Freedom in a way by actually being free in their artistic collaborations," said Justin Galea, adding that, "the way the collaborations came about is quite random". "All artists, me included chose either aspects of freedom that we would be interested to work on, or else chose artists that we would like to collabo- rate with within the pool of participat- ing artists I had already chosen, and everything started in that way." The participating artists include Claire Tonna, Danjeli Schembri, Joseph Camilleri, Mariele Zammit, Matthew Grima Connell, Rebecca Camilleri, Simone Inguanez, Warren Galea and Justin Galea himself. "The artists I chose to collaborate with in this project are predominantly improvisers, a pre-requisite in my opinion for a show tackling notions around Freedom. Rebecca's dance pat- terns, Warren and Joseph's jazz back- ground and Danjeli's live electronic sets are all examples of this vision. Others such as Claire, Simone, Mari- ele and Matthew have a contemporary vision and I knew they would fit in per- fectly in such a project," Galea said. Galea added that the choice of venue – situated firmly away from the stand- ard locations usually employed for cultural events – was instrumental in the overall intent of the event itself. "Although I wish that other artists or people from the art world attend the performance for us to receive some valid critique and for our artistic views to transcend, the chosen location is a community location in Zabbar that very rarely hosts any kind of perform- ance of any kind let alone a contempo- rary one as ours. "By choosing this location, besides making it more interesting for our pa- trons to attend newer locations I am hoping that people from the commu- nity will also be interested in attend- ing," Galea said. Doors open at 20:00. Tickets at €10 can be booked through https://contem- porarymalta.yapsody.com/ THIS WEEK There's a nice big family of birds that are very familiar to Europeans (and some North African) countries, and these are the tits. Yet here we never see them, which is such a pity, as tits are the basis of many garden bird communities. The reason for this absence is that these are largely birds of woodland (which we lack), and what's more, they don't migrate much. One tit that does migrate is the Penduline Tit (M: Pendulin) and for that reason it does turn up here sometimes. Tits are small, active birds and the Penduline Tit is no exception. Pendulines have this snazzy black mask over the eyes that makes them look a bit like bandits ready for mischief. They are accomplished nest-builders, weaving this complicated hanging marvel that droops at the tip of thin willow branches. Sadly these birds don't nest here because the swampy areas and river edges that they like are another habitat we don't get here. Indeed, Pendulines are very scarce visitors to Malta and they are not even seen every year. Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti 394. PENDULINE TIT Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us www.foemalta.org. You can also support us by sending a blank SMS donation on 50618070 (€4.66) or 50619223 (€11.65). GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 296: Make woodwork gleam – Give a natural shine to wood with this homemade furniture polish. Mix 2 parts olive oil with 1 part lemon juice, rub the mixture sparingly onto the wood, and rub dry with a clean cloth. New proposals to grant national governments more say over cultivating genetically modified (GM) crops on their territory where discussed this week in the European Council. The proposals, if agreed, represent an empty offer, according to Friends of the Earth Europe, providing little legal basis for countries who oppose GM crops, and extreme bias to companies who profit from GM technology. National governments need solid legal grounds to ban genetically modified crops. Instead, the European Commission is offering a poisoned chalice – giving more powers to biotech companies and opening up governments who oppose GMOs to legal challenges. This is no way to keep Europe's fields free of these unwanted crops. Under the current proposals, national governments who oppose GMOs would be forced to ask biotech companies, like Monsanto and Syngenta, to exclude them from authorisation applications. This puts governments and citizens who oppose GM crops on the back- foot against the biotech industry's desire for profit, according to the organisation. The proposals also offer vague, non-scientific legal grounds upon which to ban GM crops, opening up countries to legal challenges from biotech companies. There is overwhelming public and political opposition to GM crops – last month, 19 European countries opposed a new GM maize from Pioneer, a move supported by the European Parliament and the majority of EU citizens. For more than 15 years national governments have fought against new GM crops and strongly defended their rights to ban them. Nobody needs GM crops except the companies that push them. We need to change farming so it can provide sufficient food for the future whilst protecting nature and revitalising rural communities. The European Commission must ban the new controversial genetically modified (GM) maize and provide genuine powers to national governments to keep their fields GM-free. 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(MALTA) LTD Improvising towards freedom