Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Malta World Music Festival
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May, in Malta, is fast becoming synonymous with the celebration of cultural diversity through world music.
The 2018 edition of the Malta World Music Festival (MWMF) opens its doors on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th May to present nothing short of the finest selection of world music acts that Malta has staged so far. The ethos of MWMF will continue to be socially engaging, a vibrant event that opens up and reaches out to the most diverse of communities. With a carefully curated artist line-up handpicked during my on-going travels to perform around the world, and set in the unique Fort St Elmo, MWMF will undoubtedly be a international artistic showcase that will surpass expectations. And with arms wide open, I can’t wait to welcome our audiences to the second edition of Malta World Music Festival! Renzo Spiteri, Artistic Director MWMF 2018
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#MWMF 2018
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Friday 18th May 2018
Cushion Refugees for Refugees Afro Celt Sound System Saturday 19th May 2018
Ana Alcaide Trad.Attack! Electrik Gem |
Venue:
Piazza D'Armi, Fort St. Elmo, Valletta (Malta) |
Afro Celt Sound System
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Formed by Grammy-nominated musician and record producer Simon Emmerson, Afro Celt Sound System are a European and African based collective who’ve been a ground-breaking force in music ever since they started. With sales now topping one and a half million albums and two Grammy nominations to date, Afro Celt Sound System celebrated their 20th Anniversary with a stunning new album, ‘The Source’ released in April 2016 on ECC Records described as a “colossus of an album” by fRoots. ‘The Source’ is undoubtedly their most ambitious album yet and one that takes their cross-cultural collaboration and acclaimed live performances to another level. Afro Celt Sound System is a live music spectacle featuring a host of outstanding musicians, every bit as energetic and captivating as the album.
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Refugees for Refugees
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Refugees for Refugees is a band of 10 musicians who are refugees in Belgium and come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tibet. Under the artistic direction of Tristan Driessens, these virtuoso performers create a common repertoire that reveals the talents and cultural treasures t and builds bridges between the musicians and the different traditions they represent, in order to produce performances that are rich, innovative and a mark of diversity and cultural exchange.
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These are experienced musicians who have been trained at some of the most prestigious music academies in the Middle East (Damascus, Baghdad, Aleppo) and who have passed through a string of musical centres dotted along the former Silk road. In the past, they have enjoyed a rich career, international fame, and a variety of projects. But now, they have been forced to flee the disastrous situation in their home countries, uprooting themselves and abandoning their contacts, taking only their musical talents and instruments with them. These talents form the basis of the project. Together, we aim to develop a project that will help them to find their place and reconstruct their lives in Belgium.
Cushion
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Cushion, an Indian Fusion band which is based in Malta, offers a very interesting mid tempo fusion of western and eastern chill-out music, mostly inclined towards the sound of India, with dominant sitar licks, eastern inclinations on vocal threads, backed with sublime ambience from the keys, and interesting bass and drum patterns to wrap it all up.
The main influences of Cushion, come from a fusion of music genres including Ravi Shankar, Masaladosa, Anoushka Shankar, Hans Zimmer, Niladri Kumar, Rush, Bonobo, Lab's Cloud, Jean Michel Jarre, Bob Marley and Prem Joshua. |
Electrik GEM
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Traveling the Mediterranean countries and being transformed by their cultures, Grégory Dargent and the musicians of Electrik Gem have decided to redraw its outlines. Saturated guitars, revisited traditional group, explosive percussions, choir composed by sensual and wild voices, Electrik Gem is just like the Mediterranean cities, a musical impressionism suggesting existing townscapes or those to come.
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"Unlike other groups that would simplify everything with electro rhythms to make it more easily digestible, Grégory Dargent surprises us : his music gains in power with rough riffs and breaks with twisted rhythms." JAZZTHETIK (DE)
"A constant energy, sophisticated compositions, a cross between the Balkans, the Middle East and rock electricity. A moment of sharing, without hypocrisy, rare." LES INROCKS (FR)
"The band seals the iconoclastic alliance between oriental instrumental accoustic, saturated rock and traditional bulgarian choir : a new folk with Balkan influences, savage and explosive." TÉLÉRAMA(FR)
"A constant energy, sophisticated compositions, a cross between the Balkans, the Middle East and rock electricity. A moment of sharing, without hypocrisy, rare." LES INROCKS (FR)
"The band seals the iconoclastic alliance between oriental instrumental accoustic, saturated rock and traditional bulgarian choir : a new folk with Balkan influences, savage and explosive." TÉLÉRAMA(FR)
TRAD.ATTACK!
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TRAD.ATTACK! play their own interpretation of Estonian folk, a fusion of rock, folk and bagpipe drive. They draw inspiration from archive recordings of the great Estonian folk singers and instrumentalists who created and performed music for work, leisure and festivities in the old times. TRAD.ATTACK! brings their voices and their music to the 21st century, building modern sound and pulsating rhythmic structures around old recordings, creating an impressively big sound from acoustic 12-string guitar, drums, an array of whistles, bagpipes and mouth harps.
They received 17 Music Awards in Estonia, released two internationally acclaimed albums, toured in over thirty countries playing significant festivals as WOMEX, WOMAD, Eurosonic, Transmusicales, Mundial Montreal and becoming a visit card of Estonia abroad. |
Ana Alcaide
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Ana Alcaide is a musician and composer from Toledo, Spain, who carries out research on ancient traditions and cultures, and has played a pioneering role in the introduction and popularisation of the nyckelharpa in Spain.
Her music is inspired by the journey of the Sephardic Jews and her city, which is why her music is commonly referred to as the ‘Toledo Soundtrack’. Rooted in ancient traditions yet resolutely modern, her compositions deftly blend musical styles from different cultures. From the inspirational backdrop of the city of Toledo, Ana writes and produces her songs, creates new arrangements and adapts her instrument to ancient melodies that originated in medieval Spain and have travelled throughout the Mediterranean region. |
