l-hawnropa u post l-imperu ottoman fiha

Bhalissa jien imsahhar mill-album ta' Philip Jeck u Janek Schaeffer li jismu Songs for Europe. It-titlu nahseb li hu pjuttost ironiku billi d-diski huma ta' lps u 45s qodma Griegi u Torok jaqbzu fuq rekordplejers uzati li qed ihawduni u jisserjawni.

U jien u nisma' Istanbul Drift il-hsibijiet tieghi qed jiddriftjaw lejn Istanbul infatti u qed isiru affarijiet li rari jkunu, cioè serji u poetikament politici. Min jghid li m'hemmx post ghall-poezija u l-emozzjoni fil-politika ghandu ragun probabbilment imma ma jimpurtax, ghax lanqas post ghall-ghajjat, ghall-emozzjonalizmu u l-estremizmu m'hemm fil-politika imma xorta hemm sabu posthom. Tort ta' dan l-album, tort ta' min gietu l-ideja li...

...how about taking the two of them, equipped with all manner of antique record layers, setting them up in an abandoned thirties office building at the foot of the Acropolis, and having them gather source material only from used record shops, a motley collection of second hand Greek and Turkish lps and 45's. Sounds like heaven. And it is. Schaeffer often seems focused on rhythm and source material, while Jeck's aim is more emotion and ambience, thus the two work perfectly together. Slowly shifting shades of darkness, move sluggishly like sonic ice floes, snippets of mubled vocals struggle against record crackle and skipping loops of distorted orchestration. The whole record is a series of fuzzed out ambient soundscapes, smeared deftly into indistinct outlines, voices float by like clouds, rhythms emerge from the murk, having fallen together seemingly randomly by the overlap of assembled sonic striations, rumbling crunch, slowed down into a thick sonic mulch, wavering melodies cloaking the horizon in glimmering sonic dew, guitar melodies deconstructed into distant frameworks, surrounding static swirls of sweetness and occasional bursts of violent skree. Horns squeal and are quickly subsumed by thick slowly bubbling pools of strummed mumbly guitars and minor key lullabies. Dreamy and heavenly. We just can't get enough of this stuff. The music of dreams. The music of darkness and light. The music of life, slowed down and observed from within.

(Aquarius Records, San Francisco)

Hu possibli tkun "ewropatrijottiku" (kelma Maltija ghal cringeworthy ghandna? ghax hawn postha...) minghajr ma taqa' fin-nassa tan-nostalgija jew tar-razzizmu?

Ghax l-Ewropa taghna mhux biss l-Ewropa ta' l-IKEA, tal-Lidl, tal-Carrefour imma hi l-Ewropa tal-Bonheur, tal-Constant, mhux l-Ewropa ta' Wagner u Beethoven biss imma hi ukoll l-Ewropa ta' Ferrari u ta' Pärt*.

U l-Ewropa mhux biss l-autostrade impekkabli madwar Bergamo, u l-pontijiet perfetti fil-gonna pubblici ta' Zurik imma ukoll il-Hal Afrika u l-Marsafaqar tas-subborgi Kabo Verdjani ta' Lisbona, id-dezert ta' Extremadura - aridu u miftuh daqs fetha ramlija Libjana, il-fruntiera bejn Franza u l-Lussemburgu b'kull hanut b'neons ikbar u li jemettu iktar lumens minn kwalunkwe 7-11 jew radioshack Amerikan, hu ta' Molenbeek-Saint-Jean fejn hemm tfal Belgjani li qed isiru adulti u ma jafux jghidu kelma wahda bil-Franciz jew l-Olandiz, tal-vaguni tal-metrò qodma u mahmugin ta' Budapest kif jidhru fil-film Kontroll.

Mhux biss l-Ewropa tal-kattolici, tal-protestanti, ta' l-anglikani imma wkoll l-Ewropa ta' l-izlamici, ta' l-induisti, tat-taoisti, kif ukoll dik ta' l-ateisti, l-anjostici u dawk li ma jimpurtahomx.

Anke l-enfant horrible ta' l-Ewropa, l-Ingilterra, li xi minn daqqiet taf tkun narcissista ewrofobika ossessjonata biha innifisha u li trid bilfors issostni li logiku ssuq fuq in-naha l-ohra, logiku ikollok plugs differenti mill-bqija ta' l-Ewropa, logiku ikollok munita differenti, logiku tidhol go klabb biex teqred li trid tohrog. Anke hi pproduciet affarijiet brillanti u anke hi (meta trid insomma) tasal taghraf, sabiha jew m'hiex, ix-xbiha purament Ewropea taghha.

U t-Turkija? B'parti zghira fl-Ewropa u l-bqija fl-Asja ma tidholx fl-istampa? Iebsa... imma ghala le?

* Gieli innutajtu li Arvo Pärt qed isir dejjem iktar tahlita tal-lecturer in/famuz fl-Uni ta' Malta Salvu Catania u ta' Pavarotti? Ghandi l-provi! Ma nistax nimmagina lill-Arvo Pärt jiddiskuti dwar il-"light falling on objects" (etc) ta' xi film ta' Murnau waqt li jiekol xi ikla ma' tispicca qatt b'xugaman abjad ma' ghonqu imma...