I much enjoyed two concerts in the last couple of weeks as some of you must have done, too. The first was the Sliema Symphony Band with the special guest tenor Kaludi Kaludow from Bulgaria – Kaludi Canta L’Italia – at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. What a change from the musical bubblegum from loudspeakers and other paraphanelia to which we are subjected wherever we go. Even one hour of pop a day from some silly DJ who believes himself to be famous strikes me as a cruel and unusual punishment. In far too many places we are forced to endure loud, vulgar, non-music which cannot possibly appeal to anyone with even the most rudimentary of souls. I am told a great many like the racket and cannot possibly live without it; that I am simply old-fashioned and terribly passé. It is not the music. It is me who is at fault. I cannot agree. I am always meeting people who complain that the music in certain places is far too loud and not music at all. So Kaludi’s beautiful singing was truly an oasis in a desert of noise.

Allow me to go on digressing a little from the Kaludi Canta l’Italia evening. As a matter of fact, the other day I stopped to think for no more than ten minutes while I nibbled at a couple of bars of chocolated and amused myself by trying to match some of our politicians with different kinds of music.

I decided that the present prime minister would enjoy well-sung Verdi arias which stir the blood. Mr Dalli, I strongly suspect, would be a Blues man, especially at present, because of the way his very own party, of which he was Minister with an important portfolio a short while ago, is treating him. Mr Mugliett, away from road-building and driving licences would, in the private of his home, let his hair down with his wife Karen and probably enjoy best-selling pop albums.

Dr Austin Gatt, who is evidently no subscriber to Men’s Health and who has just lost a libel case to the Leader of the Opposition, is not the kind to enjoy my kind of music. I can see that in a flash. Not for him Piaf, Chopin, Brel, Vera Lynn, Liszt, spaghetti music and delightful Viennese tunes. He doesn’t have that sort of soul at all. His kind of music would be Wagner: The Valkyrie and Götterdämmerung perhaps and the ‘gnashing of teeth’ variety. There may even be a portly hippie lurking somewhere inside him, if only he would let him get out.

My guess is that Mr Ninu Zammit is a folksong kind of guy; sort of rural and his feet in the merde of the countryside harking back to his portfolio when he was Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

I am tempted to go on but allow me to tell you a little about the Kaludi concert which even the storm afterwards did not manage to spoil for us. What can one say of an evening which had old favourites loved by our grandparents too? Leoncavallo’s Mattinata, the evergreen Strada nel Bosco, Core’ngrato, Verdi’s La donna è mobile (which is of course totally untrue if we are going to philosophise about songs); the stirring Non ti scordar di me and that favourite recital item in tenor repertoire from Caruso to Pavarotti Torna a Surriento. Both songs were written by the Neapolitan Ernesto de Curtis the fourth child of a family of seven, collaborated with one of his brothers Giambattista, who was not only a painter, like his father but also a poet, and wrote the words of several of Ernesto’s songs. Ernesto de Curtis’ collaboration with Beniamino Gigli who was the most famous interpreter of his two songs Non Ti Scordar di Me and Ti Voglio Tanto Bene in the ‘30s, encouraged him to leave Italy and follow Gigli and be his accompanist.

Another de Curtis song we all love is Voce ‘e Notte which I hope Signor Kaludow will sing for us next year. Ernesto came across the words in a newspaper and was so struck by their beauty and intensity that he put them to music. Since I wasn’t yet born in 1902 when this happened I only remember Peppino di Capri’s version which I still have on vinyl and play from time to time together with his Till.

Kaludi sang Mamma to our delight during which we all thought of our dear mothers whether they are still alive or are dead, and shed a silent tear. So much beautiful music.

Soprano Karen Camilleri looking so very much slimmer than when I last saw her some three years ago in an operetta at the Manoel rose to the occasion and accompanied Signor Kaludow in a number of duets including the lively La Spagnola, O soave fanciulla from Puccini’s La Bohème and the beautiful Musica Proibita.

There were many touching moments but one in particular was when the excellent Sliema band, made up of so many young people who must spend hours rehearsing with their conductor, Maestro Ronnie Debattista, paid a special tribute to composer Joseph Fenech and played his Ave Maria. Imagine our surprise when Mr Fenech who was born in 1917, rose and bowed from one of the upstairs balconies. How wonderful to be 90 and still fit enough to go to a concert in which your own musical composition is played.

Paul Borg was magnificent in the demanding Concerto for Tuba, the composition of Edward Gregson. What an instrument, what a composition and what a performer.

My only slight disappointment was the Wiener Operettenklassiker – a selection of Viennese music arranged by Von Hans Kliment. This sort of music needs violins to be truly enjoyable and there weren’t any. However, this selection was presented to the Sliema Band by the Bundesbahnmusik Band of Linz, Austria, since the two bands are twinned and collaborate with exchanges of concerts and music scores. Perhaps next time round they could send us some Viennese violinists to join our band.

There is much more to say but not enough space for further comment on this entertainment concert for which I wish to thank in particular Mr Tonio Portughese who is President of the Società Filarmonica Sliema and who organizes these regular concerts purely because of his love of music and interest in the band.

After the concert I met Karen Camilleri and her husband and Amanda their girl whom, you may remember could not smile. Many of you must have contributed towards her many operations so that she would smile when we were raising funds for her several years ago. Amanda is now a pretty girl who smiles much more and it was lovely to see her again after several years.

I also loved the Manoel Theatre Swings with Go concert towards which the indefaticable Sigmund Mifsud contributed a great deal, not only through several musical arrangements but also because he brought the 15 or so musicians together and must have rehearsed them to death. But it was truly worthwhile. We loved the band and the solos; we loved Nadine Axisa who is so polished and looks divine whether in a tuxedo or slinky black sheath dress and long gloves. I loved her Mack the Knife Kurt Weill’s famous tune with words by Bertholt Brecht. I last heard Irene Christ sing that in the Music Room of St James Cavalier. And of course Nadine’s Sway was interpreted in the kind of way I like.

Young Daniel Cauchi was superb. At just 21 he is not only younger than my 1980 baby and not only a musician but also a superb singer. I missed his performances in the National Orchestra Goes Pop Concert since I wasn’t here but I shall make it a point to go and listen to him whenever he is singing. The Quando, Quando, Quando with Nadine was so easy going, so well sung and Mort Shuman’s Save the Last Dance for Me was, for me, memorable, sung by one so young, so very talented and so elegantly – wearing a three piece suit instead of some sloppy Teeshirt and back-to-front baseball cap. Perhaps he was wearing links too but my eyesight isn’t that good.

I absolutely loved Glen Miller’s In The Mood. I must ask the girls (and their boys) to put a Glen Miller CD in my Christmas stocking.

Sigmund is an energetic conductor and the band was full of life. Mr Mifsud was funny too but I must say I did not particularly like his long jackets which, as I know only too well, are strictly for tall slim beings. I liked the hat though and the humour.

I am afraid I thought the young Raquela rather ruined Summertime by giving it too personal an interpretation. I don’t think Gershwin would have liked it either. Why, he may not even have recognized his own composition.

A special mention must go to Godfrey Mifsud’s solo Clarinet Concerto which for me was superbly played. Artie Shaw is another favourite so please girls, that’s another CD for my Christmas stocking.

I have just one grumble. There were many foreign visitors in the audience – German and British mostly, I would have thought. I found it a great pity that only Nadine spoke English. I cannot imagine that Sigmund and Daniel with their education and international experience don’t speak any English. If we want to attract foreign visitors to our theatres then we must comment in both English and Maltese. We are a bi-lingual nation and it is unfair to visitors to go to the theatre, pay good money for tickets without being able to understand what is going on for some of the time. If the performers are reluctant to speak in English then get a compère to do it. There are many excellent ones who would be happy to oblige.