Walter Micallef and Friends will give a series of concerts at the St. James Cavalier Theatre between Thursday 8 and Sunday 11 July, starting at 9.00pm.
Walter Micallef will be performing a new repertoire of songs in Maltese together with some well-known numbers that appeared in his debut album M’Jien Xejn published in 2003.
Walter Micallef will be accompanied by Renzo Spiteri (percussion), Pawlu Camilleri l-Bibi (harmonica), Jes Psaila (acoustic guitar), Eric Wadge (base), and Albert Garzia (accordion). Many of these musicians played with him earlier this year when he gave a concert in Malta as part of the One World Beat Global Music Festival held in over 40 countries.
The title of this series of concerts, L-Aħħar Sekondi, is taken from one of Walter Micallef’s most powerful songs about a bird shot down by a hunter as dawn is breaking. Some of the other songs in the concert line-up are “Qiegħ il-Flixkun,” “Ġebla Niexfa,” “Il-Party,” “Il-Kejl,” “Nemmen,” “Sieħbi fil-Cupboard tal-Kċina,” “Ma Temminnix,” and “Dik il-Povra Kreatura.”
“In a style that is both fresh and varied,” writes Steve Borg, “Walter Micallef deals with social issues and personal experience. He deals with love and suffering, with environmental degradation and the subtle manipulation of youth. He consciously takes up issues that many have ignored, like child abuse and machismo. He is a singer songwriter who meets the linguistic and thematic challenges of his art head on.”
The Performers
Walter Micallef is one of Malta’s leading singer songwriters. He has written over eighty original songs in Maltese. In 2003 he released his first album called M’Jien Xejn for which he was nominated as Best Male Artist at the 2004 Malta Music Awards. He has won the Għanja tal-Poplu on several occasions. In 2004 he appeared on the German television stations ZDF and Bayerische Fernsehen.
Singer songwriters like Walter Micallef, writes literary critic Adrian Grima, “are musicians of words; they manage to fascinate and communicate at the same time because in every word they see artistic potential and the ability to go beyond.” Walter Micallef’s every word, to borrow a phrase from Sepúlveda, “carries its own true weight;” every word has a role to play, irrespective of whoever uses it or what they may say about it. “What we’re left with as involved listeners,” writes Dr. Grima “is the uncomfortable, heavy silence that follows the words.”
Jes Psaila is the guitarist of the Voices choir and the group Syrup. In November 2003 he performed in Italy in the theatrical production Caravaggio di Merisi: Chiaroscuro. He is involved in various projects ranging from studio recordings to live performances, including jazz and fusion ensembles, and has composed original music for a number of theatre productions.
Renzo Spiteri, one of Malta’s leading percussionists, studied music in Malta and in Milan. In 1997, he graduated with a B.A.(Hons.) in Music and Theatre Studies. He also studied percussion at the Milan Jazz School and the CEP Institute of Music. In 2002 he founded the 7-piece percussion ensemble, The Katambu Sound Factory. This year he has performed in Budapest, Liverpool, Lisbon, Athens and Dublin.
Pawlu Camilleri l-Bibi plays the piano and harmonica. He comes from a renowned musical family in the Due Balli area in Valletta. His father was the well-known pianist Frankie Camilleri l-Bibi. He has written the lyrics for several musicals and religious operas. At present he is working on an album in Maltese with a biblical theme.
Accordion player Albert Garzia started studying music, focusing on the accordion and the piano, at the age of 7. At present he is reading for a Diploma in Sacred Music and a B.A. (Hons.) degree in music composition at the University of Malta. Garzia has also played folk music in Malta and in other European countries.
Eric Wadge studied the violin and music theory with his grandfather John Micallef and at the School of Music in Valletta. At eighteen he switched to the double bass. He has played with local bands Bigfoot, Quicksand and Luage. In February 2003, Wadge, who plays the Da Capo bass, performed in the Cresce l’Europa festival held in Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
The Concerts by Walter Micallef and Friends
The production team of L-Aħħar Sekondi is led by Steve Borg and includes Adrian Mamo, Lorraine Dowling u Adrian Grima. These concerts are being held with the support of Datastream, Castille Hotel, Tip Top Sports, Olimpus Music and Morales Fashions.
Tickets, at Lm4.00, can be booked by calling the St. James Cavalier booking office on 2122 3200 or by writing to boxoffice@sjcav.org. For more information write to steveborg@global.net.mt or phone 7963 6543. Walter Micallef is featured on the Inizjamed website at http://inizjamed.cjb.net.
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