Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/679878
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2016 30 This Week Swinging through the festival You could be counted as one of Malta's most pro-active musi- cians, as you're seen being in- volved in a variety of eclectic events at any given time, while also often making an effort to pro- mote Maltese music abroad. How did you manage to get to this point with your music? Eclectic is a very appropriate term to describe my approach to music and to art in general! For the past five years my calendar includes (at least) one concert abroad each month on the international festival network: from contemporary mu- sic festivals to World Music arenas, contemporary ballet and education programmes for opera houses all around Europe. Getting to where I am now is a combination of many different strands. Entrepreneurship and strategy on one hand … and of course artistic excellence. With my work I always make sure to preset a very high benchmark but most importantly I offer something that a festival cannot find on its own turf. If they can find the same thing in their own city, why should they bother booking it from Malta? Your work is deeply concerned with locating and promoting local sounds and their heritage. Why did you decide to follow on this particular track and why would you say it's a worthwhile pursuit? Music heritage is just one aspect of my work. In recent years I've been mainly committed to con- temporary expression rather than folk music. Nonetheless I consider the revival of Maltese traditional instruments important for several reasons: by the 1970s the Maltese traditional instruments were prac- tically extinct. I believe that the folk music is an important part of the cultural identity of any country. Malta has its own language as well as its own music. Having said that, I am more interested in the trans- position of folk material to new mu- sic. I am not interested in the Żaqq (Maltese bagpipe) as a museum artifact but rather as an instrument that can reach out new audiences on the international World Music stage. What have been some of the most significant recent highlights of your career, and why would you say they are important? My most recent highlight would have to be touring with my chil- dren's opera KIRANA in France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Cyprus and Latvia. I really enjoy travelling with my own projects. KIRANA is currently my flagship project. I travel with my own team and get the opportunity to conduct work- shops with children and artists from all these countries. It's very rewarding. I am also very proud of the work I am doing for the Valletta 2018 Foundation: namely the Mod- ern Music Days concert series in collaboration with Teatru Manoel and the Vrbe Nova project which comprises a virtual choir of 2018 voices singing together via webcam uploads. Could you talk a little bit about BANDLI (SWINGS), which you will be helping present at this year's edition of the Malta Arts Festival? What role did you play in devising this event, and what were its initial aims? BANDLI is one of the flagship projects of the Malta International Arts Festival (MIAF) that is taking place between July 8 and 18. As a programming team member of the Malta International Arts Festival I proposed BANDLI – an interactive sound-art installation. We all love to swing and BANDLI builds upon this instinctive mode of entertain- ment to create an interactive sound installation. Each swing is equipped with a motion sensor so that music is trig- gered through the swinging action. Furthermore, different instruments are assigned to the eight swings so that the whole structure func- tions like a music ensemble that is brought to life through the inter- active engagement of the public. If two persons are swinging, it's a duo; four swings makes a quartet… all the way up to an eight-piece en- semble. BANDLI will be installed at St George's Square in Valletta and has the capacity to engage thou- sands, swinging and making music together. This is a project that in many ways represents the ethos and vision of the MIAF: artistic excellence that reaches out to the community by taking music out of the concert hall to the people out in the street. BANDLI engages crowds and in doing so educates through en- tertainment and fosters audience development. BANDLI is being produced by the Malta Association for Contemporary Music which is committed to introduce new mu- sic to new audiences. The technical aspect is being developed by Sergio Costa while I am focusing more on the musical and artistic attributes of the project. The concept of a 'mu- sical swing' has been developed by several artists and we researched several prototypes for inspira- tion, however we are evolving the concept further for the MIAF and adopting a totally unique aesthetic. BANDLI is a collaboration between the MIAF and the Manoel Thea- tre's Modern Music Days concert as part of the Valletta 2018 Cultural Programme in the run up to the Eu- ropean Capital of Culture year. How would you describe the Maltese musical scene? What would you change about it? Over the last few years Arts Council Malta has developed a solid funding scheme for musicians and artists to produce their work as well as travel with their art in- ternationally. I think this is a great opportunity and musicians should really take advantage of these fund- ing schemes. Today it is possible in Malta to work as a freelance musi- cian… but you have to work your butt off. The work has to be excel- lent and you need to develop en- trepreneurship skills. It's a learning curve and each artist needs to navi- gate his or her own journey. Person- ally I would not have it any other way. What I would change is infra- structure… the cultural infrastruc- ture of Malta is very poor. We lack concert halls, performance space, cultural clusters. We even lack the basis musical instruments available for rent to present a classical music concert with the basic percussion instruments. That needs to change. What's next for you? A lot of touring. I am very happy to announce that my application for the Cultural Export Fund was suc- cessful. I will be touring to present Busy musician and composer Ruben Zahra speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about Bandli, his interactive contribution to this year's edition of the Malta Arts Festival, taking place from July 8 to 18 this year Ruben Zahra • Photo by Lisa Attard