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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 MAY 2015 This Week 31 Sounds of the kora introduced to Ghanafest When Jali Diabate will perform at Ghanafest, the audience will be experiencing a musical aura that says so much about the culture and the social life of many West African people. Diabate comes from this rich musical region as well as a family that is steeped in musical history. In this exclusive interview, this artiste will further explain what makes the kora extraordinary The Kora is a beautiful instrument capable of delivering beautiful melodies and it can also be a bit complex. How can one go about playing it? The kora sound is like the harp one. The player uses only two fingers, the thumb and index of both hands, to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns and the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings. The korafola (kora player) could play the music accompaniment and then improvised solo at the same time. In Malta we will be really excited about this performance, since kora performances have been very few and far between. So what's in store? We are very excited about the fact that we are coming to participate in such a singular event as Ghanafest. We have so much news about future projects. This summer is full of good proposals. Currently, I'm working on various recording projects which involve acoustics, electro acoustic and pure elec- tronic music, blended together with kora sounds. You come from a popular family known for kora playing. How has the family tradition helped? As you noticed, my fam- ily tradition goes back to around 1,000 years. Here is a family known for their inevitable role that hand down, or pass on, the his- tory of Western Af- rica from father to son. This tradition helped me in my career, and also in- stilled in me intrin- sic values. Know- ing such important things in life go be- yond appearances: re- spect and exaltation of others, respecting and help- ing one's neighbour and the elderly, and most important- ly, greeting, accepting and integrating with foreigners. You are based in Sicily and your music has also been, time and again, featured on RAI specialized programmes. How have the Italians related to world music from your experiences? I have lived in Italy since 2004. I came here as a concert player with a band I had then. Given my musical tastes, personal ambitions and the desire to make music in a particular way, I assembled the Afro Bougna Band and four years later, came to Italy. My idea was to make ko- ra arrangement into a world music style. My music was accepted and broadcast on various radio stations in Italy, and I ended up featuring in various programmes on Ital- ian television. Many Italians love world music and West African styles have long been accepted, judging by various artistes who have per- formed in Italy over the years. Silnka is your latest album. It also relates a lot to your experiences in Senegal and your new home in Catania over the past decade. Could you tell us a little bit more about it? It is a work produced by my- self. It was done to reach out to a world audience, as well as to a restricted, much narrower Ital- ian audience. It is played almost everywhere through the radio and online ra- dio interests of world music. Silinka encom- passes the fundamental themes that have marked humanity, starting from the event 'griotismo' through slavery in Africa and lat- ter day slavery and war. How have the Italians related to world music from your experiences? How much has Italy helped to shape your music? All that I have done differently from what I did in my music when I was in my country, I did it here in Italy. I am doing and hope to do so many different things in this country or somewhere else in the world, hoping to discover and learn more in the things that I love doing. How do you collaborate with Italian talents? My collaborations with Italians will always remain very significant to me. Collaborations with children are par- ticularly close to my heart, such as the ones I had done with the Poly- phonic Choir of Musica e Oltre and the youth orchestra Paolo e Borsellino from Catania. But indeed I was very excited the first time that I was part of a pro- gramme of a very important festival, Horcynus Orca. There were two songs that featured in Silinka, and written by the maestro Dario Siclari for the Reggio Calabria Symphony Orches- tra with whom I was on stage for a gig playing my inseparable kora and singing songs songs written by myself, namely Aduna: Anthem for Peace and Yayo: A Lullaby. This year's edition of Ghanaf- est – Malta Mediterranean Folk Music Festival 2015 will take place over June 12-14 at 19:00 at Argotti Gardens, Floriana Tick- ets are at €3 per night or €7 for a three-day block ticket available at the door. For more information and a full programme, log on to: www.maltafolkmusicfestival.org As you noticed, my fam- ily tradition goes back to around 1,000 years. Here is a family known for their inevitable role that hand down, or pass on, the his- tory of Western Af- rica from father to son. This tradition helped me in my career, and also in- stilled in me intrin- sic values. Know- ing such important things in life go be- yond appearances: re- spect and exaltation of others, respecting and help- ing one's neighbour and the elderly, and most important- ly, greeting, accepting and integrating with foreigners. You are based in Sicily and your music has also been, time and again, featured on RAI specialized programmes. How have the Italians related to world music from your experiences? I have lived in Italy since 2004. I came here as a concert player with a band I had then. Given my musical tastes, personal ambitions and the desire to make music in a particular way, I assembled the Afro Bougna Band and four years later, came to Italy. My idea was to make ko- ra arrangement into a world music style. My music was accepted and broadcast on various radio stations in Italy, and I ended up featuring in various programmes on Ital- ian television. Many Italians love world music and West African styles have long been accepted, judging by various artistes who have per- formed in Italy over the years. It is a work produced by my- self. It was done to reach out to a world audience, as well as to a restricted, much narrower Ital- ian audience. It is played almost 'griotismo' through slavery in Africa and lat- ter day slavery and war. How have the Italians related to world music from your experiences? How much has Italy helped to shape your music? All that I have done differently from what I did in my music when I was in my country, I did it here in Italy. I am doing and hope to do so many different things in this country or somewhere else in the world, hoping to discover and learn more in the things that I love doing. How do you collaborate with Italian talents? My collaborations with Italians will always remain very significant to me. Collaborations with children are par- ticularly close to my heart, such as the ones I had done with the Poly- phonic Choir of Musica e Oltre and the youth orchestra Paolo e Borsellino from Catania. But indeed I was very excited the first time that I was part of a pro- gramme of a very important festival, Horcynus Orca. There were two songs that featured in Silinka, and written by the maestro Dario Siclari for the Reggio Calabria Symphony Orches- tra with whom I was on stage for a gig playing my inseparable kora and singing songs songs written by myself, namely Aduna: Anthem for Peace and Yayo: A Lullaby. This year's edition of Ghanaf- est – Malta Mediterranean Folk Music Festival 2015 will take place over June 12-14 at 19:00 at Argotti Gardens, Floriana Tick- ets are at €3 per night or €7 for a three-day block ticket available at the door. For more information and a full programme, log on to: www.maltafolkmusicfestival.org into gear would encourage further ini- tiatives and give opportunities for more local filmmakers to hone their craft. It needs to be a catalyst for improvement. What is the next stage for the project? The project is going through several stages in rapid suc- cession and since the timing is generally quite tight, I sus- pect that this breakneck pace won't slow down until the film premieres in early 2016. Right now I'm working through an- other draft of the script for the people at Film London and my editor Angeli MacFarlane to scrutinise. Then I expect I'll receive their notes and write yet an- other draft. At the same time, the rest of the core team is picking out our crew while the casting and location scout- ing is also an on-going proc- ess. Since this is essentially a training programme aimed at helping to jump-start a local film industry, the majority of our crew will comprise of fel- low Maltese filmmakers. Some may be more experienced than others but all are equally enthusiastic. Filming will start in mid-July and will go on for a month. Film London Microwave In- ternational: Malta is an in- ternational iteration of the successful Film London Micro- wave production scheme. Mal- ta Film Commission commis- sioned Film London to deliver the scheme in Malta. 20,000 Reasons sees a total invest- ment of €427,000 which aims to invest in training, skills and expert mentoring for emerg- ing Maltese filmmakers and showcase Maltese filmmaking talent. 20,000 Reasons – the story Sophie Bellizzi is a no- nonsense and hard-working perfectionist who's obsessed with getting her company off the ground. She has a strained relationship with her younger sister Juliana, and an even more difficult one with her grandmother who is obsessed with seeing her only grandchildren married so as to protect the family's wealth. When Sophie breaks it off with her cheating boyfriend, he gets together with her grandmother and they make some changes to her will: if Sophie doesn't get married by the time she's 30, her share of the inheritance will go to Juliana. That gives her only three months to come up with a plan to make sure that neither her ex, nor her sister win. Ramon is the handyman for Sophie's family. He also needs money – badly. A plan is made between Sophie and Ramon and a temporary alliance is forged. But is it possible for them to trick everyone into thinking that they're suddenly in love?