Encounter with poetry and percussion

Inkontri
Renzo Spiteri/Joe Friggieri works
Vilhena Palace

It all started some months ago when poems by Joe Friggieri accompanied by Renzo Spiteri’s percussive music were read at the French Residency in Żebbuġ. The event was so well received that it was decided to explore the idea further. As a result poems from Intervalli and Kadenzi, two of Prof. Friggieri’s poetry books were selected and passed on to Mr Spiteri to create music inspired by Prof. Friggieri’s poetic thoughts.

After months of deliberating, a CD containing 24 tracks of poems and music was launched last Saturday at the beautiful courtyard of Vilhena Palace in Mdina. During the launching, just like in the CD, poems were read by the poet himself, by Ninette Micallef and by Teresa Friggieri who also delivered a short translation in English of the poems read.

The launching was introduced by Peter Serracino Inglott who spoke about some aspects of Prof. Friggieri’s poetry and Mr Spiteri’s music. Both poetry and music depend on sound, stated the professor, and sounds can be musical or non-musical. When vibrations are more regular in their frequency, they give greater pleasure to the ear; when less regular, less pleasure. He spoke about the relationship between the verses and the use of percussive instruments and also spoke about the structure of the compositions in relation to the poems.

Having interviewed Prof. Friggieri a few days earlier, I know that he sets great store by having his poems read out loud. All poetry should be read out loud, he maintains.

He also insists that the poet cannot help but be greatly influenced by nature which surrounds him and that, in his opinion, all poets should be first and foremost, ecologists, very much aware of what is happening around them.

During his introductory talk Prof Serracino Inglott went one further. He pointed out that Prof. Friggieri is inspired by every day occurrences – waking up in the morning, listening to the voices of loved ones, the smell of fresh coffee, but also the blending of words with dreams, the intimate feeling after making love, the peace and quiet of an old country church. These peaceful reflections contrast sharply with visions of destruction - a loved corner gone forever, a rendevous in a smoke-filled lovers’ den, the clanging of chains in a prison, a simple flower trampled upon, its blood running like a rivulet to the valley. These images and occurrences haunt the poet’s sensitivity and he expresses them in simple, direct language which talks straight to the heart in beautiful Maltese.

To accompany these poetic thoughts, Mr Spiteri created different sounds by using a plethora of percussive instruments. These anticipated or confirmed the emotions expressed by the poems. He used gongs and mallets, drums including the djembe, the doun doun and the udu, earthenware pottery, a length of pipe which gave an ethereal sound, chimes, the hang and many others. The sounds created were loud or sweet, liquid or abrupt and they emphasised the words and the atmosphere of the poems.

A very good example is the collaboration between words and sounds in Wara l-Imħabba. Great tumultuous sounds indicating the passion and heat shared by the couple was followed by quiet meditative balmy music. Mr Spiteri must have spent many a day trying to create the exact sound he wanted to illustrate the words but the result was extremely satisfying to the audience that enjoyed every minute of the very pleasant evening in Mdina.

The CD, which is now on sale, is managed by Musiconnect Ltd. It also contains a booklet of the poems and their translation and is an exciting collaboration between words and music.