With the second edition of Bandli now in full swing, Iggy Fenech chats to the three composers commissioned to create customised symphonies for the art installation.

When a structure comprised of a dome with eight musical swings hanging from it was erected in St George’s Square last summer, it tickled the imagination of over 5,000 people. And who can blame them? Swings are fun even in their natural context; but when music is added to them, they become irresistible.

“The concept for Bandli is fairly simple,” explains Ruben Zahra. “Each swing is assigned to an instrument within a music composition. When the swing is in action a motion sensor installed in the swing triggers a signal and the music comes alive. The more swings are in action, the more instruments are added to the music.”

Bandli is back for the second year running, and is taking place at St George’s Square as part of the Malta International Arts Festival. Moreover, as the art installation takes music out of theatres and onto the streets, making it accessible to all. Bandli has also been listed in the official programme of events of the Valletta 2018 Foundation.

When the swing is in action a motion sensor installed in the swing triggers a signal and the music comes alive

Nevertheless, while the concept and the structure for Bandli have not changed from, this year’s edition has one major difference: the music. In fact, there is not only one composition, but three, all of which were commissioned especially for the piece. Here, the three composers talk about the inspiration behind their pieces.

Mario Sammut, aka ‘Cygna’ in the electronic music sphere, has been a full-time composer and music producer for the past 10 years. Mario is currently working on a new opera to premiere in 2018 as part of the Valletta 2018 Foundation’s programme of events; meanwhile, his alter ego, Cygna, who is signed to Ultimae Records, has performed at various festivals around Europe, including Glastonbury and S.U.N.

“Although my background is in classical piano, by the age of 13 I was already obsessed with synthesisers. In fact, I have an extensive collection of synths with all kinds of synthesis engines and forms, which I bought separately since the 1990s.

Photo: Ruben Zahra

“The idea of having a circular formation of speakers triggered an unconventional way of writing a piece in which eight synths playing the same type of oscillator were played and recorded in unison, so the sound of each swing has eight synths playing. Having eight swings used simultaneously would project a complex sonic texture made of 64 synths. All sounds were manipulated in a way that, when played together, they would merge subtly into one another, and this part is very crucial as all these oscillators playing together would make a harsh and cacophonic texture.

“I think that swings already make people interact. With the addition of sound to the space, this installation urges people to see and hear all the swings playing together to get an experience that never happens in normal playgrounds.”

Alex Vella Gregory is currently completing a Ph.D in music composition at Edinburgh Napier University. Moreover, on top of being composer, accompanist and teacher, Alex is also the artistic director of the all-male choir Cappella Sanctae Catharinae, and a trustee of the Ian Tomlin Scholarship Trust.

“I believe that music is not there to be listened to… It is there to be lived. We often lament the death of the concert platform, but perhaps the concert platform has actually killed music. It has isolated and formalised music-making.

“We are living in an increasingly isolated world, where people are more concerned with their social media feeds than their community. Projects like Bandli, however, help us to rediscover the joy of making music together – that it is fundamentally a fun activity to be shared. Of course, music can be profound, or festive, or even just entertaining… but it is also communal. It is part of our shared story.

“My work is titled Valletta Organum and is written for eight digital voices; digital because all eight voices are digitally created from scratch by the inimitable Mario Sammut. The piece is a tribute to Valletta and its community. The word ‘organum’, meanwhile, refers to the earliest notated medieval polyphony whereby a Gregorian chant was elaborated by adding voices above and/or below it. The voice that held the plainchant tune was referred to as the ‘tenor’, from the Latin ‘to hold’.

“In this work, one of the voices holds the one tune that best encapsulates Valletta’s great diversity: the Valletta FC anthem! Football is the one thing that unites Valletta’s diverse communities and bridges the differences. Around this, the other voices weave a complex musical counterpoint. Hidden in one of the voices are also snippets of another anthem that is synonymous with Valletta, the Carnival anthem.”

Albert Garzia started his career in electronics, but later decided to delve into music and musical equipment. Now a composer of contemporary music, Albert is also an educator involved in a variety of musical projects.

“I was introduced to music through accordion lessons at the age of seven, but my perspective of music changed a lot when I started appreciating the fact that music is essentially a social and cultural phenomenon rather than simply an acquired personal skill.

“In my piece for Bandli I tried to take interaction to a sort of surreal level. Every swing is associated with a character that has its own language, age, country of origin and experience, among others. I like to think of the particular choice of swing to ride as a choice of some sort of avatar (with auto-pilot) that talks about the playground experience in retrospect.

“I was inspired by the soothing sound of everyday informal conversations, the kind that don’t demand much intellectual involvement. I feel that it gives a sort of gratification. In my composition, the musical component has been kept as simple and as accessible as possible, thus serving as a complement to the sound of recorded words. The objective is to get the listener to detach from the chaos of everyday life and wander for a while in a cloud of unpretentious random thoughts.”

Bandli is a collaboration between the Malta International Arts Festival and Modern Music Days – a concert series of 20th century and contemporary music organised by the Manoel Theatre and the Malta Association for Contemporary Music, supported by the Valletta 2018 Foundation as part of the cultural programme in the run-up to the European Capital of Culture year.

Bandli is part of the Malta International Arts Festival and part of the Valletta 2018 culture programme. The event runs from June 30 till July 16 between 10am and 11pm.

www.maltaartsfestival.org