Sofar Sounds, the secret gig present in over 86 countries that was launched in Malta earlier this year, now takes it a step forward with a Valletta 2018 exchange project that will see local band Plato’s Dream Machine perform in the UK.

When the first Sofar Sounds gig hit Malta, initial reactions pointed towards a general puzzlement. Based on a ‘concert in your living room’ motto, one of the factors that make the concert tour unique is the fact that the line-up is always kept secret until the very end.

Why would people go to a gig when they don’t know the line-up, was one of the questions that kept cropping up in the run-up to the first Malta event last April.

And yet, go they did, and Clandestines, Megafun, Cosmic Erotic and The Shh played to an enchanted audience.

Now, the Sofar Sounds idea is to be taken a step forward with a project that is being held in conjunction with the Valletta 2018 foundation, that will see Maltese artists Plato’s Dream Machine (PDM) play in the UK.

PDM submitted six tracks from their debut album Għera, which was released to highly-positive feedback last April. The tracks were Flien (with accompanying music video), Kollox Effimeru?, Apatija, Fik, Int and Il-Ġnejna, 4:00am.

“As soon as I got to know that we were chosen, my mind went through all the technical details. Which songs should we perform? When would we rehearse?” says vocalist Robert Farrugia Flores.

It only took him a couple of minutes to recover. “After a couple of seconds I just sat back happily and finally acknowledged that salty sweat can indeed be turned into something sweet.”

The greatest challenge, he tells me, is to adapt the band’s repertoire to a more intimate setting by creating a stripped down version of the songs while still preserving the band’s identity.

“We are currently going through the songs which we will be performing on the night. One of the useful lessons this album journey has taught us is to struggle against our comfort zones by jumping barriers and exploring new territories,” Farrugia Flores says.

One question that does arise is that of the potential language barrier – or does music transcend all barriers? Farrugia Flores explains that locally, Għera is “becoming more and more relevant and appealing, mostly because it fuses contemporary sounds with our native language in an authentic way”.

He believes that there is no reason why this fusion should not also work abroad just as it works splendidly for bands such as Sigur Ros.

“The only issue, in our case, is that when writing the lyrics I had in mind a Maltese audience. Through the writing stages I had deliberately grappled with our native language.

The greatest challenge is to adapt the repertoire to a more intimate setting

“Most of the lyrics are meant to spark some meditative and rational activity in the listener. And this presupposes an understanding of the language at hand. However, I am convinced that the rest should do the magic.”

In any case, Farrugia Flores intends to bridge this gap by creating a connection with the audience and communicat-ing with them directly in between songs. The band is also considering translating parts of a track – or the whole – in English.

Of course, PDM’s experience would not have been possible without the initiative of Shawn James, the man who introduced the Sofar Sounds concept to Malta.

James first got involved with the Sofar Sounds concept in the first months after moving to London.

After doing some research and subscribing to the mailing list, Shawn was invited to one of the gigs via Facebook. Location and musicians were, of course, secret.

“Arriving at this huge, artistic student warehouse, I waited a few minutes until someone came and opened the door for me. I was led inside an enormous living room.

“My first reaction was amazement at the sheer number of people who attended. All eyes went on the performer and all ears on the music. I immediately thought that this kind of gig should, and can be, done in Malta.”

As the evening wore on, the feel-good factor increased.

“It was a really good moment. I had never before been to a gig where audiences kept so quiet during the performance. It was such a great and intimate feeling that, after the gig was done, I contacted the founder and sold him the idea for Malta.”

After some background about Malta, James was given the go-ahead to organise the first Sofar Sounds Malta gig. The scene reacted immediately. The gig attracted around 80 people who were genuinely into the music. The location was also a novel one – the Splendid Hotel in Valletta.

“Seeing everyone quiet and appreciating the music that was played by the local artists was amazing. The gig was not only attended by Maltese, but also by foreigners who live on the island.”

Soon after the first Sofar gig, the e-mails from local musicians who wanted to be part of it started piling in. Seeing that the whole thing had, indeed, worked as planned, James immediately started laying down the groundwork for the next project.

“The first event was an immediate success. Fine, the last few days before the gig were a bit stressful. And you do worry whether the space will work out, whether the turnout would be good, etc... but that’s normal. I was happy to see the plan working out just fine,” James said.

James decided that, given the response to the first gig, it was time to take Sofar Sounds to the next level, by taking a Maltese artist to do a Sofar gig in London – as he is a firm believer in exporting local talent beyond our shores – and by getting a foreign musician to reciprocate with a gig in Malta.

“One of the comments I got from the people who had attended the gig was that they would like to see a foreign musician included on the line-up.”

James proposed the idea to the Valletta 2018 Foundation. The pro-ject was deemed to be in line with Valletta 2018’s policy of contributing towards the internationalisation and professionalisation of Maltese artists, and collaboration began.

“The response was very good and we were impressed by what the artists had to say regarding this opportunity, as well as by the quality of the music,” James continued.

“Sofar Sounds is now officially part of the Valletta 2018 cultural programme. After all, Valletta 2018 is about opening culture to wider audiences, removing bar-riers and building on the aspect of Valletta as a creative city in Europe. This is exactly what Sofar aims to achieve and without the support of Valletta 2018, it would not have been possible.”

The next Sofar Sounds Malta gig will take place on October 31 where, apart from the chosen local acts, there will be a British or another foreign musician also performing. The latter will also collaborate on a song or a piece of music with the local artists who are chosen to take part in the Sofar Sounds gig in London.

www.facebook.com/pages/Sofar-Sounds-Malta

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