Bands accompanied by beer, bangers and burgers

Jazz and beer ends this weekend, and bands and beer starts next as the Farsons Great Beer Festival comes round again. Now in its 30th year, it’s a mid summer institution. Whether you’re a music lover, a beer lover, or just in search some cool night air with the family in tow (and families do go in droves; expect lots of buggies!), the Beer Festival is the place to be from Friday 23 – Sunday 1 August at Ta’ Qali national park.

In fact, event organisers in Malta it seems need do no more than find an open air space, add a beer stall or two and a few fast-food stands (some surprisingly tasty though or perhaps the beer adds to appetite) and people turn up. Not all who go to the Malta Jazz Festival are jazz aficionados; a lot just go to meet old friends and chat along to some background music. Not all who go to the Farsons Great Beer Festival are interested in all the music on offer though it has such a diversity of music you can cherry pick a night to suit. Since it’s billed as ‘Malta’s largest outdoor music festival’, we’ll concentrate on the bands.

The line-up is local and spans almost all tastes with something of interest to most generations. The programme takes place on a main stage and a rock stage with three bands / artists a night on each. Music varies from a Johnny Cash tribute night to Ira Losco and Thea Garrett and over on the rock stage from Scream Daisy, Chasing Pandora to Fakawi and the Rifffs. Fakawi on the last night has become an institution in itself with its theatrical, not just musical performance that is always a big crowd puller.

Info:
The festival opens from 8pm onwards each night. Ta’ Qali car park offers free parking.
Public Transport: Bus Numbers 80, 81 and 84. Last bus back to Valletta from Ta’ Qali is 10.30 so not much use. Farsons told us they put in a request for an extension to the hours of these route buses, but the reply was that since so few people used the late night service in previous years, the buses don’t think it’s worthwhile running later.

Farsons Great Beer Festival on Facebook
Official Beer Festival site

Photo: Chris Farrugia

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The Many Faces of Strait Street. ('Museum Night' 70x100cm acrylic on paper)

Strait Street, Valletta, has been getting quite some attention in recent months. Not that its name hasn’t had a certain resonance for well over a century – ask any British ex-servicemen who were stationed in Malta up to the ’60s or so.

Famed, or notorious for its music halls and less salubrious life in Valletta of old, Strait Street is now high on the agenda for rehabilitation and becoming an ‘in’ venue for those who love art, wine and music.

Wine bars and little hole-in-the-wall galleries have emerged along its very narrow thoroughfare, and thrive. By day M&S, that most British of retailers, is open for business in a designer-renovated building and further down, as it dips towards the end of the Valletta peninsula, law firms have lovingly done up patricians’ houses into amazing offices.

And, a couple of months back, we got the new Strait Street public conveniences! Which were talk of the town when they opened.

Riding on the crest of all this interest in the once much maligned Strait Street, this year’s Malta Arts Festival has created an event to celebrate the street. Spaces or Spazji is all about representing visual arts in a way the festival hasn’t captured them in previous editions. Rather than a conventional exhibition, the scope of this year’s project was to find and create a ‘new’ space for the visual arts.

The Art Exhibition
A privately-owned space near the upper end of Strait Street (nearly opposite Trabuxu wine bar has been ‘loaned’ out especially for the occasion and now hosts the works of five independent artists.

In complete contrast to the street’s physical boundaries, the works on show are broad in theme. The artists – Sean Gabriel Ellul, Fabrizio Ellul, Ruth Bianco, Anton Grech and James Micallef Grimaud, selected by curator Lisa Gwen Baldacchino – have been drawn together in the hopes of setting a precedent.

Spaces|spazji runs from July 9 till July 30 at No. 187, Strait Street, Valletta. Opening hours: 10 a.m. till 7 p.m. daily. Entrance: free.

More on Malta Arts Festival.

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For a cool seat at the Malta Jazz Festival, cruise with the Hera

This is our second piece about boats in as many days, but with Malta sweltering right now, all thoughts turn to water. Having been stuck in the 1pm rush hour from Valletta today, with my son singing ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen Go out in the Midday Sun’ behind me, I can tell you I was pleased to get this cool news when I got home and checked mail…

Malta Jazz Festival Cruises
I can think of fewer better ways to spend a sultry July night in Malta than listening to some world-class jazz with a cool breeze from sea enveloping me. If that appeals to you too, then listen up, because booking’s just opened for a places on a Turkish Gulet, the Hera, which is running Malta Jazz Festival (15,16,17 July) evening cruises of Grand Harbour with a buffet included.

Those veteran Jazz Festival goers among us will have seen the boats anchor up each year for one of the most memorable seats in town. The Hera is a sponsor of the festival, so has its rightful place among the craft that are bound to jostle along the wharf near us landlubbers and the stage. Even if you’re not on board, the yachts bobbing nearby make the setting uniquely Malta Jazz.

Booking Details
Tickets are €50. The package includes a 45-minute cruise of Grand Harbour taking in the sunset, and a cold buffet and welcome drink.

Departure from Sliema Ferries opposite Burger King/ Nazzarenu Church.

Time 8.00pm – 11.30pm
Price €50 per night
Transport included.

For further details, e-mail:
info@heracruises.com or call +356 21330583/ 21347483

To book, call 79445448

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The Hulda Festival: a ship on a journey of science & art

First, there’s the boat – the MS Hulda, built in 1905. And then aboard it is a travelling exhibition of scientific sculptures by the Turkish-Swedish artist Ilhan Koman (1921 – 1986). The Hulda is now birthed at Grand Harbour Marina, Birgu (3 – 13 July) as part of the Malta Arts Festival. And it’s running some some great, hands-on workshops for kids, for free. But what is Hulda all about and why is it in Malta?

What is Hulda?
The Hulda Festival features events celebrating the meeting of arts and sciences around Hulda and Koman. The Festival kicked off in March 2009 and will draw to a close in November 2010, by which time the Festival aboard ship will have visited Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Barcelona, Naples, Malta, Thessalonica and Istanbul. The festival benefits from the active partnership of some of the most prestigious art or science institutions based in these 10 cities.

Ilhan Koman’s creativity combined arts with sciences, make him a representative of a universal approach that descends from Leonardo da Vinci. For the Hulda Festival, Koman’s artworks embark aboard Hulda, the boat that was his residence and workshop. Visitors are welcome to play with the artists’ most interesting pieces to get feel for their scientific properties and artistic qualities.

Workshops for Children
In parallel, ten different workshops have been conceptualised for children by a local organisation in each of the Hulda’s pit stops. The workshops bring artistic and scientific disciplines together to make them more interesting and playful through topics such as “Sculpture & Aerodynamics”, “Creating the Nautical Charts of the Middle-Ages” and “Art and Alternative Energies”. In Malta, the Art and Science Youth workshops are organised by Il-Kunsill Malti għax-Xjenza u t-Teknoloġija (Malta Council for Science and Technology) : 3 – 13 July 2010 – Hulda Tent.

Booking & Info
Workshops will be open to a maximum of 25-30 children each session. You will need to pre-book. For more information please contact Martina Castillo at martina.castillo@gov.mt or give her a call on 23602122.

Background on the Hulda Festival project, which ends in Istanbul to celebrate its year as a European City of Culture.

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Rarer in the wild these days. A Maltese rabbit that had better watch out. It's a tradition to eat it on the feast of L'Imnajra.

The public holiday known as ‘L’Imnajra’ that falls on 29 June, has to be one of Malta’s most obscure in origin and defies neat description. In the religious calendar, the day marks the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, but this Maltese celebration, which starts on the night of 28 June and carries on all the next day into evening, is probably less to do with religion and more about rural life, country past-times and folk music.

It’s a bit of a medley really. It’s also associated with one place only in Malta, as people flock to celebrate it in Buskett Gardens that lie between Rabat and Dingli. It’s a family affair with people taking picnics and tents to spend a night out under the small pines which make up Malta’s largest stretch of woodland, planted by the Knights as a hunting grounds.

The feast has roots dating back well before the time of the Knights in Malta. ‘L’Imnajra’ is the Maltese corruption of the Italian word ‘Luminara’ meaning festival of light. The feast’s celebrations were once marked by bonfires lit in Mdina and Rabat, so folklore has it.

What to Expect
The night is characterised by general merry-making and its sociable atmosphere, with people bringing along instruments and making music. Local folk and ethnic-inspired bands usually turn up to play and set the scene. Families have BBQs and picnics and kids romp around. Traditionally, people take rabbit (Fenek) stew to eat. It’s a Maltese national dish and there’s even a Maltese word for ‘going out to eat rabbit’ – Fenkata! Some families and groups of friends make a complete summer night of L’Imarja and camp out.

The following day sees more organised rural pursuits: there is an agricultural show, which gets larger each year (seems to be a trend in Malta recently) as well as traditional bare-back horse and donkey races on Saqqajja Hill below Mdina. So expect some traffic chaos and roads blocked around that area.

Visitor Value
If you want to see some real Malta, then this could be worth a visit. It’s not the sheer exuberance of a village feast, as it’s more a summer folklore and farming affair. But it does have a certain appeal and charm. You will need to bus it there (Bus 81 from Valletta seems the best bet). Take some food and drink, get stuck in, and go with the flow. This is an impromptu affair in some ways, where people make their own fun.

Photo: John Haslam

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Richard Bona, one man, one guitar, one great voice on one magical evening at Malta Jazz

“I always try to find the perfect balance between artists who are big crowd-pullers and others who are more challenging to the ear. It is also my role to expose the Maltese audiences to what’s happening on the jazz scene today. The jazz festival is not just a social event where people gather to drink beer – it is a wonderful opportunity to discover new artists who are creating new exciting music,” says Sandro Zerafa, Malta Jazz’s Artistic Director, and a professional jazz musician himself.

Sandro took over the role for last year’s festival and has had the job of reviving it musically and bringing it back to its jazz roots and its favoured venue of Ta’ Liesse, below Valletta alongside Grand Harbour. Its success last year once again as a pure Jazz festival shows that the Islands can cater to a jazz-inclined crowd.

That said, contrast is the keyword at Malta Jazz 2010 (15,16,17 July), the 20th edition of the festival. This year’s line-up offers a panorama of the contemporary jazz scene, with all its diversity, from u-jazz to fusion, from vocal jazz to world music. Once more, Malta Jazz Festival features the cream of today’s jazz scene, presenting a star-studded line-up and offering a palette of artists catering for both the layman and the seasoned jazz enthusiast.

The Programme
This year’s edition highlights include rising star bass-player and vocalist Esperanza Spalding (clip below) and nu-jazz act The Bad Plus. Esperanza’s own brand of fusion has been headlining jazz festivals around the globe for the past few years and the Malta Jazz Festival this year is proud to present her unique blend of groove, vocal and post-bop jazz. The Bad Plus is one of the most original and influential jazz outfits to have emerged in recent years – a postmodern power jazz trio, notorious for their quirky renditions of Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, David Bowie and Aphex Twin.

The 2010 edition places a particular emphasis on fusion music, with the inclusion of guitar hero Grammy award nominee Mike Stern, (featuring two other familiar names with the Maltese jazz crowd – Randy Brecker and Dave Weckl) and Cameroonian singer/songwriter/virtuoso bass player Richard Bona, a past collaborator of Pat Metheny and the late Joe Zawinul.

Cutting-edge jazz, featuring New York’s finest, is represented by Ari Hoenig, one of the most happening musicians in New Yorkʼs club scene today. The 2010 edition of the Malta Jazz Festival features also two of the most important drummers in the contemporary jazz world – Bill Stewart and Greg Hutchinson, who will be playing with one of the festival’s headliners, saxophone player Joshua Redman.

The local jazz scene will be be represented by Francesca Galea, an up-and-coming vocal talent who will be accompanied by Brazilian pianist Leonardo Montana, and drummer Charles Gatt, the jazz festivalʼs creator, who will be leading his own quartet with Malta’s own Joe Debono on piano, and two familiar names from the Parisian jazz scene – Amy Gamlen on saxophone and Matteo Bortone on bass.

Tickets
Already on sale – at Euros 30 for the three nights, they’re a real steal.

More info
See: Malta Jazz Festival Official Blog for comment and latest.
Also, Malta Jazz Festival site
Malta Jazz on Twitter

And finally, to celebrate 20 Years of Malta Jazz
To mark the festival’s 20th anniversary a commemorative book featuring photography by Pierre Stafrace, Darrin Zammit Lupi, Joe Smith and Patrick Fenech will be published. Details to come.

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Washing machine died? Then Malta Trade Fair is the place to find a new one.

It’s come round again. Malta’s annual summer biggie – its Trade Fair, which runs 24 June – 4 July, 2010.

Despite the name, this is a pure consumer event, and paradise for anyone hell bent on finding that discounted TV or dishwasher they’ve been thinking about for months. At the Malta International Trade Fair at Ta’ Qali (centre of Malta, off Attard-Mdina road) you’ll find almost every supplier, shop and business conveniently ‘under one roof’. A God-send which saves you traipsing around individual shops, in the heat, over many weeks to compare and contrast models, makes and prices.

I’ve always hated shopping with a kid in tow, especially for anything that requires brain power to decide on. But strangely enough, the annual summer Trade Fair is traditionally a big hit with Maltese families for a night out. It does check some kiddy entertainment boxes though: ice creams, junk food, freebies from stands, probably a bouncy castle and play area somewhere, loads of other kids around, an excuse to stay up late and space to run around. Parents are usually rest assured that Trade Fair prices are on offer in the shop for the fair period, so they can go back and buy in peace later on.

The Trade Fair is now in its 53rd year and going stronger than ever with 12 days, an estimated 100,000 visitors (a quarter of Malta’s population) and some 200 plus stands. Every year, there’s a novelty to draw more crowds. For 2010, Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC) has gone in for that favourite European occupation of twinning; it has linked with the Modica Fiera della Contea (in the Ragusa region of Sicily). The aim is to promote mutual wares across borders and entice Maltese buyers and sellers to gain access to the Sicilian region’s products. All very worthy, Single Market and EU sounding.

Back to basics though, and details about the Fair, times and how to get there….

When & Where?
It runs for two weeks, 24 June – 4 July at the Maltese International Trade Fair Grounds in Ta’ Qali, (between Attard and Mdina in the centre of Malta)

Getting there
Those who have difficulty in reaching Ta’ Qali by car can use public transport services specifically heading to Ta’ Qali for the two weeks of the Fair, including direct routes from St. Andrews, Cospicua, Paola, Mqabba and Cirkewwa. Full details on the MFCC site here.
Free Parking

Opening Times: 18.30 – 23.30 daily,
Entrance Fee: €3

Photo: courtesy Shola

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Moving and sometimes fast moving: Ospizio pushes the boundaries at Malta Arts

When the audience is advised to wear practical footwear, you know you’re not in for a regular theatre-going experience. Theatre Anon’s production Ospizio, part of the Malta Arts Festival (3- 23 July), is certainly not a routine, seated affair to doze off to in the summer heat.

The audience is invited to follow the action, on the move on location in Malta’s old Ospizio – a building dating from the time of the Knights that took in society’s needy and acted alternately as hospital, hospice, asylum, orphanage and more. Ospizio is an original work commissioned by the Malta Arts Festival and devised by Theatre Anon, a company renowned for pushing the boundaries – Malta’s own ‘Théâtre de Complicité‘ if you like.

Ospizio is also a good example of how the Malta Arts Festival is highlighting the islands’ unique historic backdrops by matching productions and venues for dramatic and artistic effect. And showing how old, disused buildings can find new lease of life with the creative arts.

About the Production: ‘Ospizio’
Theatre Anon, in their most ambitious project to date, has created a fascinating tale; one that is spectacular, magical and hilarious, as well as touching because the story may reveal not only the history of the Ospizio… but also perhaps tell us something about ourselves.

Follow Magda on her journey. Meet Paolo Passionei, who was Malta’s longest-serving Inquisitor, and his secret mistress and their two daughters; the mad Mayor; the Monsignor; the heartthrob lawyer; Madam Sylvie, gatekeeper to the land of the forgotten; Di and Do, the perfect incompetents; Milly, the cranky old woman; Rozita, who summons ghosts whenever she sings; and Pandora who leads the Chorus of the Forgotten. Passionei’s life is just one of the many fascinating events we come across during Ospizio.

Theatre Anon’s multilingual story is a fictional one, inspired by the site’s colourful history and the intriguing characters that inhabited it. The audience is invited to embark on this journey with Anon’s large cast of actors, dancers, singers and The Big Band Brothers.

Ospizio is designed by Pierre Portelli, and Theatre anon has also collaborated with writer Clare Azzopardi on the project.

Dates
‘Ospizio’ runs in Floriana on the 5, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14 July as part of the Malta Arts Festival 2010.

Tickets are available from www.maltaticket.com or from any of the following outlets in Malta and Gozo: Exotique, Agenda, Vodafone, Bookends and Newskiosk.

For further information, see Malta Arts Festival Blog and the Theatre Anon site.

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