Born in England to Irish parents, brought up in Canada, the US, Japan and England, and now making music on Crete, Ross Daly epitomises what is known as world music. But as David Schembri finds out, this is a term that doesn’t mean much to the musician.
[attach id=258010 size="medium"]Ross Daly playing the Nak Tarhu. Photo: Alexis Glavas[/attach]
Music-making has hints of the divine in it. Although, taken as a physical process, it is but a collection of vibrations; music is what happens when the vibrations transcend themselves and turn into something else.
Ross Daly, who will be performing during this year’s edition of Għanafest, is well aware of this. Despite music being his bread and butter (or whatever the Greek equivalent is), there is, to him, a “sacred” element which makes music so special.
“Music is a profession for me, but it’s obviously not just about making a living. For me music is, among other things, the language of my dialogue with that which I perceive to be sacred,” he says.
Sanctity, to him, is “not the exclusive domain of any specific religious tradition, it is a basic and quintessentially human state of experience which transcends organised religion. Music is deeply connected to this very basic and deep-rooted human existential condition, perhaps because it brings one into direct contact with that which cannot in any way be described”.
His tools for this communication to take place are varied. While some of us are lucky enough to be able to play one instrument half-decently, Daly is a bona fide multi- instrumentalist. Not that you’ll find him bragging about it anytime soon:
“During my life I have played several instruments, some of which I have worked on quite extensively, and some of which I can play because of the work that I have done on other instruments that are somewhat similar. Many people imagine that it is difficult or even special if you can play many instruments.”
He explains that this is not the case; the difficult part is to play the music of each instrument – its special repertoire. This takes a lot of time and effort and, of course, there is a limit to what any single human being can do.
“I think that the instruments which I have done the most work on are the Cretan lyra, the Tarhu, the Afghan rabab, the Turkish saz, the Oud and, many years ago, the North Indian sitar.”
Despite – or perhaps because of – the large variety of instruments he can play, Daly has developed instruments of his own design, such as the Cretan lyra he plays, which employs 22 sympathetic strings (it usually doesn’t have any) and the Nak Tarhu (developed with Australian luthier Peter Biffin). The latter is another offshoot of the lyra which uses a resonator cone instead of a soundboard to produce sound. “The strings are also very different from those of a Cretan lyra, so the sound is also very different. Experimenting with the design and construction of instruments is one of the greatest joys in life for me,” he says.
In the Għanafest, Daly and his band will be playing their music, which is most closely related to the Cretan tradition.
“Again, in this context we try to maintain a balance between the timeless elements of the old tradition and new elements which reflect our own lives today.”
Today, life in Greece is not easy, and Daly’s words betray anger and disillusionment at the situation: “The economic crisis in Greece is extremely serious and it has affected everyone in the country in a very big way. Personally, I have become very disillusioned by the whole idea of the European Union and the so-called common currency. So what did they think they were doing? Obviously Greece can’t have the same currency as Germany. That’s like having a German driving a nice big Mercedes car with a Greek running alongside him on foot, how long will he last? Not very long...”
This, however, does not change the role of the musician. Daly believes that a musician’s job is simply to be a clean channel for the music to reach and touch people according to their nature and spiritual state. They are then entirely free to take or leave whatever they want from the music, according to their needs and inclinations.
“Our obligation at any time and in any circumstance is simply to sincerely and unreservedly give the very best we can and, in all humility, to serve through the practice of our art what we perceive to be the source of music to the best of our abilities.”
Despite his set at the Għanafest being centred around the Cretan tradition, Daly’s music, like him, has been deeply influenced by his nomadic life.
“I am of an Irish family, I was born in England, left on my second birthday and grew up in Canada, the US, Japan and England. I subsequently travelled extensively throughout the Middle East and Central Asia studying musical traditions and have lived in Greece now for 38 years.”
This has given him an ability to adapt quickly and easily to new environments, and to be able to freely absorb elements of new cultures which he feels relevant to his life without being tied to something else.
As a result of this, he works primarily as a composer, and does what any other composer does, incorporating elements of all of his musical experience into his work.
At his Labyrinth workshop (www.mwl.gr), musicians can learn more about instruments and musical traditions from all around the world. In spite of this, Daly admits to never having really understood what is meant by the term world music.
“The only musical idioms I know of which are truly listened to worldwide are pop music, jazz, classical music. All of which, regardless of their value or lack thereof, are cultural phenomena of an economically-dominant culture. None of these idioms have achieved such universal acceptance because of something intrinsically ecumenical about them. They have become universally accepted because of a massive propaganda machine, which has used them as tools in a form of cultural imperialism,” he says.
“Perhaps the biggest difference between these international idioms and more regional ones is that, in order to maintain international status, they are obliged to accept an amount of input from the various cultures which they seek to culturally colonise.”
The Ross Daly Quartet is performing on Saturday at the Argotti Gardens, Floriana, at 9pm, as part of Għanafest.
www.maltafolkmusicfestival.org