Big band to play pop, jazz and Latin at Earth Garden

Ta' Qali national park will turn into one huge entertainment arena next weekend when it hosts Earth Garden, an arts, music and culture festival with the aim of raising awareness on the environment.

The park will be divided into different areas, including an arts square, a children's corner, an ethnic market, a food court, a world music stage and an electronic music area, the latter hosting popular deejays Junior B and Dj Ruby.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Go Music Concert, featuring a 16-piece band under the baton of young maestro Sigmund Mifsud. Each of the two concerts, which kick off at 8.30 p.m. on both nights, also includes performances by top local and London musicians and deejays.

On May 10, the band will take up a mainstream repertoire - from the legendary group The Beatles to The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Christina Aguilera, Ray Charles and popular funk music. The vocalists on the night will be Martina Borg, Raquela and Andre Portelli, the latter being the lyricist and vocalist of the local group Starbunker.

The second part of the concert will feature a jazz duo from London - trumpeter Alex Bezzina and saxophonist Tom Macleod - who together with local deejay Owen Jay will play an electronic fusion of jazz.

On May 11, the big band will start off with a jazz selection - from the sounds of pioneers such as Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, to the freer elements of jazz from Herbie Hancock - and then proceed with instrumental Latin numbers from Santana's and Tito Puente's repertoires. The vocal numbers will be performed by Nadine Axisa and Raquela.

Tribali's percussionists Peter Paul and Antoine will join in the final two numbers for a grand finale. The latter will continue their session with top London reggae deejay Nick Manasseh.

DJ Manasseh, who started off his career in 1987, has made an institution out of his programme on Kiss FM. He then moved on to producing music and has lately dedicated his time to tour all the main reggae festivals around Europe.

Discounted tickets at €15 (Lm6.44) per concert are available for all registered Go Mobile clients (two tickets per customer) from the Go Mobile outlets at Victoria, Baystreet, Sliema, Embassy in Valletta, Pavi and MIA. Block tickets for both concerts can be bought at €36 (Lm15.45) from ticket hotline 2149 4297, Agenda Bookshops, Newskiosk, Exotique and Bookends.

Entrance to all the other activities is free.