Michael Bugeja interviews musician Justin Galea about an ongoing project that sees musicians playing live in classrooms and that is now being adapted to form part of the upcoming children’s festival.

“If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.” Familiar words to most people without a doubt and, ones many of us have actually had to put into action too at some point or other.

These same words capture the very essence of the concept behind the  an outing project, that forms part of ŻiguŻajg children’s festival, wherein a collective of local and international musicians  will reach out to young people and help them to discover new and different forms of music in a celebration of cultural diversity. The programme will see classrooms around the Maltese islands transformed into concert halls for music from around the world during the festival week, with musicians and artists hailing music from across the globe performing especially for children and young people. I spoke to event co-ordinator Justin Galea, around whose Musicians on an Outing pilot project this programme is based.

When and what inspired the original concept of bringing music to children at schools in the first place and what are its aims?

It all started from a discussion I had with recording engineer David Vella two years ago, during a recording session with Plato’s Dream Machine about a project that could be mutually beneficial for young people as well as for bands and artists. David had suggested that bands should hold regular, publicly-funded concerts in schools as an ongoing initiative to inspire young students and showcase local talent, in the process also creating work for bands to be able to sustain themselves.

Did you wish there was such a project when you were growing up?

Definitely. My adolescent exposure to music was a mixture of Chopin’s piano nocturnes as I struggled with private piano lessons, and the heavy metal albums my cousin used to lend me. Unfortunately, back then there were no opportunities for people my age to listen to live folk music, electronic music and other alternative styles, so we were less aware of the various music genres that existed.

This is why I had decided, with the support of Kreattiv and St. Paul’s Missionary College, to start the Musicians On An Outing pilot project. We showcased five different styles of music to third and fourth form students with the aim of later propagating the project in other schools.

From the project’s performance so far what, in your opinion are the primary elements that facilitate the connection and spark the interest of the young audience?

I think a big part of it is the interactive aspect. The jam sessions with the nosnow/noalps crew were particularly engaging, as well as the impromptu għana fuq il-kelma, which revolved around topics suggested by the students themselves, which in this case included snails, self-styled preacher Anġelik and the school rector. The students were able to attend five fully-fledged concerts of rock, għana, electronic, classical and jazz music that they wouldn’t have been exposed to, otherwise. And they were all staged in an environment where they felt safe and relaxed. As a result, the students’ reactions were very encouraging. Naturally, all the sessions were planned in such a way that students could gain as much as possible from them and the selected artists and speakers were carefully chosen to project their music style in the best way possible.

Photo: Elisa Von Brockdorff

The students were able to attend five fully-fledged concerts of rock, għana, electronic, classical and jazz music that they wouldn’t have been exposed to, otherwise

What attracted you to the idea of transposing the school concept into a Żigużajg-related event, given the setting will be altogether different, and which will possibly even lead to different results and reactions?

The Żigużajg event is different and a challenge in itself. It consists of three related events, namely  On An Outing sessions, parades and a concert at Pjazza Teatru Rjal. Having such a high standard, the Żigużajg festival gives this project a solid platform and offers a bigger showcase opportunity for me to propagate the  concept and promote it among  more schools. To make things even more interesting, we are collaborating with Womad and bringing in four international artists hailing from all corners of the globe. These will, in turn, be working with artists from Malta on all events related to the project. I have no doubt that the young participants will find it very interesting and will be benefitting from it.

As you mentioned, there’s an interesting array of artists involved; some local, others foreign. How did the World of Music, Arts and Dance (Womad) come to be involved?

The collaboration between ŻiguŻajg and Womad has been ongoing and strong for a couple of years and, therefore, it was only natural to include it in this project, so as to give it a twist of cultural diversity celebration through world music.

Ripton Lyndsay.

I’m very proud to be working alongside musicians like Ghanaian drummer Abass Dodoo; Jamaican dancer and choreographer Ripton Lindsay; singer Mim Suleiman (Zanzibar/Republic of Tanzania); and Mauricio Velasierra, a kena player of UK/Colombian origin, as well as the Maltese artists, namely pianist Joe Debono, bassist Oliver Degabriele, guitarist Jes Psaila, drummers Nil Ramos and Michael Galea and dancer/choreographer Sarah Lanzon. All artists were carefully selected in terms of their experience in improvisation and adaptability to the ŻiguŻajg context.

What will the whole programme involve?

There will be a number of daily workshops, to be held at various schools between November 17 and 20. These will be led by all artists, who will introduce their music, their background and traditions to a secondary school audience, together with interactive interventions. People will then be invited to participate in parades around the streets of Valletta, with the grand finale happening around noon on November 22, accompanied by huge floats by French company Plasticiens Volants. Further to this, the Music from around the world concert will take place that same day at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, featuring a core band formed by the local musicians featuring the Womad artists.

Why should parents encourage their children to attend this event?

Children and young people will get to experience a variety of music styles performed by foreign and local artists, music that at times might sound unconventional to their ears but that genuinely reflects other cultures and traditions. This whole project will be carried out in a healthy spirit of cultural diversity, within the commonwealth region and beyond and, will therefore transmit the values of diversity, inclusion and creativity in one tailor-made package for the respective Żigużajg audience.

www.ziguzajg.org