Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/952911
47 Events maltatoday SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2018 Malta World Music Festival 2018 WORLD Music. That global hodge- podge of sounds. That pancultural patchwork of musical traditions. Your typical World Music act finds rock instruments living side by side with esoteric ethnic relics. Futuristic electronic beats become the backdrop for ancient melodies. This is a music that can make con- gruent the most disparate modes of musical expression. Where African rhythms meet Gaelic sensibility, and where boisterous Balkan folk collides with the zen inflections of the far East. This May, Maltese music lovers will have the opportunity to expe- rience World Music in all its many glorious guises. Following the suc- cess of its maiden voyage last year, the Malta World Music Festival will return on the 18th and 19th of May at Fort St Elmo in Valletta with a jamboree of artists and musicians hailing from all over the world. The crowning jewel in this year's line-up is arguably Grammy-nom- inated collective Afro Celt Sound System who will be headlining Fri- day night's concert. The outfit fuse electronica with traditional Irish and West African sounds. Since releasing their debut album back in 1996, Afro Celt Sound System has been at the forefront of bring- ing worldbeat to the masses. Their presence on Maltese shores is testa- ment to the scope of Artistic Direc- tor Renzo Spiteri and team's vision, that of creating a truly world class event to rival any overseas. Friday's bill is completed with performances by Cushion and Refugees for Refugees. Local band Cushion draw heavily from the In- dian tradition, with dominant sitar licks and eastern vocalisations. The latter is a band of ten musicians who are actual refugees originating from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pa- kistan and Tibet. The band's sound builds bridges between the musical heritage of their respective home- lands. Festivalgoers can expect to lose themselves in the mystical medie- val melodies of chart topping Span- ish artist Ana Alcaide, who will kick off Saturday night's festivities. With her bewitching vocals and her trusty nyckelharpa – a sort of harp- like violin – Alcaide has garnered praise in the World Music scene for her contemporary interpretation of archaic Spanish and Mediterra- nean song. Alcaide will be followed by TRAD.ATTACK!, a trio of musi- cians who give Estonian folk music traditions a 21st century makeover. Finally, the night will be capped off by a set from Electrik Gem. Guitar- ist Grégory Dargent and his motley band of instrumentalists – which includes oud, gadulka and tarhu players – merge sounds from the Balkans, the Middle East and the Orient as an attempt to musically transcribe the modern multifacet- ed Mediterranean metropolis. With six hugely diverse acts per- forming over two magical nights, the Malta World Music Festival 2018 promises to take attendees on an expansive musical journey across time, cultures and place. Malta World Music Festival is or- ganized by Festivals Malta, sup- ported by the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Valletta 2018, Farsons & MSV Life. GSD Marketing Ltd honours women at the Business and Professional women Career Day GSD Marketing Ltd had the pleas- ure in participating at the Busi- ness and Professional Women (BPW Valletta) Career Day. Business and Professional Women is an international foun- dation aimed at helping women create business opportunities. This initiative was hosted at the Mediterranean Conference Cen- tre in Valletta and was part of the events being held to celebrate Women's Day. This event was held under the patronage of Her Excellency, the President of Mal- ta, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca who was accompanied by HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Over 80 professionals, from various entities, were present at this Career Day where the main focus was to guide and inform students about different careers paths. Mentors from GSD Mar- keting Ltd from various depart- ments as well as the COO of the Company, Maria Micallef, offered their guidance and mentoring to students at this event. ''We were honoured to support this event and provide a morning of career mentoring and guidance to over 1000 girls from over 15 schools in Malta. We are continu- ously encouraging young women to pursue their dreams and to strive to achieve their full poten- tial with respect to their careers" said Maria Micallef, COO of GSD Marketing Ltd. Malta International Airport ranked second best European airport MALTA International Airport has placed second amongst other European airport in the Airport Service Quality 2017 awards, which ranked 343 air- ports worldwide by departing passengers travelling through them during the year. The airport has managed to obtain a place within the top five European airports for the past nine years, however this is the highest it has placed in the awards, which are organised by Airport Council International. Last year's overall passenger satisfaction score was its high- est to date. This score bumped the airport up a place from 2016, where it is in a tie with Moscow Sheremetyevo (more than 40 million passenger per year) and Porto (more than 10 million pas- sengers per year). The top spot in the European category was claimed by Sochi, a Russian air- port welcoming over five million passengers annually, MIA said in a press release. The airport said the high rank- ing was even more significant considering the challenges it faces in 2017 due to the Terminal Reconfiguration Project which was underway within it. "This is a most fitting reward for a team that puts a lot of ef- fort into delivering an excellent service and finding new ways to enhance the passenger experi- ence," airport CEO Alan Borg said, adding that the scores were a vote of confidence from the air- ports guests. "Terminal reconfiguration works are now centred on the check-in hall, which will soon start operating with eight ad- ditional check-in desks, and the new central security area. The project is on track to be complet- ed by summer 2018," the state- ment read. Throughout the coming year, other significant investments in- cluding the replacement of termi- nal signage, the refurbishment of washrooms, and the installation of a new public announcement system will contribute to further improving the passenger journey through Malta International Air- port, the airport noted. Young cake decorator strikes gold with Lord of the Rings showpiece 21YEAROLD Margarita Cachia who forms part of the CaterEssence pastry team, struck gold last week at the Vi- vanda Culinary Competition which was held in Malta. Margarita started her ca- reer in cake decorating at Ca- ter Essence just one year ago. The legendary trilogy 'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien inspired the creation of this showpiece. This is the castle of Mordor with a war dragon and the eye of Sauron. The whole structure has a circumference of 74cms and a height of 88cm. It is made from Pastillage, better known as sugar paste and the use of in- ternal support from Cater Es- sence. The showpiece is com- pletely handmade, no moulds or cutters were used and it took two months of very hard work to create. CaterEssence, which forms part of Vassallo Group, Cater- Essence is one of the largest and leading privately owned contract caterers in Malta. Established in 2010, CaterEs- sence operates and specializes in hotel contract catering, care home catering, outside cater- ing and producing a wide vari- ety of pastries. It also operates The Cake Box outlets as well as The Panorama and MIRO res- taurants.