The walls inside Lito’s Place in Floriana are lined with a good number of framed CD covers, all of which are essentially linked by three separate factors, namely that most of their content is in Maltese, the majority of them have been released via Heritage Records and they all involve one or more or all members of the Galea family. The label, set up and run by the family itself, is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, which makes their latest release all the more special.
The first of three albums scheduled for a 2013 release, Karba was officially launched last week during a special musico-literary performance at San Anton Palace under the patronage of President George Abela. It is the third in a series of albums featuring poems by key Maltese poets set to music by Dominic Galea.
I think the fact he used ordinary Maltese words in his poems made them accessible to more people, but the message he conveyed was powerful nonetheless
Following 2011’s Għanja, focusing on poems by Dun Karm Psaila, and last year’s Nirien, which gave a musical dimension to some of Karmenu Vassallo’s poetry, this time it is Rużar Briffa’s work that has been given a musical transformation.
Recorded at Lito’s Place with various musicians, including a string quartet led by Tatjana Chircop, the album was produced by Dominic and Manolito Galea together with researcher Steve Borg, and features 12 songs performed by Paul Giordimaina, Dorothy Bezzina, Ludwig Galea, Doreen Galea and tenor Joseph Aquilina.
The end result marries the intrinsic, often poignant qualities of Briffa’s verses with flowing melodies sculpted from the very essence of the kanzunetta Maltija. A blend of pop and classical sounds, the songs successfully capture the spirit of the poetry as it was intended by Briffa, who was known as il-poeta taċ-ċokon; a reflection perhaps of his uncomplicated and concise way of writing.
The album also includes a 16-page booklet with an introduction by Prof. Oliver Friggieri, the author of Briffa’s biography. Karba is partly supported by the Malta Arts Fund, Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti, L-Akkademja tal-Malti and L-Għaqda Poeti Maltin.
Composer Dominic Galea speaks here of his latest labour of love.
Each of these releases was given a particular title. How did you go about picking an appropriate title and how long did this album take to write?
The titles were chosen to reflect the nature of the primary characteristic of each poet’s work. In Briffa’s case, Karba (lament) is something of a recurring theme in his poems. Being a doctor, a dermatologist in fact, he came face to face with a lot of suffering on a daily basis, and this feeling of pain became something of a recurring theme in his poetry, at times expressed through the use of metaphors.
As for writing the music for this album, a couple of the tracks were actually written even before I had started writing for the Għanja album, and most of the others were finished even before I wrote the music for last year’s Nirien album. However, since last year happened to be the 25th anniversary of Vassallo’s death, I chose to release that first to mark the occasion, and besides, this year is also the 50th anniversary of Briffa’s death.
Along with Psaila and Vassallo, Briffa is also hailed as one of the ‘romantics’, but his work is markedly different from theirs…
Yes, he is definitely one of Malta’s leading romantic poets, but his verses are often filled with poignancy and he often mentions Our Lady of Sorrows, the poor and the sick. At times, one almost gets the feeling that Briffa would rather be safely back inside his mother’s womb, than surrounded by the situations he found himself in.
Being a poet, I guess all the hardship he experienced first hand when treating patients with skin diseases obviously left its mark and found its way into his writing.
What did you find most appealing about Briffa’s poetry?
I must say that I personally find Briffa’s work to be particularly striking in that his poems are uncomplicated and flowing despite their topics being rather profound.
In contrast to more technical poets, his work is concise and possesses a natural quality that makes it easy to remember. Interestingly, he wasn’t a prolific writer, but what he did write is held in high regard in Maltese literary circles.
I think the fact that he used ordinary Maltese words in his poems made them accessible to more people, but the message he conveyed was powerful nonetheless.
I must admit that reading certain poems of his sometimes sends a chill down my spine. One must also bear in mind that some of his poems can be quite depressing too. This doesn’t diminish any of their potency, but they may not be to everyone’s taste.
How different was it writing music for Briffa’s poems compared to the other two albums?
Essentially, all three albums have a romantic feel, namely in the way the harmonies are written and blended together, but I also employed some modern elements when it came to voicing the instruments. On the whole however, the structure of the melody and the metrics dictated by the verses played a vital part in shaping the songs.
Further to the strophic arrangements though, I also needed to work on poems that had a more fluid structure, where the rhythm is more free-flowing; these obviously required a different approach on my part, but I have to say I really enjoyed rising to the challenges they presented me with.
As regards the style of my compositions, and this applies for all three albums too, I try to find an in-between position. Basically, I stop short of going too deep into pop territory but I also try to hold back from giving the songs too much of a classical feel.
For this album, I went with the flow of the poem, in that if the poem was concise, the resulting composition is also short. I tried to avoid repeating verses for want of a chorus; instead, each song sounds like one is reading a poem, but with a flowing melody gliding in and out of the verses, and obviously, reflecting the tone of each poem’s theme.
What other plans are there in the pipeline?
There are a couple more releases coming up – both very special projects, about which we will be releasing more information very soon. Ideally, we would also like to stage an event that would feature music and literature based around the albums we’ve released to date, including the Ommi album, which really started the ball rolling for all of this.
www.dominicgalea.com