Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/542972
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JULY 2015 38 This Week Most land-growing plants don't much tolerate salt in their water. For most plants, places like saltmarshes, seashores, coastal sand dunes, etc. are places to avoid. Some plants, however, have managed to colonise these salt-rich habitats, and along our shores the tree most evidently adapted to saline conditions is the African Tamarisk. It's actually more a large shrub than a tree, although admittedly it's sometimes hard to tell its natural shape, considering the overzealous tendency to topiary among our street gardeners (walk the Għadira promenade and you'll see what I mean). The African Tamarisk (M: Bruka) is one of those hardy trees that can tolerate salty places because it has evolved a way of ridding its system of excess salinity by expelling salt from its leaves. The salt crystals sitting on the leaves also adds a bonus benefit to the tree as it renders its foliage unpalatable to most insects – clever! Despite its name, the African Tamarisk is quite native here. It's protected too. 463. AFRICAN TAMARISK GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 366: ACT NOW! – Help us protect nature by making your voice heard – visit http://www.foemalta.org/links/naturealert Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti Please don't stop the music Xtruppaw are famous for their bawdy, and sometimes satirical, songs. What are some of your key sources of inspiration, and are you finding it easier or harder to mine that vein? Inspiration comes in all forms – very often we compose the music first, then we write lyrics according to the mood of the song. Everybody is influenced by what's going on around them. Music-wise, we get in- spired by whatever we happen to be listening to at the time. When we're giving words to a song it's all about a situation or occurrence which we either feel we must comment about or that we find intrinsically funny. Politics have lately been so eventful locally, that it's next to impossible not to sprinkle them into the mix. Our greatest challenge there is to keep a neutral perspective – not be- cause we don't want to take a stand, but because we prefer to present what we (the Maltese) are doing and expose whatever is ridiculous in our behaviour in such a way that everybody can see it. Taking a stand means that automatically people will listen to what we're saying and either agree or disa- gree. We want them to think and see for themselves, expose the behaviours for what they are, then they can form their own opinions, rather than regurgitating others'. Yuck. So from hot dogs to scandals, everything goes for us, as inspiration goes. Both of them were always easy to find, and still are. What has the reaction to the your second album, Xtruppozitoriju, been like from your fans? What did they respond to the most? It has been very well received. It is a very varied album – we crammed in several musical styles and we think people appreciated that. Dur- ing gigs, people always respond better to the more upbeat songs, but we had several great comments about many songs. There are a few songs which fans always ask for and are very popular. Perhaps one thing that people really liked was the book- let of the CD. Every song was presented in the format of a poster on each page. We did a lot of work on those, especially Jeffrey, but it was worth the while because the CD package itself, not just the music is something we're proud of. One of the key elements and in- fluences in your music is 'punk' and, more broadly speaking, a sense of irreverence is evident through- out your music and sound. Would you say that this kind of 'punk spirit' can still be found in the local music scene? If not, why not? Up to a few years ago, there were more punk bands locally than there are now, musically speaking. The punk attitude, though, is present in a number of local bands: being anti-establishment, and staying true to one's values. Though still a little weak in the former, identity is be- coming stronger in the local scene. More bands are choosing to sing in Maltese, which is just a start. It is always refreshing to hear a song which is set in Malta and talks about Maltese people and situations, rath- er than generic, faceless songs. Ir- respective of whether it's in Maltese or English. Language has always been a di- lemma for bands – singing in Eng- lish will get you a wider audience because it's more likely to be mar- keted abroad, and let's be honest, Malta is too small to base a musi- cian's career on. For us this was never a problem, because we never intended for Xruppaw to be a full- time job. It's something we enjoy doing, and it's a medium through which we can voice our thoughts. We'd love to have more bands who think the same way. What would you say are some of the key challenges local musicians face, and do you find the proposed initiatives like the souped-up Car- nival Village in Marsa encourag- ing? William Mangion. There, it's out. This question begged to have that name in it, so now that's over and done with, let's talk about local mu- sic. There are several things that are problematic for local musicians, Ahead of their gig at the Beer Festival on July 24, boisterous punk outfit Xtruppaw speak to TEODOR RELJIC about the importance of singing in Maltese and the challenges local musicians face… particularly the scourge of the 'gigus interruptus'