Dutch ensemble Windstreken will be performing in Malta for the Malta Arts Festival. Alex Vella Gregory talks to composer Ruben Zahra, who will be joining them.

Ruben Zahra. Photo: Lisa Attard

First came Amadeus, and we all thought composers wore wigs and make-up and had a squeaky laugh, apart from being persecuted by an evil rival.

Then came Immortal Beloved and we realised that, in fact, composers are irritable shoddy creatures with a lot of angst against the world.

In between we had Beethoven, and we wondered how a St Bernard’s could write symphonies and concertos.

Very often we think of composers as being either unreachable, reclusive human beings or dead. However, for those who have had the pleasure of meeting Ruben Zahra, they will realise that as composers go, he is down-to-earth and approachable.

Zahra was a late starter in music. Initially, he was leaning more towards the visual arts (not surprising since his father, the well-loved author Trevor Zahra, is also a fantastic illustrator). But then he discovered the New Romantics at around 12 years of age and bought his own keyboard.

For the first few years he was largely self-taught, and composition was still not on his mind. Eventually, he started taking lessons and found a mentor in Pawlu Grech.

The latter introduced him to 20th-century music, including Schoenberg’s 12-tone system. From then on, composition would become his main pursuit. Zahra is the protagonist in the revival in Malta’s folk music heritage, but there were other forces at play. Rock music, a genre he listens to more than actual classical music.

“I use rock music as my point of reference, just like Bartok uses Hungarian folk music and Gershwin uses jazz.”

Among the many rock legends he admires, Zahra is very much influenced by Dream Theatre.

“Dream Theatre has a line up of musicians from Berklee College of Music, all of whom have a strong classical background. Their complex riffs portray intricate rhythmic patterns that challenge any classical music composer today.”

It is these seemingly contradictory elements of rhythmic complexity and the appeal of popular music that inform Zahra’s style. He is not interested in creating works exclusively for the concert platform, but rather uses an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to merge together different art forms.

One can see this ideology at work in the Għanafest, which ever since he took it over around seven years ago has become one of the fastest growing festivals in Malta.

In it he has managed to bring together the traditional and the contemporary, the local and the international. Starting from his work with Etnika (with Andrew Alamango, Ġużi Gatt and Steve Borg) in 2000, he would take this contemporary approach to folk to Għanafest and commission works by such diverse artists as Dominic Galea, the Big Band Brothers and Andrew Alamango’s Lost Voices of Malta project.

Fast on the heels of this year’s edition of Għanafest, Zahra is now working with the Dutch ensemble Windstreken for a performance in this year’s Malta Arts Festival.

The project, supported by the Gaudeamus Music Week, the International Society for Contemporary Music and the City of Utrecht, has already been premiered in May at the Rasa Theatre in Utrecht itself.

“The idea came from Hank Heuvelmans, the artistic director of Gaudeamus. At the time, Utrecht was bidding for Capital of Culture and wanted to work with Malta.”

I modified the structureso that musicians couldimprovise and contribute their own ideas to the piece

Windstreken is a very eclectic cross-border ensemble, with a formation comprising of alto flute/sop sax, portative organ, oud, percussion and cello. Their music borders between jazz, classical and world music, which fitted in perfectly with what Zahra does. The project will also see Zahra joining the ensemble with the Maltese żaqq and żummara, giving it a very local feel.

Windstreken is made up of very versatile musicians who are used to improvising and creating their own works, which meant that Zahra had to change his approach to his own music.

“This is not an ordinary ensemble. I couldn’t just send them scores. We decided to work on arrangements of my own compositions. I modified the structure so that musicians could improvise and contribute their own ideas to the piece.”

So what is next for Zahra? For now it seems that there are no big projects coming up until after summer, but he does reveal he promised a piano concerto to his partner, renowned pianist Tricia Dawn Williams.

One promise that he certainly cannot easily get out of or delay indefinitely.

Windstreken and Ruben Zahra will perform on July 22 at 9pm at Robert Samut Hall, Floriana.

www.maltaartsfestival.org