Newly-launched NGO, the Klezmorimalta Foundation, set up by Malta-based Dutch couple Ralph and Birgit Albrecht, is working towards the protection and appreciation of acoustic instruments, and the traditional ways of creating music.
“Music has always played an important role in our lives,” explains Birgit Albrecht, right, one of the co-founders of the foundation.
“We are not musicians ourselves, but we understand that music is a powerful and emotional form of human expression, and we would like to preserve its quality.
“When playing an instrument, such as the clarinet or the contrabass, a musician needs to practise for long periods of time, and we truly believe that a computer could never replace this,” she says.
“Removing the musician lowers the listeners’ respect towards music and the instrument. It is for this reason that we chose to put the word ‘klezmorim’ in the foundation’s title, as it means an itinerant Eastern European Jewish professional musician and this explains exactly the kind of artists we’d like to promote and protect.”
Malta has a very special position and its architecture invites people to perform
It is no surprise that Birgit and Ralph, below, chose Malta as the seat of their NGO. Due to its geographical position, the island has long been a great melting pot of cultures and culture, and this has led to everything from music to art, and architecture to crafts, being influenced by its colonisers and its neighbouring countries.
“Malta has a very special position and its architecture invites people to perform,” says Birgit.
“The Klezmorimalta Foundation also aims at encouraging musical education, and our idea of protecting music as a performing art is by allowing the natural advancement of culture in general, and by creating new ties between Maltese and foreign artists.”
The foundation hopes to do this by organising special events that bring myriad artists and European culture-vultures together in one space. In fact, it is organising the upcoming Klezmorimalta Nights – a concert of Eastern European klezmer music, which will take place on Friday and Saturday at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta.
“What’s so exciting about klezmer music is that the genre has developed all over the world. You can find klezmer bands in many countries and its artists have left many little seeds that have germinated into a popular music genre worldwide,” continues Birgit.
The foundation would like to stimulate an exchange of musical patrimony between Malta and other countries, which is why this event will include performances from the Amsterdam and Yxalag Klezmer Bands, from the Netherlands and Germany respectively and the singer-songwriter Démira, who is also from the Netherlands.
“This event will bring together old and new forms of music and will serve as an example of how acoustic doesn’t have to mean boring and of how traditional doesn’t have to be outdated,” says Birgit.