INJECTING NEW LIFE INTO THE MALTESE SONG — Ninu Nina Artist Interviews

May 14

May 14 INJECTING NEW LIFE INTO THE MALTESE SONG

Creative People, Culture, Film, Interviews, Music, Photography, Travel

This week, we ventured into Japan’s underground with digginthru, re- visited Cambodian psychedelic rock from the 60’s, talked about Zamrock as We Intend to Cause Havoc is at the Munich documentary festival, and today I keenly present one of the most interesting collaborations I believe I’ve featured yet. I chat with Maltese underground band Brikkuni, that gained cult following in 2008 and who’ve been responsible for ushering a new wave of Maltese Alternative. This year they release 'Il-Ħajja. Il-Mewt, In-Nisa' (translated to Life, death, women). and the video is a very special collaboration with Maltese Filmmaker Franco Rizzo who is currently based in Seoul. So here we have a Maltese music video shot in South Korea. Let’s take a deeper dive.

How did this collaboration begin?

Mario Vella - 'Brikkuni' is a ferociously independent underground band that has been active since 2006 within a cash strapped music scene that hardly allows for any profit unless one totally forsakes his vision and settles for straight up radio fodder. And even then, one would still have to stick to the day job. Malta has a population a little north of 400K. You don't get to sell a lot of records, and you don't get to play a bunch of gigs to diverse audiences even if you're a mainstream act. Let alone an alternative one whose front-man's controversial views often rubs people the wrong way. More often than not it's the day job sustaining your artistic exploits. As a result you tend to invest what little you have in recordings rather than visual aid. Our way around this was to find a young promising upstart who genuinely dug our music and was only too happy to be 'exploited'. Franco (the director) was the answer to our wicked prayers. Sorry Franco!

Franco Rizzo - I've always felt more in tune with the alternative scene in Malta than the mainstream one. Considering the size of our country, the niche is considerably small. Yet it's usually the indie and alternative acts that push themselves to create proper innovative concepts. I can relate to that through the discomfort of wanting to create something fresh without having the right and/or enough resources. Even though the person who's more likely to be sorry about being "exploited" is me, I was always ready to provide a visual accompaniment to something unique and deserving of more attention than the typical run-of-the-mill output. Maybe it's due to some sort of peculiar artistic masochism.

As far as songs sung in our native language, Brikkuni had always provided a fresh take on Maltese songs and they never settle for the run-of-the-mill. I had always related to Brikkuni's music, from their first tongue-firmly-in-cheek debut, which took aim at everything that the Maltese considered sacred and never dared criticise, to their follow-ups, which showed signs of maturity and introspection that transform the personal into something universal.

I had originally wanted to do a video for another song of theirs, the heart-rending "Ghaxar Snin" (Ten Years), but that didn't come to fruition, so I focused my attention elsewhere. I forgot who approached who at the time, but I do remember meeting Mario Vella before my second-month long trip to Korea back in May 2019. We had discussed the song and its themes which I had already heard as a rough garage recording. Even in its low quality format, the song intrigued me.

How did the artists meet?

Mario Vella - I got to know Franco through our guitarist Andrew. He had shot some live footage on occasion of our former album 'Rub Al Khali's launch. I was immediately struck by his no-nonsense approach and resourcefulness. What really sealed the deal though was his genuine love for our music. In Franco I saw someone who could really 'get us' and add another dimension to our sound instead of merely visually adorning it. He also struck me as a misfit of sorts. He didn't look too cool for school like most upcoming artists hailing from the local underground circuit did. In fact he looked more like a kid ready to join the seminary. There was no way this wasn't going to work out.

Fanco Rizzo - I had first met Mario on a music video shoot for another local artist, Bark Bark Disco. The Brikkuni frontman is notorious for his unfiltered views, and through his online persona, you'd be forgiven to think of him as this sort of unapproachable surly character. On that music video, however, that assumption quickly withered away, as he let his hair down, cracked some signature dance moves, and went along for the ride. Andrew Schembri, who's now their guitarist, was designing the lighting for the band's previous album 'Rub Al Khali's' launch, and he had recommended and engaged me to shoot a few tracks being performed live. I guess the thing that brings together this admittedly vanilla exterior of a guy and a singer with occasional brusque mannerisms is an artistic sensibility that, through our respective approaches, don't really like settling down for the common and easiest route towards creating art.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

Mario Vella - Where to start. We are a pretty eclectic bunch. Oliver, our bass player is a professional jazz musician based in Paris, Jimmy (guitar) has a penchant for Americana, Alan (keys) is knee-deep into electronica and hip hop, Andrew (guitar) is generally the one introducing us to the newest hip bands doing the rounds. Kim's operatic voice might mislead one into thinking she is a classical afficianado however she leads more towards dream pop (Goldfrapp, Beach House) while John (drums) loves Steve Hackett and wildlife documentaries big time! I mainly draw my inspiration from iconic Italian singer songwriters such as Fabrizio De Andre and Franco Battiato. I also have a decades long-love affair with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and defunct Italian pro-soviet punk band C.C.C.P. But on any given day I could listen to anything from Marvin Gaye to Fela Kuti, The National,Talking Heads. Brian Eno...much depends on my mood.

Franco Rizzo - Too many to mention. I mostly consume as much movies, photography, graphic novels and music as I can whenever I have the time to do so. Just to name a few things I came across recently - Winter in Sokcho by Élisa Shua Dusapin, the Beastie Boys Story documentary and a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition I plan to go to here in Seoul. Seoul city is an inspiration unto itself too.

You talk about the revival of Maltese pop music, tell us a bit about that, I'd never heard of it until now.

Mario Vella - Ok this might sound a tad pretentious on my behalf but let's say that for a good 20 years or so between the late eighties and late 90’s the main musical output sung in our native tongue was mostly restricted to melodramatic, turgid ballads written for local musical competitions and occasional inconsistent attempts by bands and/or songwriters trying to redress the balance with mixed success. To add insult to injury the few bands that seemed capable of capturing the public's imagination and achieve a degree of success did so by (badly) mimicking foreign artists. I feel there were hardly any local bands that an angry, disillusioned, impassioned youth could truly relate to while feeling cool about it. I believe we filled that void for a while. I am happy to report that things have improved considerably since 2008.

Franco Rizzo - Mario's more qualified to answer that question. However, I can say that Brikkuni did inject new life into the Maltese song, be it musically or lyrically. I let a sigh of relief upon finally hearing a band in Malta actually going where other Maltese pop bands didn't. If you take "Fomm ir-Rih" itself as an example, it is essentially a love song, but where other bands would opt for the usual pop arrangement sung with forced sentimentality, Brikkuni dig deeper, into their listeners' souls.

What is the connection with South Korea?

Mario Vella - Our connection with South Korea was pretty coincidental. Franco Rizzo (clip's director) moved there late last year. We thought it was a pretty bold move on his behalf since local visual artists intent on breaking into the industry usually opt for more fancied western capitals such as Berlin or London. We never really thought that his move away from Malta would be in any way problematic. On the contrary, we saw an opportunity cropping up. We strongly felt that Seoul's landscape would provide the perfect foil to' our song's ethereal qualities.

Franco Rizzo - It is a long one and it runs deep. It started with my fascination with South Korean movies. Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy left an indelible mark on me. I think I saw it when I was working within the TV industry in Malta. The seeds of my ever growing frustration were sown there. While the experience served me to hone my directorial, filming and editing skills better, I've always felt I was providing a pretty visual for content that was lacking. I was, and still am, intrigued by the marriage between visuals and subject matter in South Korean movies, and their ability of weaving narratives that shift tones quite easily.

In any case, two years ago, then a freelancer working on my own terms, I decided to challenge myself and learn a new language. Since I am fond of Korean movies, it follows that I should learn Korean, right? Talk about taking a challenge literally.

It turned out to be more than just learning the language. I found out more about the culture, the history, the food, visited the country twice, and on both occasions I felt this is where I should stay to find some respite out of the suffocating comfort zone that Malta has become, at least for me. After returning back from Korea last year, that feeling had reached the very tipping point. Let me put it this way: while Malta is still my home country, it no longer feels like home for me for a multitude of reasons that I dread ever returning there for good. I don't feel Maltese any longer, but then again, at this day and age, what does it even mean to be Maltese anyway? So now I'm kind of stuck in between a culture that is not mine, yet I somehow find myself identifying a lot with, and a culture that I was born into which is continuously becoming more alien to me.

Seoul keeps giving me an energy I didn't quite feel in years. Seoul is for me what London and/or Berlin is or might have been for some other Maltese expats, artistically invigorating and filled with personal growth.

Inspiration behind the video?

Mario Vella - The song's title, 'Fomm ir-Riħ' (Wind's Mouth) is a nod to a beautiful secluded beach by the same name situated in the outskirts of Mġarr - the small village where I was born and raised. In the song it is re-imagined as a mystical place where parted lovers re-unite.

Franco Rizzo - I've watched some videos recently from movie directors who explained how they mostly draw from personal experience. I took onboard the idea of Fomm ir-Riħ being a non-descript abstract place where one feels complete - be it with a long lost love, be it with family or be it with your own self. There's that kind of longing in every person, so I drew that from my own experience and that of the actors' too. I took a page out of Terrence Malick's book, where I filmed lots of footage, with a minimum set of narrative devices as possible, and mostly worked with feeling and through association, in the editing phase.

7. Favourite websites, other artists or social media handles you follow.

Mario Vella - I must admit that I am a bit of a Youtuber and Facebooker and like to keep up to date with whatever The Queens of The Stoneage are up to. I love Josh Homme to bits. I think he's one of the last true rock n'roll heroes we've got. I also have a tremendous soft spot for Vincent Gallo. I find his brand of irreverence and nasty defiant rants particularly entertaining. Especially for a P.C obsessed industry such as the film and music industry. Luckily enough he's a renaissance man of sorts. He'll never be out of a job. Not that he needs the money mind you. Have you ever checked the personal services' section on his website? It's hilarious. Oh Vincent you're such a naughty boy!

Franco Rizzo - I am always on the lookout for music videos on YouTube. I watched Childish Gambino's This is America again recently, and for someone who doesn't consider himself a huge Kpop fan, I really enjoyed Chungha's video for "Stay Tonight".

Anything else you'd like to share?

Mario Vella - I'd like to ask your readers how best to start chain smoking. I've been trying unsuccessfully since the fifth grade. It would be quite an accomplishment. Thank you for your time. I'm off to waste mine

Franco Rizzo - While you suggest to Mario ways to start chainsmoking, stay safe inside while you listen to Brikkuni's latest album on Spotify "Il-Ħajja, il-Mewt, in-Nisa" (Life, Death, Women) and their back catalog. And be sure to check out other alternative Maltese acts.

Have a listen