As is the case with many small countries, local artistes usually find the going very hard. Time and again they have to take up other jobs in order to survive and such a situation can hamper one's creativity.
Quite often, the only solution for many such talents is simply to move on to another country which would have a bigger market and greater prospects of success. Such has been the case with Iceland, Trinidad and Tobago, and even relatively bigger countries like Cuba, Jamaica and New Zealand. Besides, a lot of African countries, rich in their musical styles and traditions, saw many artistes migrate, even if for a short period of time to London and Paris simply because the local market wasn't sustainable, either because it was too small or because of piracy. There is no doubt that migration, legal migration that is, helped considerably to enrich the pop scenes of London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Los Angeles, among other cities.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, it also brought a new cross-culture, a fusion of styles that helped to provide a healthy infusion at a time when many were concerned that the pop scene would stagnate. It was thanks to the likes of Osibisa in the 1970s, King Sunny Ade' and the late, great Ali Farka Toure' in the 1980s and of course, Bjork, Cubanismo!, and a multitude of other talents that pop remained colourful and unpredictable.
Malta, too, provided its small share of pop migrants. In this regard, I am not referring to the likes of Joe Camilleri, who emigrated to Australia when he was a two-year-old toddler, but on local artistes who consciously took a very bold risk to try their luck abroad. The prime example here is Marc Storace. As lead singer with The Boys, he was doing really well back in the late 1960s. However, he also realised that he wasn't going to go too far by singing in local venues in such a limited market. He also realized that the UK market was a very hard nut to crack. His shift to Switzerland was, relatively speaking, a safer bet but it also took him time to settle with Tea. When he did, he worked wonders and when a bigger opportunity beckoned with Krokus, he made the move which made a sea change in his career. I am more enamoured with his work with Tea; well, it had to be something raunchier which rendered the guy famous and self-sufficient, besides making him the first Maltese artiste to appear on MTV back in 1984.
Marc Storace's move is really commendable but one shouldn't forget Tony Carr, who made that bold step many years before, when back in 1952 he too emigrated, this time to the UK, spot on in a jungle of fierce competition. This ace drummer had a very good job with Jimmy Dowling's band. He succeeded not just because he migrated but moreover, because he proved himself to be an outstanding drummer, his time-signatures at times verging on the impossible, as I truly witnessed when I visited him at his home in Eastbourne some 18 months ago.
Charlie Grima is also another drummer who lived his childhood and early teens in Malta, only to migrate to Birmingham, UK and eventually ending up with Roy Wood's Wizzard, a band which scored a few great hits, including two number ones back in the early 1970s. "He still signs his real name, Carmelo, whenever he takes out his royalty fees," added former Wizzard founder and frontman Roy Wood when I interviewed him at a charity rock festival held in St Andrew's Pembroke five years ago.
Ray Bonici can be considered as a local hero, having left for the UK back in 1973 to try his luck as a music journalist. He succeeded in interviewing a few major names like Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger among others. His interviews sold all over the world. Not bad when one considers that he did all this as a freelancer.
The advent of faster, cutting-edge technology has made it easier for local artistes to reach out and make contacts which have proved to be beneficial as Ira Losco, Beangrowers, Forsaken, Corkskrew and many others can testify. These artistes have all successfully toured abroad, at times playing at festivals which attracted huge audiences, as was the case with Ira Losco over the past two years, where she played to festival crowds of over 100,000.
Back in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, such contacts were virtually impossible. One either had to try his luck abroad by staying for some time in a major city, with a major music market or else he had to stay put. I still recall Exit telling me how hard it was trying to convince independent record labels, like Cherry Red Records, of their product, despite the fact that then, they did have some good, oddball electronic songs, much along the lines and tastes of this label. Heavy metal band Acid performed at the US base in Sicily back in 1984 and, at around the same time, X-Tend did some gigs abroad but these were remote exceptions. By and large the scene remained local and insular, at times, too insular for one's liking.
I still contend that despite all the progress that we have made in communications, the only way for local talents to really develop themselves is through spending time abroad, working, rehearsing and most importantly doing one's best to obtain, perform and prove oneself through gigging. One would then get a fairer idea, rather than a glimpse of pop's scheme of things, its attractions and pitfalls, audience reaction and other issues that may rapidly change in a scene that can be fickle just as it can be dynamic. Moreover, in this day and age where live shows, rather than studio albums, can account for the artiste's livelihood and future, such a move should be all the more worth considering.
Quite often, the only solution for many such talents is simply to move on to another country which would have a bigger market and greater prospects of success. Such has been the case with Iceland, Trinidad and Tobago, and even relatively bigger countries like Cuba, Jamaica and New Zealand. Besides, a lot of African countries, rich in their musical styles and traditions, saw many artistes migrate, even if for a short period of time to London and Paris simply because the local market wasn't sustainable, either because it was too small or because of piracy. There is no doubt that migration, legal migration that is, helped considerably to enrich the pop scenes of London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Los Angeles, among other cities.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, it also brought a new cross-culture, a fusion of styles that helped to provide a healthy infusion at a time when many were concerned that the pop scene would stagnate. It was thanks to the likes of Osibisa in the 1970s, King Sunny Ade' and the late, great Ali Farka Toure' in the 1980s and of course, Bjork, Cubanismo!, and a multitude of other talents that pop remained colourful and unpredictable.
Malta, too, provided its small share of pop migrants. In this regard, I am not referring to the likes of Joe Camilleri, who emigrated to Australia when he was a two-year-old toddler, but on local artistes who consciously took a very bold risk to try their luck abroad. The prime example here is Marc Storace. As lead singer with The Boys, he was doing really well back in the late 1960s. However, he also realised that he wasn't going to go too far by singing in local venues in such a limited market. He also realized that the UK market was a very hard nut to crack. His shift to Switzerland was, relatively speaking, a safer bet but it also took him time to settle with Tea. When he did, he worked wonders and when a bigger opportunity beckoned with Krokus, he made the move which made a sea change in his career. I am more enamoured with his work with Tea; well, it had to be something raunchier which rendered the guy famous and self-sufficient, besides making him the first Maltese artiste to appear on MTV back in 1984.
Marc Storace's move is really commendable but one shouldn't forget Tony Carr, who made that bold step many years before, when back in 1952 he too emigrated, this time to the UK, spot on in a jungle of fierce competition. This ace drummer had a very good job with Jimmy Dowling's band. He succeeded not just because he migrated but moreover, because he proved himself to be an outstanding drummer, his time-signatures at times verging on the impossible, as I truly witnessed when I visited him at his home in Eastbourne some 18 months ago.
Charlie Grima is also another drummer who lived his childhood and early teens in Malta, only to migrate to Birmingham, UK and eventually ending up with Roy Wood's Wizzard, a band which scored a few great hits, including two number ones back in the early 1970s. "He still signs his real name, Carmelo, whenever he takes out his royalty fees," added former Wizzard founder and frontman Roy Wood when I interviewed him at a charity rock festival held in St Andrew's Pembroke five years ago.
Ray Bonici can be considered as a local hero, having left for the UK back in 1973 to try his luck as a music journalist. He succeeded in interviewing a few major names like Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger among others. His interviews sold all over the world. Not bad when one considers that he did all this as a freelancer.
The advent of faster, cutting-edge technology has made it easier for local artistes to reach out and make contacts which have proved to be beneficial as Ira Losco, Beangrowers, Forsaken, Corkskrew and many others can testify. These artistes have all successfully toured abroad, at times playing at festivals which attracted huge audiences, as was the case with Ira Losco over the past two years, where she played to festival crowds of over 100,000.
Back in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, such contacts were virtually impossible. One either had to try his luck abroad by staying for some time in a major city, with a major music market or else he had to stay put. I still recall Exit telling me how hard it was trying to convince independent record labels, like Cherry Red Records, of their product, despite the fact that then, they did have some good, oddball electronic songs, much along the lines and tastes of this label. Heavy metal band Acid performed at the US base in Sicily back in 1984 and, at around the same time, X-Tend did some gigs abroad but these were remote exceptions. By and large the scene remained local and insular, at times, too insular for one's liking.
I still contend that despite all the progress that we have made in communications, the only way for local talents to really develop themselves is through spending time abroad, working, rehearsing and most importantly doing one's best to obtain, perform and prove oneself through gigging. One would then get a fairer idea, rather than a glimpse of pop's scheme of things, its attractions and pitfalls, audience reaction and other issues that may rapidly change in a scene that can be fickle just as it can be dynamic. Moreover, in this day and age where live shows, rather than studio albums, can account for the artiste's livelihood and future, such a move should be all the more worth considering.