Brikkuni Teatru Rjal outrage recalls performance venue problems

Folk-pop act Brikkuni came to the verge of cancelling a September concert at Valletta’s Teatru Rjal due to high rental fees, in a reminder of the challenges local bands face in securing concert venues.

Brikkuni frontman Mario Vella: “I honestly hope that changes take place, for the sake of all musicians on the island”. Photo: Noel Tanti.
Brikkuni frontman Mario Vella: “I honestly hope that changes take place, for the sake of all musicians on the island”. Photo: Noel Tanti.

Though most of the island was probably away from their computers last Thursday in favour of a spot of the sunny outdoors on the occasion of the feast of Santa Marija, a section of Malta's social networking web was alight with sound and fury, as the folk-pop act Brikkuni announced that they will be cancelling their concert at Valletta's Teatru Rjal in September owing to allegedly sky-high rental fees.

Eleventh hour discussions with the concerned parties may lead Brikkuni to reconsider their decision, though no official confirmation was forthcoming by the time of going to print.

Taking to Facebook to vent his frustration, Brikkuni frontman Mario Vella revealed that the venue - the restored Old Opera House - would cost €2,000 to rent, a figure that, according to Vella's calculations, would balloon up to €3,940 when all expenses (including sound engineering, security and other concert necessities) are taken into account.

"Nobody can afford such terms, except for those few bands who have the necessary social connections to win sponsorships and those cultural prostitutes who are ready to affiliate any sort of product or service to the arts just to sell tickets," Vella said on his Facebook wall.

Fans and fellow musicians were largely sympathetic to Vella's protestations. Former Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Michael Briguglio wrote a rapid-fire blog post on the issue, suggesting that the restrictive fee gives the lie to Labour's supposedly emancipatory electoral promises.

"If anything, this confirms that the 'taghna lkoll' talk of 'inclusive' cultural policy before the last general elections was nothing but half-hearted plagiarism of progressive proposals for a truly egalitarian and emancipatory cultural policy," Briguglio wrote.

But though the (seemingly interminable) Facebook discussion that followed Vella's announcement was chiefly concerned with whether the Teatru Rjal rental fee was justified, it also brought to mind one as yet unresolved issue within the local musical scene: a lack of adequate concert venues for bands to perform in.

Back in May 2011, a similar online furore had erupted over the challenges local musicians faced in organising concerts, chiefly due to the fact that suitable - and crucially, open air - venues were only accessible at the expense of a restrictive €11,646 police guarantee.

Musicians can, of course, opt to play in venues like bars, which would be licensed to sell alcohol and play loud music until 11pm. But this leaves them vulnerable to inflexible police curfews - with many a concert having been cut short - and often inadequate, cramped venues.

Speaking to MaltaToday in May 2011, musician Daniel Cassar described an all-too-frequent scene in Maltese live music.

"The result is an overly crowded venue, uncomfortable for the band, and uncomfortable for the punters, and basically more of the same, without leeway for improvement, keeping crowds used to live shows abroad to really just come out of sympathy, not actually because they are getting their money's worth, starting a vicious circle of having to keep entrance fees ridiculously low, volatile turnouts, playing to the same 200-300 people, never improving the actual show, and not being able to attract more people."

This may be one reason why local musicians feel the need to jump at the opportunity to perform at the first available outdoor venue such as Teatru Rjal - an outdoor space with substantial seating in which musicians run little risk of having their concert interrupted by the police, to say nothing of the - real or perceived - prestige that comes with performing at such a central and highly publicised venue.

However, performance venues for local musicians don't seem to be all that high on government's agenda. When, last May, musician William Mangion was appointed by government as a 'coordinator of local bands', his first task was to help bands secure adequate rehearsal spaces - a particularly baffling decision given that Maltese bands have been practicing in garages in Marsa, Birkirkara and other areas for a number of years and with no real difficulty.

Last minute negotiations?

According to a spokesperson from the Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, discussions between the concerned parties and the board of the Teatru Rjal took place yesterday in an attempt to reach a compromise and possibly allow for the Brikkuni concert to take place as originally planned.

However, no details of the meeting were forthcoming at the time of going to print, and when contacted by MaltaToday, Charles 'is-City' Gatt, who chairs the board of the Teatru Rjal, said that he did not wish to comment on the matter as of yet.

"I honestly hope that changes take place, not just for our sake, but for the sake of all musicians on the island," Mario Vella wrote on Facebook.

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?????? insular? How exactly does 6 years of independence, creating something out of nothing, suggesting pragmatic solutions to structural problems equate to insularity? I don't care about exporting my 'product' (as you wish to call it) If I were intent on exporting anything I would have resorted to a more palatable genre...or language for that matter. I do not give a toss whether international acceptance is the be all end all as far as artistic vindication is concerned. I am very comfortable ignoring that aspect. I certainly do not feel the urge for such vindication. Still...fact remains..that none of you guys were capable of even remotely tearing a single argument apart. Once you do, I may perhaps consider treating you with a modicum of respect. As things stand, I feel like I am engaging with insects
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Abdullah alhrbi
Good Lord make up your mind man. It's down to Yes but no now is it . You should , I think, be sincere enough to admit that the singularly insular broohaha you raised will most definitely help your ticket sales. Good for you on that one however the brownie points you may have earned are neutralised by the high indulgence in predictable insular thinking .Perhaps the confines of that particular trabokk are still a tad too comfortable are they? When will you be exporting your product?
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Ghadni qieghed nistenniek tmeri l-figuri fattwali sur Mariotalmonti. Huw proprju ghax rnexxejna wehidma, minghajr ebda pampaluni li naffordjaw inqajjmu dan il-kjass kollu. U nahlef li nibqa nqajjmu sakemm il-problemi kollha li jezistu jissolvew. Nigi nitnejjek minn Joseph u daqstant iehor minn Simon Il-hmieg ta fanatizmu politiku jinsab fil-mohh ckejken taghkom. Kummentaturi IRRELEVANTI li f'hajjithom m'ghalu xejn ta siwi jippruvaw jaghtuni lezzjonijiet tal-hajja. Il-kredibbilta ma tixtrijiex. Il-kredibilta tahdem ghaliha. Pucinell
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Il-Brikkuni indunaw li hemm xi ħadd iktar brikkun minnhom fil-gvern. Ħaqqhom.
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Dawn kellhom ghalfejn jippoliticizzawha din il-haga. Jekk mhux kapaci jirnexxu wahedhom ma ghandhom jistennew l-ebda gvern jew partit jissusidjalhom il-medjokritajiet. Issa la qabzu l-politika, urew l-agenda vera taghhom u ma baqghux kredibli aktar, la artistikament u l-anqas fuq bazi personali.
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Morna lura minflokk il-quddiem taht dal-gvern.
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re strategies for musicians to make money: I tabled one as well. Out of my own initiative and time. I discussed it soberly with enough Ministry Officials to realize that it would never materialise in spite of the fact that the solutions offered were cheap and efficien (Again..evidence is easy to provide)Everyone understands, emphatizes, but no-one lifts a finger for fear of stepping on toes. Being Mr Nice Guy gets you nowhere. I am ready to stick my neck out and provide answers and proof vs every question encountered. I know I have the balls and credentials to do it...and do it I will. Even if it means jeopardizig my own projects. This bullshit has got to end. There's no arguing against evidence. the venue will lose more money if it closes to the prospect of buisness (whatever the maginitude of said buisness)
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re strategies for musicians to make money: I tabled one as well. Out of my own initiative and time. I discussed it soberly with enough Ministry Officials to realize that it would never materialise in spite of the fact that the solutions offered were cheap and efficien (Again..evidence is easy to provide)Everyone understands, emphatizes, but no-one lifts a finger for fear of stepping on toes. Being Mr Nice Guy gets you nowhere. I am ready to stick my neck out and provide answers and proof vs every question encountered. I know I have the balls and credentials to do it...and do it I will. Even if it means jeopardizig my own projects. This bullshit has got to end. There's no arguing against evidence. the venue will lose more money if it closes to the prospect of buisness (whatever the maginitude of said buisness)
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Alex check your facts before shooting your mouth. We do not want anything for free. We have been advocates fo the eradication of such mentality for quite a while. now re 2K rent: It may sound like a pittance if the theatre is sold out but 90% of local acts will not sell it out. Within that 90% there's the best (make of that what you will) that the country has to offer. Bear in mind that you need to add another 3K to that 2K. I guess you can do the math from thereon. This is precisly while we are pushing for a different logistical strategy based on varying rental rates (in accordance with production economic potential) and a percentage of box office takings. Venue administrators have to get creative just as much as we do We have been iperating independently for over 6 years now, mostly working with the private sector. I know what I am talking about and I can provide proof against all my workings. So cut the crap about 'Brikkuni' being leeches. WE just want to get a fair deal based on our operation. We are also concerned about the theatre making money in the process. And it will certainly recoup its expenses and make a decent profit as well if our terms are accepted.
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Alex check your facts before shooting your mouth. We do not want anything for free. We have been advocates fo the eradication of such mentality for quite a while. now re 2K rent: It may sound like a pittance if the theatre is sold out but 90% of local acts will not sell it out. Within that 90% there's the best (make of that what you will) that the country has to offer. Bear in mind that you need to add another 3K to that 2K. I guess you can do the math from thereon. This is precisly while we are pushing for a different logistical strategy based on varying rental rates (in accordance with production economic potential) and a percentage of box office takings. Venue administrators have to get creative just as much as we do We have been iperating independently for over 6 years now, mostly working with the private sector. I know what I am talking about and I can provide proof against all my workings. So cut the crap about 'Brikkuni' being leeches. WE just want to get a fair deal based on our operation. We are also concerned about the theatre making money in the process. And it will certainly recoup its expenses and make a decent profit as well if our terms are accepted.
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What about the musicians getting together and coming up with ideas on how to generate the funds. All good musicians made headway by forging out personal money and through personal risk and sacrifice - these are the real musicians. Euro 2000 is a pittance for such a venue - the mentality of everything for free has to stop, otherwise we're going to have another failed project. I would only agree with M. Briguglio's statement if the same venue was offered to another group for a lower fee - if such case does not exist, than it is a totally void comment.