Francesca Galea has brought a new type of music to town. She speaks to Veronica Stivala about her group Perkuss’ Hawn Maracatu in which even complete beginners can play.

If you have ever wanted to play an instrument, and even be part of a musical group, now is your chance. Rubbish, the little voices say, playing an instrument properly requires hours, years, of dedicated practice.

You do not know your music from your poppy seeds. Interesting you should mention seeds, because these form the make-up of one of the instruments you will probably be playing.

A new musical group, with origins in Brazil, has been set up which could see musicians – be they experts, beginners, or somewhere in between – play together in groups of as large as 200 members.

Two hundred? That’s more than the number of musicians in an orchestra, more than the number of members of our Parliament. And there you thought the seeds thing was bonkers enough...

But let’s start at the beginning. Francesca Galea, a talented and award-winning jazz singer in her own right has set up the Perkuss’Hawn Maracatu project. The aim is to create a music education percussion group to play Brazilian Maracatu music.

This is Afro-Brazilian music, with origins in Pernambuco, Brazil. It started off within the slave communities who were brought from Africa, but in Brazil they would still have ceremonies of the Reis do Congo (Kings of Congo), who were slaves leading slave communities in Brazil. Maracatu music was an important spiritual music part of these ceremonies.

Although slavery was abolished in the late 1800s and these kings didn’t exist anymore, these nações (nations) still have symbolic leaders and coronation ceremonies with Maracatu music up to this day, although it has changed in many ways.

Now, although describing images of the founder Galea wearing elaborate headpieces and colourful fabrics while shaking her agbê (a shaker made of dried gourd with beads woven into a net) would do wonders for the visual element of this article, it would not be true. In actual fact, she attended sessions while living in Paris.

“Although I’m a singer and have always been interested in percussion instruments, I never had enough confidence to start playing percussion myself or even attempt it.

However, I found it very easy to learn within a group where there were other people playing the same thing and helping me out,” she says.

The aim is to eventually take to the streets of Valletta and conduct parts of the weekly sessions on the streets in order to build the project in public

On moving back to Malta, Galea decided to replicate the group.

Essentially, Maracatu sees a group of people playing specific instrument, such as the caixa, a snare drum; the alfaia a wooden base drum; and the gonguê, a very big metal cowbell, who follow a leader, in this case percussionist Michael Galea.

As a project, the end date and final performance is in December, and the aim is to by then have a repertoire of at least 10 songs the group can play and sing together.

Participants are given instruments and meet two hours a week.

“Maracatu as a genre of music doesn’t have much improvisation, however sometimes you would have individual instruments improvising while the rest would stick to the same rhythms,” says Galea.

The leader would improvise in structure and set-up of the songs, but he would communicate with the rest what the group should play and when by using a whistle and hand gestures.

It is very normal and expected to play, sing and walk at the same time while playing Maracatu.

But how can people who have never played an instrument take part? Galea welcomes established musicians and beginners alike, but how can having people with such a diverse range of skills and joining at different stages of the project work?

Galea explains how in such a group one learns mostly through listening and copying.

Beginners are given an instrument that is less demanding, such as the ganzá, where even if one messes up, it does not disrupt the whole group or the overall sound too much.

One slowly starts gaining confidence while learning and can then move on to other instruments too.

“There is a musician hidden deep down inside each one of us, and it’s a question of discovering and letting go of that musician,” Galea says.

She admits that musicians too find this style of music challenging, due to rhythms unfamiliar to what the typical European ear is used to, and also the fact that many musicians are not accustomed to singing and playing at the same time.

She concedes that she initially struggled to play a simple 1,2,3,4 beat while singing.

As for the big numbers, while musicians can total 200, the Maltese group will comprise 18 members. The reason simply being that that is how many instruments they managed to buy with the funds they got.

“It’s also a good decent number for a good Maracatu set-up. It’s amazing how the energy changes completely when it’s a group of only six to a group of 12 for example,” says Galea.

The aim is to eventually take to the streets of Valletta and conduct parts of the weekly sessions on the streets in order to build the project in public and not behind closed doors.

Perkuss’Hawn Maracatu is still looking for people to join. “We’re not calling out for people who want to become musicians, but we’re looking out for people with a passion for music to join us and have fun while getting something from this experience,” says Galea.

You will be given instruments and will meet two hours a week. If you are interested, you can contact Francesca Galea on 7979 7930 or by sending an e-mail to maracatumalta@gmail.com.

The project is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.