It’s no secret that Tribali’s self-titled debut album played a vital role in attracting a fair amount of attention at home and abroad. But 2009’s Elephants of Lanka effectively elevated the band’s profile to the international standing it has comfortably occupied ever since.

The great thing about our genre is that it welcomes any sort of crossover influence, giving us freedom of expression without restrictions

The road to international recognition hasn’t been easy, and the three years that have lapsed since Tribali first rolled out Lanka’s passionate eclecticism have been markedly eventful, bringing with them line-up changes and significant achievements that have enabled the band to share its already–universal sound and, as frontman Peter Paul Galea puts it, “seek out new musical ventures we’ll be sharing on our upcoming album”.

It took Tribali all of two years to finish Elephants of Lanka. Just a few months after the album was out the band had a change in our line-up, with Jean Pierre Zammit joining on guitars and sitar.

With performances at the 2010 Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia booked ahead, it’s safe to assume the change instigated a tougher commitment in the band’s already hectic schedule.

Galea agrees: “It was a challenge because we were only a few months away from playing at Bluesfest again.”

Later that year, Tribali also brought in Eliza Borg as its main vocalist, bringing a new element to Tribali’s original formula that was tried and very successfully tested during the various gigs.

The band played in Vittoriosa, Cospicua and in Victoria, opened for Moby, The Prodigy and Faithless and their performance at last year’s Farsons Beer Festival attracted a record-breaking audience.

Tribali are also involved in the organisation of the Earth Garden festival. “The festival is very dear to us,” Galea says. “It’s a unique world music event and last year, we also had the pleasure of having our dear friend Nicky Bomba, who was born here but raised in Australia, over to perform.”

Bomba, who has a solo reggae project and also plays drums in the John Butler Trio, had originally met the band when they were in Australia to play at the Bluesfest.

Galea reveals that Tribali and Bomba will be doing another event together around the beginning of June.

In the meantime, there has, of course, also been the new album to work on. With Howard Keith in charge of production – “a big asset for the band whose advice we totally trust” – Tribali’s third album has brought new challenges to create fresh music and explore new sounds.

“We’re always on the lookout for any traditional musical instrument that inspires us. We also love experimenting with instruments like the flute, trumpet, hang, morchunga and other percussive instruments that fit our world music mindset.”

More specifically, Galea is keen to mention that the hang, the nylon guitar, the harmonica and the trumpet all feature on the album.

“The great thing about our genre is that it welcomes any sort of crossover influence, which enables us to avoid being pigeon-holed, and giving us freedom of expression without restrictions.”

However, despite striking a chord with thousands of people, regular radio airplay has remained curiously elusive. I suspect this is possibly because playlists tend to still be compiled according to conventional criteria desperately in need of an overhaul to address today’s music industry.

Galea admits their music may not be radio-friendly, but sees this as a further catalyst to “stretch our boundaries further”. The message in Tribali’s music, on the other hand, has remained steadfastly consistent throughout: “We promote hope, love, freedom, compassion and happiness.”

The universal nature of Tribali’s music was recognised early on by an audience that extended way beyond Maltese shores, and as you read this, the band will probably have just landed in Australia, where they’ve been invited yet again to perform at the prestigious Byron Bay Bluesfest (www.bluesfest.com.au).

A celebration of Blues and Roots music, the Bluesfest has been an outright success for the past 25 years.

Galea seems as excited about going back as if it was his first time:

“This year there’s another amazing line-up – big names like John Fogerty, The Specials, John Butler Trio, Yes, Buddy Guy. G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather), Ziggy Marley, Crosby Stills and Nash and many more.”

No wonder he’s beaming that Tribali have once again been invited to be part of this event, performing on three consecutive nights.

Inevitably, thanks to their performances at Bluesfest, Tribali have also succeeded in attracting an Australian following. “Our fan base has been growing gradually there and this time there seems to be more expectation for us.”

Event organiser Peter Noble has named Tribali in ninth place out of the top 12 bands he is looking forward to see perform this year, describing them as “one of the best band’s to ever play Bluesfest” in his post on the festival forum.

There is more in store from Tribali once their latest Bluesfest experience is over and the band is back on home turf.

“Jagged House, our management company, has secured a great deal which includes a worldwide physical and digital distribution release of our existing and future releases, the latest of which we will be sharing in the days to come,” says Galea.

As a result of this arrangement, Galea explains that Tribali are now officially published under Sony UK.

“We have different releases planned this year based on territory and strategy. It’s all about building a good team of professionals we can trust to deliver and not being pretentious in what we think we know.”

This set-up allows Tribali to focus on the music as much as possible. So when is the new album coming out then?

“The release date of the new album will be announced when we get back from Australia. We’re very thrilled with the release of our third album and all that we’ve got planned ahead, but just to quench your curiosity, the new album will be called The Traveller.”

Galea adds that Tribali will be staging a big open-air concert this summer with “something very special in mind” but stops short of divulging the details.

www.tribalimusic.com

bugeja.michael@gmail.com

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