Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/501315
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 APRIL 2015 15 coming out against spring hunting during the referendum campaign…. earning criticism (from hunters) re- garding an apparent inconsistency. "I'm not against hunting in gen- eral, but yes, I declared my position against hunting in spring. Why? For one thing, turtle dove and quail have declined in Malta… there's no longer the 'passa' [migration] of older times. That's my opinion, by the way: it doesn't mean I'm right. Meanwhile the migration I see each year tends to be birds of prey – honey buzzards, owls, and so on – and other birds like bee-eaters, hoopoes, golden orioles… and you can't shoot any of them. So if the turtle dove and quail have de- creased to such an extent, then why have a spring season at all, when the spring season is only for those two species? I respectfully disagreed with the hunting association, and al- low me to repeat: it doesn't mean I am right. Not everything I say is to be quoted in the Bible. But I don't think I'm wrong on this. I think that birds, in the spring season, should be allowed to migrate peacefully with- out being hit, accidentally or not, by shots…" What was his reaction to the refer- endum result? "I was not surprised, because it is not in the Maltese cul- ture really to take to the countryside. Our idea of a 'walk' is to get into the car and drive around… a 'passig- gjata fil-karozza'. So the bulk of the population didn't really care… and the hunters cared more. It all boiled down to that, really. All the same: so far there were three reported ille- galities… and yes, there may be more unreported ones… but anyone with some sense will have to admit that illegal hunting has drastically de- clined. But in my honest opinion, the game is no longer worth the candle in spring." For all his vocal interventions as cultural ambassador, it is for opera that Joseph Calleja's voice remains best known. And opera is not exactly free from its own internal contro- versies. Calleja himself may even be viewed as 'controversial' within that sphere, in that (like Pavarotti before him) he incorporates other genres of music into his live concerts and recordings. To the purist this is al- most sacrilege. How does he him- self view the juxtaposition? Does his diplomatic role also extend to being an ambassador for opera to a wider public? "This is how I see the analogy. Im- agine the latest super-charged Range Rover – which in fact I recently drove in the UK. It's fantastic, a big hulk of a machine that does zero to 60 in 4.8 seconds. Then you have a Formula 1 car. Both are incredible statements of automotive engineering. But one is used on the road – or off-roading, if you like – while the other is strictly used for track only. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other. They're both cars, they both drive, they both have wheels..." But then, shouldn't they also be kept apart? I give him a particu- lar example from memory. Some years ago, US pop singer Michael Bolton sang 'Vesti La Giubba' with Calleja during his annual summer Malta concert. Bolton is undeniably a talented singer in his own musical sphere, but the mismatch in voices was (in my own, untutored opinion) rather glaring. So isn't there a danger that by juxtaposing the two musical genres, one also exposes the short- comings of the other? "Let me put it this way: yes, you're right that the way Michael Bolton sang it was not the correct way… he's not an opera singer. But he doesn't claim to be an opera singer, either, and there lies the difference. The way he approaches it is: 'listen, I'm a pop singer with a great voice for my ballads, but I love opera. This is my… not contribution, but tribute, if you like: a pop voice singing operatic songs'. Is the result great? No, it's not. Is it good enough for entertainment? Yes it is. And that's why I call the Michael Boltons, the pop artists, my 'Trojan horses'… to introduce opera to people who otherwise would nev- er have given it a chance. I'm here today, talking about opera, thanks to cross-over artists like Mario Lanza and Andrea Bocelli. And the Three Tenors. They were criticised, they received a lot of flak. Cynics would say they were making a million dol- lars per concert… and it was true. In some cases they made more than that. But it was a win-win situation. They brought opera to the masses. No one can deny that…" At the same time, popular percep- tions of opera suggest that it really does occupy quite a small, exclusive niche as an art form. I am aware that there is plenty of contemporary op- era being written, but the names that still reverberate in this world remain firmly rooted in a lost Classical Age: Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, etc. At a glance, then, opera seems to have been unable to reinvent itself as an art form reflecting the realities of its own age. It needs other genres to prop it up… Calleja acknowledges that Classi- cal Opera still dominates the inter- national circuit, and that this is un- likely to change any time soon. "As to why we're still singing Puccini and Verdi… the most direct answer I can give is that nobody has composed any music that can rival them. Sim- ple as that. No composer alive today has composed any piece of music that is that grand, that beautiful, that easy on the ear, but complicated at the same time. Same for Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Tchaiko- vsky… these people had nothing to distract them. No Instagram, Face- book, Twitter accounts… they didn't have planes, if they travelled, they travelled by horse-drawn carriage. Everything was slower… and it's like wine. When you mature a great wine slowly, in the right conditions, the results are great." Doesn't this also mean that opera's days are numbered? "Let there be no mistake. Slowly, slowly, opera is, if not a dying art form, a form which is changing a lot. And unless opera is going to have am- bassadors who can take their voices to huge crowds, to propagate the art form and introduce it to new peo- ple… opera will die a slow death." Interview JOSEPH CALLEJA, whose illustrious operatic career placed Malta on the cultural world map, talks of early influences, recent controversies, the latest Range Rover and why opera is doomed without cultural ambassadors all these years… PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD VENUE CASA ELLUL BOUTIQUE HOTEL, VALLETTA