www.sundaycircle.com
JULY 2014 – ISSUE NO. 235
ONCE
A PRIEST
What happens to priests once they decide to leave the ministry? page 20
JOE FRIGGIERI
On his love of words page 53
LIVING AT HOME Does it do more harm than good? page 63
Pino Scicluna The Maltese-Italian actor on life on the Italian stage, crafting theatre from the stories of the past, and taking on the role of Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta in this year’s Malta Arts Festival page 16
T RS I F ’S N A T IO AL AT M bR dE ELE 8 I S 2 IN N c page : E O ee IV UNI s S LU VIL XC cI
E
Jewellery that’s so you
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. contents . on the cover
16 life, more vividly
Ahead of his performance in the Malta Arts Festival, MalteseItalian actor Pino Scicluna tells Philip Leone-Ganado about his life in stories
society
20 once a priest
David Schembri asks: What happens to priests once they leave the ministry?
28 here come the brides
Kristina Galea Cavallazzi and Clara Borg tell Philip Leone-Ganado about their civil union ceremony – the first since it became law in Malta
64 home sweet home
53 a man of letters
Poet and philosopher Joe Friggieri tells David Schembri about life, language and literature, and how they all form part of the same web
music
47 the man behind the music
Howard Keith Debono, the man behind some of Malta’s top music acts talks to David Schembri about everything from music to marketing
sPort
Philip Leone-Ganado meets Ariana Axiaq and Jamie Farrugia, the teenage girls representing Malta in the 2014 Chess Olympiad
health
dance
Dr Jean Paul Demajo talks about getting your teeth
Young ballerina Sandrina Spiteri-Gonzi opens up to Philip Leone-Ganado about the harsh reality of professional ballet training, and how she’s using that experience to change the perception of ballet in Malta
literature
41 awe of the rings
60 years since the first part of The Lord of the Rings was published, Veronica Stivala finds out how far Tolkien fandom has taken Maltese devotees
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59 queens among knights
Young adults living in their family home are sometimes seen as spoilt, but David Schembri finds they have grownup reasons for not fleeing the nest – yet
34 dance becomes her
34
67 regaining confidence back to sparkling form
reGulars 5 a word from the editor | 6 c body 12 c style | 14 c living 69 paparazzi shoPPinG 70 pets
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Send your letterS to: Philip Leone-Ganado, the editor, Sunday Circle, Network Publications Ltd, Level 2, Angelica Court, Guzeppi Calì Street, Ta’ Xbiex, XBX 1425, or email: philip@ networkpublications.com.mt. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and where space is limited. For advertising enquiries email: renee@networkpublications.com.mt or call: 2131 6326/7/8. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole, or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed in the Sunday Circle are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. All reasonable care is taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in articles, advertising, photographs or illustrations. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, but cannot be returned without a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The editor is not responsible for material submitted for consideration.
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A wOrd FrOM
the editor
In our interview with Joe Friggieri, the poet and philosopher expresses his belief that writing should open us up to new realities. In this edition, we hope to do just that. In an exclusive interview, we meet the very first same-sex couple to enter into a Civil Union in Malta – and discover the excitement and joy of finally being able to celebrate their love with their family and friends. But we also hear from ex-priests – and find out about the pain and confusion they face when forced to turn their back on their vows. Elsewhere, we dive into the arts: music producer Howard Keith, manager of Ira, Airport Impressions and Tribali, is probably the most influential music personality you’ve never heard of; ballerina Sandrina Spiteri-Gonzi offers us a Black Swan-esque peek into the cutthroat world of professional ballet training; and our cover personality, the professional Maltese-Italian actor Pino Scicluna, lifts the lid on one of the Malta Arts Festival’s major productions – Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta – and his own varied career making theatre from the most eclectic of stories. I also find time to get beaten at chess by two teenage girls (who happen to be part of Malta’s team for the 2014 Olympiad). This and more inside. Thanks for reading.
WINNERS bOx stephanie cuschieri was the winner of our May competition, and wins a €500 voucher from lisT Roma. she is pictured here (centre) with isabella cutajar, secretary of The Marigold Foundation, and daniela debono for lisT Roma
THIS MONTH
ON THE COVER
PUBLISHEr John Formosa
NeTwORk PublicATiONs lTd
PUBLICATION & SALES MANAGEr Renée Micallef Decesare
EdITOrIAL Philip Leone-Ganado www.sundaycircle.com
JULY 2014 – ISSUE NO. 235
ediTOR
David Schembri
ONCE
dePuTY ediTOR
A PRIEST
What happens to priests once they decide to leave the ministry? page 20
Veronica Stivala Mikela Fenech Pace
JOE FRIGGIERI
On his love of words page 53
cONTRibuTORs
LIVING AT HOME Does it do more harm than good? page 63
Pino Scicluna The Maltese-Italian actor on life on the Italian stage, crafting theatre from the stories of the past, and taking on the role of Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta in this year’s Malta Arts Festival page 16
ST FIR ’S TA ION AL AT M E EbR SId cEL e 28 IN ag : N p VE IO see SI UN LU IL XC cIV
E
COVEr PErSONALITY Pino Scicluna
ArT & dESIGN Sarah Scicluna ART diRecTOR
Jessica Camilleri
seNiOR desiGNeR
SALES & MArKETING Jessica Borg
COVEr PHOTO
suPPleMeNTs sAles MANAGeR
Jacob Sammut
Carla Formosa
PHOTOGRAPHY
sAles AdMiNisTRATOR
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In 2013, the House launched Le Rouge Givenchy, the most Couture of lipsticks. An object of desire designed like a leather accessory. Its formula delicately blends extremely refined texture and intense coverage. Its sculpting consistency plumps up and revitalises the lips by helping reinforce the architecture of the dermis. Enriched with beeswax, it ensures absolute comfort. Le Rouge Givenchy dresses up the lips as sensually and luxuriously as a House Couture outfit.
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
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promotion
The Luxury of ITaLIan TaILorIng InsIde the new CanalI BoutIque, from Italy’s premIum hIgh-qualIty, full-Canvas taIlored ClothIng manufaCturer
T
here is a new exclusive boutique in Malta, a new store for lovers of luxury – the Canali boutique in Bisazza Street, Sliema: a small niche where selected fine materials, a skilful combination of solid and light geometrical shapes, and an original lighting design enhance all the collections to the full. Customers can experience the true Canali Made in Italy quality and pamper themselves with the exclusive Su Misura service in an elegant and sophisticated setting. Canali Su Misura service offers the privilege of wearing unique products: overcoats, suits, jackets, trousers and shirts which express a lifestyle based on the quest for absolute distinction. Emotions take shape from a selection of 500 seasonal and permanent fabrics, many created exclusively for Canali; from ultra-light fabrics (under 180 grams) and Millionaire Cashmeres, to the finest fibres of all, in all senses of the word, including silk and vicuña, all produced in leading mills in Italy. Once fit and fabrics have been chosen, there is a multitude of other elements to consider, from a wide variety of buttons to belt loops and extra pockets. 10
Sunday Circle | July 2014
The ability to listen, to be in tune with clients’ tastes and values, and to advise discretely, make the Canali boutique a sanctuary for the appealing rituals of measuring and modelling. The art of cutting and stitching is entrusted to the expert hands of tailors whose work transforms dream into substance in a matter of weeks: a personalised garment with a label bearing the client’s name. Since 1934, Canali has promoted the tradition of fine hand craftsmanship. It is a fine-tailoring brand, where strong values and a dedicated vision focus on the individual. Proud to be Italy’s premium high-quality, full-canvas tailored clothing manufacturer, Canali has its own Italian factories, which source only from the best fabric mills and employ the finest artisans. In its view, creativity and excellence go hand in hand: that’s why all the craftsmen are trained for years, following a unique programme that makes them specialists in their field, and ensuring traditional and modern skills are passed on and refined from one generation to the next. The aim is always to offer the highest standards of cut, construction and finish, to gentlemen requiring a sartorial fit that suits their life, needs and personality. To achieve this, Canali’s fine tailoring fuses tradition with contemporaneity, topped by a refinement that is only possible in Italy.
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style NEVER HIDE Ray-Ban international set up a lodge at the Isle of MTV concert venue where local hair stylist, Dean Gera gave numerous haircuts that enriched participants with the unique ‘Never Hide’ experience. The ten people who got a bold haircut sealed their membership within the Order and won a Ray-Ban voucher towards a pair of sunglasses of their choice. 30 others each got a pack of Ray-Ban merchandise as a reward. For more information visit: www. ray-ban.com/malta/orderofneverhide/ home. Ray-Ban’s official outlets in Malta can be located through www.eyewear.com.mt
INTENSE AUTOMATIVE STYLE
Cars International is positioning a new attention puller on the road – the Opel Cascada Cabrio and Cosmo, in manual and automatic transmission. The Cascada has an elongated silhouette and a highquality soft top. It is a midsize convertible offering premium technologies and features. The Cascada takes you back to the most intense automotive experiences. Visit Opel in Mdina Road, Qormi, or call 2269 2122. Visit opel.com.mt or Facebook page Opel Malta.
COLOUR YOUR EYES Alcon is introducing the new Air Optix colour contact lenses. With superior breathability technology, these lenses comes with up to 6x more oxygen than leading colour contact lenses. The 3-in-1 colour technology blends beautifully for a complete natural effect. Even if your vision is perfect, you can experience a new look. Now available in leading Optical shops and pharmacies in a large variety of different colours to suit your style.Tel: 2381 1000.
MOSIAC STYLE The Dolce Gabbana new Mosaico Collection consists of beautiful cat-eye-shaped sunglasses in black acetate. They are decorated with a handmade floral micro-mosaic in Murano glass on the temples, and come with grey polarised lenses. The glasses also come packaged in a dedicated branded black velvet case. See the collection at Solaris outlets in Sliema and Valletta.
CAR OF THE YEAR Audi A3 was named World Car of the Year 2014 at the New York Motorshow. The jurors admired “the classic, chiseled contours and the interior trim levels,” as well as the “superb choice of engines and 4 body styles” in the newly launched Cabrio, Sedan, Sportback, and the 3-door version. Overall, “the A3 range packs a hefty premium punch in the small luxury segment” and has outdone the BMW 4 Series and Mazda 3.
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
EYE-CATCHING ACCESSORY This striking duo colour Lara Sfumata bag from Coccinelle comes in a beautiful matte finish of premium calfskin leather, making it a total eye-catcher for this summer. The leather bag comes with an extra shoulder strap, so it is also wearable as a cross body bag. This perfect summer bag can be yours for only €270. Available from Coccinelle in Sliema. Tel: 2131 3097.
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living
Farsons Beer Festival runs from 25th July to 3rd August
THE 35TH FARSONS BEER FESTIVAL The Farsons Beer Festival is back with the freshest and finest selection of beers and a strong-line up of local artists from July 25 to August 3 at Ta’ Qali National Park. With over 70 draught installations and 13 branded bars, beer fans will enjoy local and international beers including a unique selection of speciality brews and UK bottled ales. Farsons will offer the chance to win the grand prize – a Yamaha YZF-R125 sports motorbike.
OPENING TOMORROW NIGHT MIDSUMMER TREAT Tomorrow night at 9pm at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Central Academy of Ballet will be performing their ninth full-length ballet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production, which is inspired by Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, is in celebration of the Academy’s 26-year anniversary. For an evening filled with magic and dance, visit Pjazza Teatru Rjal tomorrow at 9pm. Tickets will be available from the door tomorrow night, or on: 2122 3200.
MALTA HEALTHCARE
VIBRANT ELDERLY COMMUNITY AX Holdings have announced their commitment towards a €43m development project, Hilltop Gardens Retirement Village, that is set to become operational by September 2015. It has been designed with the sole intent of offering elderly residents the best of retirement living, with an independent lifestyle designed to create a unique active aging experience. Hilltop Gardens will offer 150 deluxe apartments and penthouses with extensive views in the heart of the village of Naxxar. Visit www.hilltopretirementliving.com
OBESITY AWARENESS MONTH Obesity awareness month is focusing on providing further information and support for pet owners to get their pets back to shape. We urge everyone to ask their vet for more information about the Royal Canin Pet Obesity campaign and learn more about how they can claim their free bonus points, gifts and scientific information pack by Royal Canin. Soon an opportunity for a free night at the Corinthia Palace Hotel will be launched. Look for #royalcaninobesitymonth on Facebook or call on 2141 4753.
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
Through a fusion of healthcare and technology, emCare provides real-time health and environmental monitoring. Together with GO PLC, emCare is the sole provider of the governmentsubsidised TelecarePlus service. Their latest services offer non-intrusive monitoring allowing the 24/7 call centre to know if the individual is well or needs help without even needing to press a button. To learn more about emCare please visit www.emcare360.com | Tel: 2142 4949.
cover story
LIFE, MORE VIVIDLY Maltese-ItalIan actor PIno scIcluna has Made a career craftIng IntIMate theatre out of the storIes of the Past – IncludIng hIs own. now he Is back In Malta to take on a story of hIs hoMeland for the Malta arts festIval – Il-kaPPIllan ta’ Malta Words Philip Leone-Ganado Photography Jacob Sammut
H
enry Cavendish was an 18th-century British scientist famous for calculating the mass of the earth. Artemisia Gentileschi was a 16thcentury Italian artist whose testimony of her own rape at the hands of a fellow painter survives today. Cheetah the Chimpanzee was the star of the Tarzan films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. At first glance, these disparate characters have little in common, but to Pino Scicluna, they all share one thing: they are the sort of stories out of which he can craft great theatre. “I love to delve into these past stories, and into the minds of the people in them,” he says. “Sometimes I feel like an archaeologist, slowly brushing away layers of dirt to see what’s underneath. What lies beneath the surface?” Pino – who lives and works as a professional actor in Turin – is back on the island for a few weeks for the Malta Arts Festival, where he is playing the title role in Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta, an adaptation by Immanuel Mifsud of Nicholas Monsterrat’s classic international bestseller. The story takes place in Malta during the Second World War. Pino’s character, Fr Salvatore, is a simple, lumbering parish priest serving the poor. When his church is bombed, he establishes his congregation in the catacombs which now serve as a 24 hour air-raid shelter, tending to the needs of the homeless, starving and frightened people living in the darkness. For Pino the subject has a particular resonance. His last two performances at the Malta Arts Festival, in fact, have also been about WWII: his father, exiled from Malta and imprisoned in
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
Uganda for being an Italian sympathiser, was the subject of ID: Internati u Deportati in 2010; while last year’s Il-Gwerra, Familti u Ommi centred around his Italian roots, and specifically his uncle, a captain in the Italian army. “I was born in 1956, with the echoes of the war all around. My generation still feels that. When I was young, I used to love watching war films: the 60s were full of them. And I would hear the stories of the people who actually lived it: my mother, not having anything to eat, or my uncle, fleeing through Sardinia to the North to see his mother,” he recalls. “The people who witnessed the First World War are nearly all dead, and in time the same will be true of the Second. We’ll no longer have a direct experience of it. What will remain then? So I try to keep them alive in my art.” Set in the newly renovated Pjazza D’Armi in Fort St Elmo, and with 18 actors in the main cast alone, Il-Kappillan is set to be the largest production Staġun Teatru Malti – also behind Jiena Nħobb, Inti Tħobb and Ċittadin Vassalli – has worked on to date. Which all marks quite a change for Pino: at home in Italy he mostly crafts small-scale productions based on scripts of his own making, together with the company that he runs with his partner Katia Capato: Nuove Cosmogonie Teatro.
cover story
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 17
cover story
“There was this incredible urgency in the air. It was a shout... un grido: sono qua!” Unsurprisingly, speaking to Pino about his work is like entering a rabbit hole of interconnecting stories, between which he flits alarmingly quickly. “The chimp, Cheetah… I started from this story by Kafka about a monkey who learns how to be a man and gives a lecture to the academy about his transformation. But today, who can be that monkey? It has to be Cheetah: on YouTube there are videos of him smoking cigarettes and watching his own films. So I recount the story of how he got started in cinema. From there I go into Jane Goodall – which links with Jane from Tarzan – who did research on primates and lived with them...” You sense that he could go on like this, linking one story to the next, all day long. “I actually enjoy building the script – the dramaturgy – even more than putting on the show,” he laughs. “The best part is researching, uncovering stories, delving into the past.” How does theatre in Italy compare to Malta? “Nel bene nel male, you can choose to make acting your profession. That doesn’t mean you’re going to make lots of money, but you can head out into a square, put your hat down, and get started. And that’s where you learn. Malta gave me the basis I needed, but the mestiere [craft] I learned in Italy. When you do a play in Italy, it’s not once or five times: one of my plays I’ve performed 100 times. Bringing out those same sentiments and emotions 100 times... that’s where you learn the mestiere.” Joining the cast for Il-Kapillan has an element of homecoming for Pino. Not only is he back in Malta, but he now finds himself acting alongside the same people he worked with more than 20 years ago – before he 18
Sunday Circle | July 2014
left Malta in the early 90s to pursue a career in Italy – and who are now household names in their own right: John Suda, Monica Attard, and director Peter Busuttil, among others. “It’s great to be back among them,” says Pino. “They all have such professionalism. I see it in rehearsals: they know...” He stumbles over the word, and reverts to Italian: “come stare in scena [something akin to stage presence] You can tell these things instinctively. It’s like riding a horse: if you don’t know what you’re doing, the horse will know.” Those years in which Pino was active in Malta were one of the most exciting periods in Maltese theatre history, and Pino himself was right in the middle of it: one of his last roles before leaving, in fact, was Il-Ġaħan ta’ Binġemma, which Francis Ebejer wrote specifically for Pino. “There was this incredible urgency in the air,” Pino recalls. “It was a shout... un grido: sono qua! ‘We are here, we are living, we have something to say.’ I think this has been lost a little. Perhaps it’s because young people today have everything laid out for them, but they don’t feel that urgency.” As for himself, does he still it today? Pino looks confused, as if he can’t quite understand the question. When I clarify, his eyes widen in surprise. “Of course! If it were gone, what would I do? It’s my fuel. Everything I do is about trying to pass the urgency on to other people.” Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta, produced by Staġun Teatru Malti as part of the Malta Arts Festival, will take place at Pjazza D’Armi, Fort St Elmo, between July 25 and August 1. For tickets visit teatrumanoel.com.mt or call 21246389
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religion
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
religion
Once a Priest
“You are a priest forever,” newlY-ordained priests are told. But for the few who leave the priesthood Behind, reintegrating into societY – and the church – is fraught with pain. david schemBri investigates As Samuel* was on his way out of the convent, two of his soon to be former colleagues were in the kitchen, talking. ‘I’m off,’ he said. ‘Bye,’ came their reply. “And that was it. This was how the community I had been part of since I was 16 said goodbye. A few days before I left the convent, they were already stripping my room for parts as others claimed my furniture. When I left, I had nothing except my clothes and the car my family had bought me. No one asked me if I had money to live on, or a roof to go over my head – I was left to my own devices,” Samuel says. Now married with two children, Samuel did not take the decision to leave the priesthood lightly. “I did not want to throw everything away without being sure of what I was doing. After years of turmoil I finally decided I needed to take a serious decision about the direction my life was taking. I spent a whole year discerning – once a week with my spiritual director, and twice a month with a psychologist – on my situation and the way forward. This is not just a spiritual matter – it is also human and psychological – and at that point we asked whether it was a momentary crisis.”
His reason for leaving was simple: he could not keep living his vow of celibacy, of living without a wife, any longer. “Throughout the various stages of my formation, celibacy was always an issue that cropped up. It was like trying to keep a ball underwater – as soon as you let go for a bit, it’s going to rocket back up. But whenever I discussed it with my mentors it was always brushed off as being normal,” he says. It was a period of deep crisis. Even though he recognises – in hindsight, and thanks to his sessions with a psychologist – that his decision to join the priesthood was in part because of “peer pressure”, he still confesses to having a priestly vocation. “I have a double vocation – something that I cannot live out in the Roman Catholic Church. “What makes it harder to accept is that in the Oriental Catholic Church, which is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope, it is accepted that a priest can be married. Does geography influence God’s calling? Moreover, protestant priests, who are married and have a family, and decide to convert to Catholicism, are accepted to be ordained as priests by the Church. Lastly in the New Testament both married and celibate priests are contemplated.
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 21
religion
Many believe that a married priest cannot fulfil his duties to the Church and family without one of them suffering. What about diocesan priests who care for their elderly parents? Are they not family too? Others work – does this take away from their dedication to God and Church? On the contrary, I believe that a married priest can better understand the difficulties that families encounter in their daily lives. “It came to the point where I realised I wasn’t getting any younger; I was 31 when I left. When I was leaving, I was approached by some older monks who told me: ‘I admire you, because I didn’t have the courage to take the step you’re taking, but now I’m too old to take it.’ I couldn’t keep pretending everything was OK, because it wasn’t, and that was when I decided.” Conscious of the impact his leaving might have had on the parish he served, he informed the parishoners he worked with of his decision.
O
“I believe that a married priest can better understand the difficulties that families encounter in their daily lives” 000 22 Sunday Circle | July 2014
ver the past eight years – the length of Archbishop Paul Cremona’s tenure – only one diocesan priest has left the ministry, and only another three from religious orders, according to Anton Gouder, Pro-Vicar in the Archdiocese of Malta. Upon giving the matter sufficient thought, a priest wishing to be relieved of his obligations submits a written request to their superiors and a report examining the request – carried out with the assistance of another priest – is sent to the Holy See after the archbishop (or provincial) has approved it. The case is examined at the Holy See, where the case is studied and a decision is made whether or not to grant dispensation, or whether it should be postponed. In the case of younger priests, the request is shelved until they hit 40. Mgr Gouder explains this was introduced by Pope Paul VI, to ensure no rash decisions are taken. The buffer period is there to safeguard a decision the person would have made repeatedly in their vows over a number of years. “It’s not a punishment – it’s an aid… I admit, it might be a bit forced, so that the step you are taking is one that is on solid ground,” Mgr Gouder says. He defends the church’s stance on celibacy, which he says allows priests to be devoted fully to God and the community, rather than having to choose between the two vocations of family and the priesthood, and points out that in churches where priests had a family the two often were a source of friction.
But once out, things aren’t straightforward. “The Church authorities think that if you meet someone after having left you’re going to sit in a corner weeping and that she’ll do likewise,” Samuel says of the ‘40-years-old’ rule. “They don’t take into consideration that there’s a ticking clock for women if they want to have children. My fiancée and I decided that once the moment came, we’d marry, and we got a civil marriage. To me, the promises I made to my wife were a vow to her, in front of Jesus despite the Church.” Although the dispensation arrived once the authorities learnt of his marriage and child, he does not plan to repeat his vows in the Church anytime soon. “If I now feel hurried to get married within the Church, it would be a bit like saying that the time we’ve been married so far has been a farce,” he says. “We do plan to get married within the Church in due course, but only as a renewal of the vows we’re already living.”
L
eaving isn’t the only painful part. Reintegrating into society, and within the Church – the large majority of priests who leave do not denounce the faith – is not always easy. There are practical considerations. Diocesan priests can hold jobs outside of their ministry, and they keep their earnings. Priests in religious orders, however, do not pocket their earnings themselves, and can be destitute once they leave. Canon law, Mgr Gouder says, obliges the diocese or the order to provide materially for the person leaving the ministry. Reality can work out differently – in some cases. In Samuel’s case, his order did not take an interest in his material well-being, and he counts himself lucky to have had a family to go to. Trying to find a job was a blow to his ego: “I went to the employment office to register, but I couldn’t take it. I just left. It was too humiliating for me, being a graduate who ended up in that queue. It was a huge shock,” Samuel admits. Mark*, a diocesan priest who left the ministry, said that in his experience, “the Church abandons you. To be fair, there were certain people who took an interest. Especially in the beginning, certain people really helped me out. But on the whole the institution disassociates itself from you.”
OPENING JULY R E P U B L I C S T R E E T, VA L L E T TA
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left religion
“I do feel part of the church, but now I’m living more as a backbencher. I live a simple life now”
There have been more positive experiences. Stephen*, who had left the Jesuit order, reports that he and others who left were taken care of financially as well as psychologically. “Obviously the further you are in the process, the longer it will take, but they’re very conscious of the emotional side of the individual.” He reports they also took care of the students in his care, and distanced him from them before he left so the blow to them wouldn’t be sudden. Mgr Gouder puts the “breakup” down to the prior relationship between the priest and the institution: “It’s a lot like marriage – sometimes people don’t speak after the split, sometimes they remain friends. I try and maintain contact with priests who leave, because they’re my friends, and a friend remains a friend.” Dealing with the laity proves to be tougher, sometimes. “It’s not easy because you have to meet many of the people you would have ministered to as a priest and that can be awkward at times,” Mark says. After leaving and getting married, Samuel asked to join a lay community which he had served as a priest, and was turned away because he was not married within the church. “Being turned away does hurt.
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When you leave, you need an input of spirituality– like a car that’s empty and needs petrol. We were looking for something like that, but unfortunately all the petrol stations we tried were closed,” he says. “On the outside they’re nice, but in the end they turned us away. Could it be we scare them? I do feel part of the church, but now I’m living more as a backbencher. I live a simple life now.” “You are a priest forever” – These are among the first words priests hear as priests. Upon being laicised, priests are relieved of their duties and obligations as priests, but they remain priests in the eyes of the Church – and, to a certain extent, themselves. “That’s the painful part of it, because though I am getting on with my life successfully, a part of me is still there, and I do believe in the ‘grace’ of the Sacrament of Holy Orders that is something permanent,” Mark says. “Before God, I’ve managed to stay a priest and get married, so deep down I’ve satisfied my two vocations,” Samuel says. “I don’t say mass, I don’t confess people, but that’s not all there is to being a priest. What’s important is not what you do, but who you are. Right now, I’m living both my vocations serenely.” *Names have been changed for confidentiality
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Triple Bill: Duets in Motion Photograph Kris Micallef
Ir-Ritorn (Teatru Anon)
A Summer of Art A video operA where film And reAlity mirror eAch other mysteriously, A circus which brings together poetry And humour, And A film festivAl under the stArs – the mAltA Arts festivAl is bAck
B
etween July 14 and August 2, artists from Croatia, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and South Africa will join some of the best Maltese artists in a festival with 18 performances – and a separate programme of workshops and master classes – in some of the island’s most prestigious historical venues, such as the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Pjazza Teatru Rjal and the newly-restored Fort St Elmo, bringing a layer of history to the already rich narrative of the Malta Arts Festival.
Teatru Anon, originally a Żigużajg Commission, promises to be a quirky good old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure. Like all performances suitable for children, both are free for children 12 years and under. Music-lovers will enjoy Ruben Zahra & Windstreken Ensemble, a concert which portrays a unique folk-fusion profile, as well as Up-close, an innovative work by Dutch composer Michel van der Aa where film and live performance reflect each one another. Up-Close is a cello concerto duplicated and magnified until it reaches the boundary of video opera, featuring soloist Konstanze van Gutzeit under the direction of Pavel Snajdr with the string orchestra of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. And the emerging artists series – featuring musicians Nadine Galea and Luke Baldacchino – will also present an interdisciplinary showcase of music, literature and painting, along with PHOENIX by Marcus Stockhausen (trumpet and electronics). Also bridging genres is Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta, as well as a free series of films, Pjazza Kino: Sea Stories which will be held under the stars at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, curated by Simshar director Rebecca Cremona.
The festival will open on a high note with 2Cellos, where two young Croatian cellists take cello playing to a new level in a breathtaking live performance. The next day, Kelma Kelma, the Maltese language Facebook phenomenon, will team up with the Big Band Brothers for a night of music and literature at Pjazza Teatru Rjal.
Audiences can also look forward to some firm favourites: Shakespeare’s Globe will be back with King Lear, with Pjazza Teatru Rjal providing the backdrop to the high tragedy of what is arguably Shakespeare’s most moving play. And the trademark Closing Concert will be held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra playing under the baton of Mro Brian Schembri with Russian cellist Alexander Kniazev.
Fort St Elmo will set the scene for Hide and Seek, the new dance production by Ivan Perez which will take audiences into an atmospheric trip where desires, frustrations, madness and tenderness are slowly revealed. The other main dance event of the programme, a triple bill of duets featuring works by emerging Maltese practitioners and established international artists, will be held at Pjazza Teatru Rjal.
Workshops, too, remain an important part of the programming, setting up a dialogue between artists from abroad and Maltese artists. In the middle of a summer calendar replete with events, the Malta Arts Festival allows audiences to experience the work of international artists alongside some of the best Maltese talent in a vibrant programme of high-calibre performances in historical venues.
Two events are sure to be a hit with families: Fecha de Caducidad is a circus from Spain which will bring together moments of poetic beauty, of heart-stopping risk and of tragically funny circus combined with elements of physical theatre and dance to create a visually stunning and emotionally charged show. Ir-Ritorn, a production based on Homer’s Odyssey by
The Malta Arts Festival is organised by Arts Council Malta under the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government, with the support of Fondazzjoni Ċelebrazzjonijiet Nazzjonali, MSV Life, Fimbank, Infusion, Malta International Airport, V.18, Orienta, TVM and the Phoenicia Hotel. www.maltaartsfestival.org July 2014 | Sunday Circle 27
relationships
HERE K COME THE BRIDES
ristina Galea Cavallazzi and Clara Borg first met ten years ago, when Clara’s mother, a colleague of Kristina’s, asked her whether she could find summer work for Clara and a friend at the café’ Kristina owned in Attard. Clara, then a law student, started work during the European Championships of 2004 (as Kristina, a self-confessed football fanatic, remembers it) and continued until she finished University – over which time the two grew increasingly close. Eight years later, on Clara’s 30th birthday, the couple exchanged rings, and on June 13 this year they tied the knot during a ceremony at Ta’ Cenc Hotel in Gozo, surrounded by their family and friends.
With the introduction of civil unions in Malta last april, saMesex couples can for the first tiMe have their relationships legally recognised. philip leone-ganado Meets the very first couple to tie the knot Photography Ben Camille
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So far, nothing unusual – except that with their exchange of vows, Kristina and Clara became the very first same-sex couple to enter into a civil union in Malta since the law came into effect last April. “To be honest, it’s not something we thought would ever be possible in our lifetimes,” says Kristina. “But we always said that if the law ever went through, we’d just go for it.” “We were in Germany on holiday with both our families when the news came through,” says Clara, “and our parents brought champagne over to the table to celebrate. We thought: why wait? At this point in our relationship, there was nothing to think about.” As soon as they could, the couple got in touch with Clara’s cousin, Sarah Young, a wedding planner, and asked for her next
relationships
availability – which happened to be Friday 13. “That’s a bit...you know,” Clara laughs. “But I said let’s go for it. We always did things slightly differently, so even that was fitting for our relationship.” Although the couple were aware from the moment they registered that they were making history, they were adamant that their wedding should be no different to that of any other couple: a celebration, first and foremost, of their love. Thanks to Sarah they managed to organise their dream celebration in just six weeks. “Without her it would definitely not have been possible,” Kristina says. The ceremony took place in the beautiful surroundings of Kantra, overlooking Mġarr ix-Xini. Kristina and Clara both arrived with their parents, and after their parents had taken their seats, the couple walked down the aisle together. The words spoken were similar to those of any other civil ceremony, and after an exchange of rings and vows, the newly-weds joined their friends and family in celebrating the occasion. “We each danced with our fathers first, then we had a short dance together, and then we called the rest to join in,” Kristina recalls. Clara is quick to add: “Spending two minutes with the spotlight just on us was a bit nerve-wracking, so we tried to make it as short as possible.”
There were, of course, a few personal touches to the evening. The cake-topper, for example, featuring two women, had to be custommade and flown in from the US. And Kristina had a pair of rainbowcoloured shoes made for the occasion. “Which I wore after we cut the cake, of course,” she cuts in as Clara tells the story. But as for their aim of ensuring that the evening was first and foremost about their love, that was never in question. “Throughout the whole evening there was this feeling of happiness and love,” says Clara. “Everyone was having a good time and showing their love for us. That was very important to me.” “I think the magical part of the actual exchange of vows is what will stay with me the most,” Kristina adds. “Remember, people in our situation would not have thought this would be possible. So being able to stand there and say those words and exchange rings in front of our families will remain with me. The party was great, but it could have been any party. That moment will stay with me.” Both Kristina and Clara admit that they were surprised at how matterof-fact everyone they encountered in the run-up to the wedding was about the whole affair. And yet in some regards it was a new experience for everyone involved. July 2014 | Sunday Circle 29
relationships
“Well, the make-up artists and hair dressers had double the work,” Clara laughs. “They actually commented that usually when they’re doing the bride, they’re wondering whether the groom will like it, whereas since we were both in the room together, we could give feedback as we went along. We also went to the dressmaker together: we chose each other’s dresses and had them done in a way that they would complement each other’s.” So what does marriage – and the fact of having been able to get married – mean to the newly-weds? “It puts a seal on a relationship that we’ve always lived as a couple,” says Kristina. “We’ve been living together for 4 or 5 years, but if something had happened – if I were in hospital and Clara needed to visit, she shouldn’t need to ask for permission. These things make a difference. As far as our relationship is concerned, nothing really changes. But now we’re recognised as a couple.” “The process of organising the Civil Union has itself actually brought the families closer,” says Clara. “And to a certain extent, it gave us a feeling of authenticity. For our parents, seeing guests coming over and showing their love was a reassurance that their kids are loved... irrespective of anything else. That helps us, it helps them, and it’s brought us all closer.” “This wasn’t just a couple getting married,” says Kristina. “It was a couple being able to do so – finally – in their own country. It was a sense of belonging to your roots and being accepted by them, rather than having to run away from them to achieve your dream.” 30
Sunday Circle | July 2014
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Ira Connected Ever After Ira Losco TaLKs To MIKeLa Fenech Pace abouT KeePIng uP wITh her onLIne Fanbase – and her use oF VodaFone’s red PLan To KeeP In Touch In an IncreasIngLy connecTed MusIc IndusTry
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recently bumped into Ira Losco at a Vodafone party to mark the beginning of summer. She made a spectacular entrance in the middle of the party, microphone in hand and quickly saving the crowd from a karaoke version of her single What I’d Give. Clad in a figure-hugging red dress, she looked stunning. I daresay she looks even better today than when she stormed to fame with her white lace cat-suit on the Eurovision stage with 7th Wonder. In place of the out-of-tune version of her song, she delighted Vodafone employees with her effortless rendition. She partied the evening away delighting us with one song after another giving us a clear insight into her affable and easygoing character. It’s no wonder she is still so popular so many years on. Indeed, I discovered this soon after, when I asked her for a friend request on Facebook only for her to reply that she had reached the limit on Facebook and couldn’t take more. Ira is truly connected. 32
Sunday Circle | July 2014
I caught up with her after the party, curious to see how she manages to fit it all in with her busy schedule. Her answers give us an insight into her online world. Ira starts by saying that Vodafone’s RED plans are essential for her to keep up. “They give me the flexibility I need at a reasonable price and keep me connected everywhere and anywhere. The 4G speeds have given me more time to reach out to my online fanbase and get the best out of my interaction with my fans. It’s really a case of carrying my fans with me in my handbag.” The music industry in Malta is growing year-on-year, with the internet only having made it that much easier. “I believe in keeping my fans engaged,” says Ira, adding that she also believes in listening to what they really like and want. “It’s not an easy task to read all the messages but I genuinely make an effort; after all, a social media platform is two-way.” It’s great to see an artist taking time to engage
Photograph Sean Aquilina
Photograph Tonio Lombardi
PROMOTION
“I find the interaction with fans really interesting as it gives me the opportunity to understand how people think and react to different posts” with fans personally. She is obviously well-engaged and understands social media and its benefits. “I find the interaction with fans really interesting as it gives me the opportunity to understand how people think and react to different posts,” she says. “It helps me put whatever I want to promote out there. I write my music because I have to express myself, but I also want to share it with others, and social media gives me that opportunity. It also offers targeted and specific promotion. Social media has truly changed the way artists interact. Facebook, YouTube and other applications are all reflective snapshots of an artist’s audience especially when one looks at it holistically,” Ira points out. That said, social media creates a domino effect and one has to use these means with responsibility. Ira is fully aware of this balance. “I use social media to promote my upcoming events and to give valid space to my merchandise as well as voice my opinions about issues I strongly believe in. One has to be careful though. Sometimes it defeats the purpose of sending PR to the media as what I write has been used several times in publications, so it comes with some responsibility.” As with many aspects of our life and work, social media and online engagement has changed the way we work and live. This also applies
to the music industry, which has undergone huge changes with the advent of social media and online applications. Ira acknowledges that it can be a double-edged sword, but that “if used wisely, it allows you to reach a very wide audience which was very difficult in the past. In some ways it is doing the job of record labels. You instantly know what is going to work or not. There is also a lot of insight one gets. In the past artists were totally dependent on labels to get their music out there.” Life as a music artist has never been so heavily in the spotlight. Artists such as Ira have a golden opportunity to be connected on the move. Vodafone’s RED plans are ideal for all budgets and all lifestyles. Ira’s plan not only gives her a large data usage allowing her to be consistently connected with her fanbase but also allows her 4G speeds: giving her online presence a speed that fits her lifestyle. Overall, the data revolution has changed lives. It has changed the way we interact and will keep changing the way we go about our daily activities. Ira’s career has gone through changes, but as an artist she has always banked on the best network on the islands to keep her everchanging persona in touch and relevant. Vodafone’s RED plans have allowed her to do this. July 2014 | Sunday Circle 33
DANCE
Dance BECOMES HER Young ballerina Sandrina Spiteri-gonzi openS up to philip leone-ganado about the harSh realitY of profeSSional ballet training – and uSing that experience to change the waY we think of ballet here in Malta Beaded Motifs Gaudi, by JB Stores, Iklin Ballet Wear The Dance Studio, San Gwann
She should know. At the tender age of 13, Sandrina left Malta for vocational training at the prestigious Elmhurst School for Dance in the UK – one of only three girls to be accepted out of approximately 800 who auditioned. From then on, her life was geared towards a professional career in dance: over eight hours of dance training every day, and academics relegated to a bare minimum, during the students’ own time. Graduating from Elmhurst at age 16, Sandrina was accepted into the English National Ballet School, where the demands intensified further. “I was in a class of 15 girls from all over the world: the world’s best all in one room. You give up everything: no boyfriends, no family, no holidays, no eating whatever you
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want. There’s no time to socialize unless with another dancer: you live in this little cocoon; you only spend time with people in your company,” she explains. “The teachers expect perfection; they put you down every day. They have that mentality: they break you to make you. You’re marked and graded on everything: your weight, your technique, flexibility, artistry and turn-out [rotation of the hips]. But the truth is that some things you’re just born with. So when a teacher tells you: ‘Your turn-out isn’t good enough,’ over and over again, and you’re working every day to try and improve it – if you’re lucky by just 3 per cent – it’s mentally disturbing. “There are these crazy traditions that you end up living by: soaking your feet in a tub of surgical spirit to make the skin on your feet tough, because if it remains normal they’ll blister and bleed. I’m still young now, but when I look back at when I was 15 – I was such a baby, and doing all this.” So why, I ask, would anyone put themselves through this? Sandrina laughs, repeating the question as if it’s something she’s asked herself many times before.
Photograph Federico Peltretti
B
allet tends to have this painted picture: everything’s very glamorous and frilly, all the ballets are stories like Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet,” says Sandrina Spiteri-Gonzi. “But behind the curtain there’s so much more going on. Being in rehearsals and seeing the blood, sweat and tears that go into it...it’s mad. You can’t know what it’s like until you experience it yourself.”
DANCE
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 000 35
DANCE
“When I ask people my age why they stay away from ballet, they tell me it seems boring. I want to change that perception” artist community – it is setting its sights high: “My aim is to change the audience perception of classical ballet, and its demographic, by pushing the boundaries of ballet and its surrounding art forms,” Sandrina explains. Yet broadly speaking, the general perception of ballet today remains one of a stuffy and elitist art form. Does Sandrina believe it can be opened up to a new generation? “I think it’s slowly changing,” she says. “A lot of new choreographers are emerging who understand the image problem and want to make it more accessible. In London today you can go into a club or a fashion show and find a ballet performance happening. When I ask people my age why they stay away from ballet, they tell me it seems boring. I want to change that perception. I think by exposing people to ballet as a professional art form, and by creating new events, you can open it up to them. For instance, this year English National Ballet made its debut at Glastonbury, performing Akram Khan’s Dust from Lest We Forget, just after Mettalica’s headline set.”
Photograph Ryan Galea
“Because if you love ballet and you’re passionate about your dancing, then getting into a major company is the dream. I have friends who were recruited from the school into the English National Ballet company and I often ask them: is it worth it? But dancing in these amazing theatres, and dancing these famous ballets, and hearing the applause of the audience...of course it’s worth it.” Only a very small percentage of the dancers who graduate from top schools, however, are actually picked up by dance companies – for the rest, the future is uncertain. When this did not immediately pan out for Sandrina, she was determined to make sure her next step was a positive one. “I decided I’d rather be a big fish in a small pond,” she says with refreshing honesty. “Instead of constantly beating myself up about how tough it is, I’m determined to make a difference here, where it’s more manageable.” Which brings us to the Classical Ballet, Culture and the Arts Foundation, Sandrina’s forthcoming venture: the young ballerina’s way of using the experience she has accrued abroad to push forward the ballet scene at home. The CBCA foundation officially launches in August, and – counting among its board members prominent figures from the local arts community, cultural institutions, tourism sphere and international 36
Sunday Circle | July 2014
Sandrina also sees the Foundation – which is not-for-profit – addressing Malta’s broader cultural needs. “I want to stage performances in Malta with quality, international dancers from great companies. Fortunately, many of the people I grew up with are today’s emerging dancers and choreographers, and I can depend on those friendships to create a platform for talented local dancers to interact with these professionals without leaving Malta, as well as promoting Malta as a destination for cultural events and entertainment.” Her plans are already underway. In July and August, two of the brightest young talents in British ballet – Laurretta Summerscales from the English National Ballet, and Tierney Heap of the Royal Ballet – will be delivering masterclasses in Malta for the Ballet Summer Intensive, for which Sandrina is artistic director. The CBCA Foundation, moreover, has offered scholarships to three talented students from local ballet schools in order to attend the masterclasses; in the future, Sandrina sees these scholarships being extended to allow promising students to attend courses or auditions overseas. As she sets off, does she ever worry that – being so young and having spent so long abroad – her drive might be taken for presumption, in an often-competitive local arts scene? “Definitely, but that shouldn’t be the case,” she says. “A lot of people in Malta try to set up their own thing, when there’s already a lot of things happening; I’d rather work with them than setting up something new. I don’t want to be perceived as a threat; I want to work with the whole community to see things move forward.” The CBCA Foundation will launch with a Gala Soiree on August 10 at the Grandmaster’s Palace, featuring a performance by English National Ballet soloist Laurretta Summerscales.
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CHAMPAGNE, COCKTAILS On a hOt summer’s day, when all yOu want tO dO is sit back, relax and enjOy all that maltese summers have tO Offer, amazOnia beach club is the perfect answer Amazonia Beach Club is Malta’s new secret gem, occupying a special place in the hearts of all that discover it. With over 900 people already securing their summer memberships, this elite beach club offers everything you can think of to make a day by the pool or sea as perfect as can be.
accross the bay. However, the Beach Club also has plenty available for the adrenaline junkie who sees a day by the sea as an opportunity to get as much done as possible, offering waterskiing, wakeboarding, jet ski rentals and anything else that may appeal to the more adventurous beach goer.
During the day, the Beach Club provides an environment of relaxation and tranquility for all. The soft background music, which is played throughout the beach club, enhances the chilled out ambience, and for any visitors that plan to go to the beach club from as early as 9am and stay on till later, the club’s sit down restaurant is open lunch, dinner and any snacks in between.
Silvio Bartolo, the new promoter of Amazonia Beach Club has big plans to change the mentality of old boring pool parties. Silvio used to organize the Tribù festivals in Malta with the late Desmond Vella for 10 years, which was one of Malta’s biggest outdoor festivals, attracting crowds of up to 8,000 people. Now, Silvio plans to once again introduce something new and different to Malta through pool parties. “A day by the pool is meant to be different, not just a nightclub set outside. We will be introducing a new way of partying by the pool, like in Ibiza, Miami or Beirut” he explains.
Walking further into the club’s premises, a chill-out bar can be found. The entire bar is sheltered and elevated from the sea level, creating a breezy, cool and shaded escape from the Maltese sun and heat. The bar consists of large white sofas, stools and tables with staff ready at hand. It is the perfect place to sip cocktails, listen to music and admire the serene views
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
During the course of summer, along with opening daily as a beach club, after 5pm on certain days, the Beach Club will be transformed
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& THE TrENdIEST CrOwd into an outdoor VIP pool and beach party. Due to 70 per cent of the Beach Club’s regulars being women, Silvio and his team decided to create a party every Sunday called What Women Want (WWW). “We wanted to give back to our utmost loyal customers, and thought this would be the best way to do it,” says Silvio. To show further appreciation for its female clientele, the club has created unique, personalized free merchandise, which is given out at each party. All merchandise is branded with their WWW - What Women Want logo and consist of beach bags, sunglasses and straw hats. “We are in the process of branding beach towels and beach balls, along with anything else we think could make a day or night at Amazonia Beach Club very different from anywhere else.” Wednesday nights feature a Sunset BBQ where you can dance away to sunset grooves and good food, while Fridays and Saturdays are then open to the public to organize promotional night events. Each event will offer many different discounts on food or drink, allowing for inexpensive and enjoyable evenings. Local and foreign headlining DJs will also be playing on the suspended DJ stand overlooking the outdoor pool.
For Silvio, the proper pool party should see champagne being popped and sprayed, drinking games played and cocktails drunk. He explains how he wants to create parties with, “the idea of an accessible pool having a nonexistent splash zone, therefore minimal clothing will be encouraged.” The VIP treatment available at Amazonia can be seen as soon as you enter the beach club, until the very end of the day. The club has invested in topnotch quality furniture, which cannot be found anywhere else in Malta. Silvio explains how “all plastic sunbeds have been replaced by wooden beds topped with white soft mattresses, which can be pushed together to create double beds too.” However, what caught my eye were the grand fourpillared double beds, which were covered by their own curtain allowing for maximum privacy. Noticing my envious stare, Silvio explained that beds can be booked for €30 during the day and €300 on Sundays after 5pm for WWW parties, including four complimentary bottles of alcohol. Amazonia Beach Club can give an elite summer feel to the partying scene this season. With open-air clubs, accessibility to the sea or a pool and large outdoor bars, what more could you want? facebook.com/wwweventsmalta | For VIP bookings contact: 99506050
wANT TO BE A VIP? Sunday Circle and Amazonia are giving one reader the chance to WIN a VIP admission, valid for up to 6 people on a Sunday. For more information visit sundaycircle.com
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 39
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BOOKS
To mark 60 years since The firsT parT of Lord of The rings was pubLished, Veronica sTiVaLa finds ouT how far ToLkien fandom has Taken maLTese deVoTees
J
.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (LoTR) is the second bestselling novel ever written with more than 150 million copies sold. The epic fantasy novel began as a sequel to the much shorter The Hobbit, and continues on from the story of Bilbo Baggins with his cousin, Frodo
inheriting the infamous Ring. The mammoth tome was originally released in three volumes – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King – with the first (after publishing dates were delayed due to issues with producing the extensive maps, appendices and indices) finally released on July 21, 1954.
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 41
BOOKS
The trilogy went on to receive some outstanding praise, including W.H. Auden’s zealous praise which rightly went as far as to call the book a “masterpiece” and interestingly further still to state that it even outdid Milton’s Paradise Lost.
This website has given me the opportunity to meet fans of Tolkien’s work from across the world. Members have met up for a Tolkien pilgrimage in Oxford or attended Oxonmoot (an annual event of the Tolkien Society), and both activities are on my bucket list.
Love it or hate it, LoTR is indubitably one of the quintessential fantasy stories of our age. In its review the London Sunday Times had stated that “the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read LoTR and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them”.
I am fascinated by Tolkien’s personal history, particularly his experiences in World War I and his profound Catholicism. Tolkien disliked allegory and refuted claims of it use, but our experiences and the world around us shape who we are, so in a sense, reading his books can give a lot of insight into the man, and it’s always interesting to try and dig deeper into the story.
Tolkien’s books have drawn fans the world over, having been translated into at least 38 languages. From appreciation groups to reenactors to roleplaying games, to fansites and chatrooms, Middle-earth’s fandom knows no limits. The same goes for fans in Malta. Some Tolkien aficionados open up about their fan hobbits, I mean habits. Keeping the dream alive – marija Carbonaro Besides collecting memorabilia, and having film marathons every once in a while, a few years back I joined an online community, The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza, whose motto is: Keep the dream alive.
Perhaps what I see most in his books is a tale of hope, and a mirror of humanity’s journey. His writing has served as encouragement and inspiration in my everyday life. 11 hours and 22 minutes at a stretCh - alex azzopardi What truly fascinates me is that Tolkien did not just write a number of books, he conjured up a mythology: complete with history, starting from the creation of the world in The Silmarillion to LoTR and beyond, languages, from the beautiful Elven languages to the harsh and guttural Orkish ones, and customs.
“What I see most in his books is a tale of hope, and a mirror of humanity’s journey. His writing has served as encouragement and inspiration in my everyday life” 42
Sunday Circle | July 2014
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My interest in Tolkien’s books started when I was 10. I was introduced to the writer by a teacher at school who showed us the cartoon version of LoTR. I recall being captured by the storyline as well as by details which often relate to another part of Tolkien’s legendary web. My interest in Tolkien has taken me beyond reading a number of his books and collecting the movies. I’ve watched the three movies in uncut versions consecutively, (that’s 11 hours and 22 minutes). I’ve also collected memorabilia, such as a Tolkien-inspired chess set. Note-takiNg iN ruNes – krista BoNello When I was an undergrad at University I went through a phase of trying to keep myself alert through a long day by taking down lecture notes in Anglo-Saxon runes (the kind popularised in The Hobbit, which I had dutifully learned). I would rewatch all the films before a new release, extended editions preferred. I also used to attend the Malta Tolkien Society meetings, where we would meet up and discuss the books and what we loved about them. I also play Dungeons and Dragons; I know the link between Tolkien and the game is disputed, but they open up access to similarly detailed worlds. It’s never been just about Tolkien’s mythos, but also the body of works, the spawning of worlds, he still inspires: not simply Peter
Jackson’s film adaptations; a trace of his influence can be seen in so many computer role-playing games, and Tolkien-indebted fantasy is still strong, dynamic and growing. CreatiNg his owN faNtasy world - adriaN BuCkle My interest in Tolkien was kindled when as a young boy I bought a game called The Hobbit for my ZX Spectrum computer. The game got me hooked and I always wanted to know more about Middleearth and its characters. A few years later, when on holiday in Italy, I bought the LoTR trilogy in Italian. I was so addicted to the book I used to spend my time inside the hotel reading it, always unable to put it down. My mother, a fervent Catholic, told me that if I had the stamina to read the LoTR, I should have the stamina to read the Bible. Years later, I bought the trilogy in English, together with The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. I make it a point to read each book at least once yearly. I collect memorabilia, watch back-to-back films, travel to conventions, roleplay and draw comparisons to real life. I am the proud owner of an autograph from John Rhys-Davis who plays Gimli in the LoTR movies. Also, I joined an online group of fans called the Ringnuts. Tolkien inspired me to create my own fantasy world but sadly, my writing is nowhere as good as the great master’s.
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
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MUSIC
Y
THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC
There’s a loT of limelighT involved in musical masTermind howard KeiTh debono’s job – he jusT liKes To sTay ouT of iT, he Tells david schembri
ou might have never heard of Howard Keith Debono, and he is quite happy for things to stay that way. You might have heard his work however – as the manager and producer of some of Malta’s top musical acts – Ira Losco, The Rifffs, Airport Impressions, Tribali and The New Victorians – his job is to make sure they are heard, and when they are, they sound good. His present role in his company, Jagged House, now covers most of the traditional roles associated with the music business – producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, manager, label boss and manager – but it all stems from his love of music.
Photography
A pianist from a young age, Howard has been in bands since he was 10 years old. “I was a curious guy. I had this crazy admiration for sound, so I convinced my friends to
Jacob Sammut
start practising,” he says. Practising turned into recording, and although the records of that day “sounded horrible”, the 42-year-old producer credits those days with giving him an understanding of leadership and dynamics, two key skills you need to play in a group. In the meantime, he was already dreaming of having his own studio, and using a red pen, he started making a sketch of how he wanted his studio to be. “One sheet wasn’t enough, so I took another sheet and taped it to the first one, and kept doing that until I ended up with a really wide sheet,” he says. Whether any gear from that particular sketch made it to his present studio above his house is another matter, but I’m sure the 10-year-old Howard would approve. Music, for Howard, was sacred, and it filled a void his father left when he died while Howard was still a teenager. July 2014 | Sunday Circle 47
music
“You become so much more sensitive to what works and what doesn’t when you’re out in the field, and finding that balance for me was the perfect marriage” Howard loved it back, and kept dropping whatever came in the way of music, deciding to do it full time in his early twenties, gigging, touring, recording, and learning along the way.
this led to the start of Bridge Productions, which started to look at the artist’s career on a longer-term basis and included artist representation – a facet which he came to appreciate more and more as time went by.
He was initially combining being a performing artist – Limestone Kick and Getting Closer being two bands he formed part of – as well as producing, working with Temple Studios producer David Vella and in his own studio. There, the two were still finding their ground and learning from international acts that were using the studio, like with Philip Boa, with whom Howard toured on and off for two years. When in Limestone Kick, Howard started to produce his own material – and that was when he learnt how hard producing your own stuff is. “I say this because nowadays a lot of people have their bedroom studios, and it’s very easy to have your own bubble and do your own stuff. But you lose perspective of the extra member of the band, who is the producer. It takes time to master that. You always think that you have mastered it, but it’s only in hindsight that you realise that you hadn’t,” he says. His performing career ended with a project called Almost Human – his girlfriend – now wife – Michelle was pregnant with their first child, and from then on he stuck to production.
Ira Losco, the first artist on his roster, is still on board with Jagged House, Howard’s current company, with Bridge having stopped operating a few years back. “Ira had been in a band, Tiara, so she understood dynamics, she understood leadership, she understood what it means to grab a bag, and go to the sound check and be there one hour before and sweat it, and that for me is ridiculously important.”
While producing, Howard started noticing that many artists who came into his studios required more mentoring and development, and 48
Sunday Circle | July 2014
In conversation, Howard flits from topic to topic effortlessly – one minute he’s talking about sampling guitar riffs in the recording studio, the other he’s talking branding, then Facebook’s algorithms, then unique selling points, then studio psychology, then money, then long-term planning. Rather than interfere with his creativity, he finds that being involved in the majority of a song’s life cycle – from preproduction to promoting it on radio and online, to being on the mixing desk when it is performed live – gives him a sense of perspective which is easy to lose if you’re ensconced in a well-appointed studio isolated from the outside world. “You become so much more sensitive to what works and what doesn’t when you’re out in the field, and finding that balance for me was the perfect marriage.
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MUSIC
But I wouldn’t have done that had I not been in bands, produced my own stuff. Learning to wear different hats takes a lot of time. If you’re not capable of drawing the line between different hats you’ll start to take decisions for the wrong reasons,” he says. But how do Howard’s acts manage to be so successful in the local music scene, enough to command the sizeable fees they charge? He puts down their success to them ticking all the right boxes, having a unique selling point and to pushing them to the next level. “I’m ridiculously perfectionist and demanding. I will squeeze it from the artist. But at the end of the day they will come out of the session feeling good about themselves – feeling like gods – because I will always make them listen to how they were before and how they were after. But I’m very careful: it’s like a rubber band, an artist can stretch that much, and you have to be careful not to go over the breaking point. But at least I’d make them fight for it a bit, and make them feel challenged.” He says the local music scene is healthy – record sales, as with the rest of the world, have dropped, but he says artists are still making money from concerts – and he is known for making sure they are paid their worth. Due to his relative success, he has acquired a quasi-mythical status in the local music scene. “I think some people are scared of talking to me,” he confides. “I was given quite a German hard way of thinking. They don’t beat around the bush, they say it as it is. People know that if they send me a song to get feedback, they’ll get an honest opinion,” he says. There is also the matter, he admits, “that when I lose my temper – something which is rarer nowadays – I’m very unapproachable.” And what makes him angry, he says, is when people disrespect his artists. That he turns down 80 per cent of the projects he is asked to do certainly doesn’t help, but with a song taking an average of five working days to finish, managing five acts and organising a major yearly festival – Earthgarden – his hands are full. As a producer, he’s a magpie – picking out the best of what is being produced internationally. “But the beauty of music is what you create, what you bring to the table. In every project I do I want to have that little thing I’ve never done before. I’m a sucker for that thing. You can’t stop learning in this job,” he says. The demands of his multiple hats consume his life – and he does catch himself yearning for a nine to five, sometimes, although he admits he’d feel lost in that scenario. “This job is ridiculously hard. I would not recommend this for my kids.” 50
Sunday Circle | July 2014
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literature
A MAn of Letters In all Its forms, Professor Joe frIggIerI loves nothIng more than language. DavID schembrI talks to hIm about PhIlosoPhy anD lIterature, hIs foray Into PolItIcs, anD shakesPeare’s humanIst message Photography David Schembri
I
f you could judge a man by the books on his shelves, the four walls of Joe Friggieri’s office – which could easily double as a small philosophical library – would make pigeonholing him a tall order. In this case, we can judge the man on what he’s written, and a very valuable clue lies on his desk – a book on Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin, in which the philosophy professor has a chapter. “It’s on the non-serious uses of language, as it is used in poetry, plays and fiction – jokes, too,” he explains in the calm, clear manner he uses when lecturing. The philosophy of language is Friggieri’s main line of academic research. “I am fundamentally convinced that one can only express one’s thoughts using language of some form. Language is a mirror of thought, and
clarity of language is a reflection of clarity of thought.” But his interest in non-serious uses of language, as anyone not hidden in a cave for the past forty years would know, is far from being purely academic. Friggieri’s output spans across philosophy, plays, poetry and prose; he’s written librettos and lyrics, and all that’s missing from his oeuvre is a novel – something he’d like to do but which, he says, isn’t a priority. Although perhaps better known for his fiction – L-Istejjer tar-Ronnie and Ħrejjef għal Żmienna – Friggieri has just published the third –and final – volume of In-Nisġa tal-Ħsieb, which is the first complete history of philosophy written in the Maltese language. “I thought that we needed to develop a philosophical vocabulary which we never had, and I showed that it is possible, that it could be done,” Friggieri says. July 2014 | Sunday Circle 53
literature
“I have a very simple maxim, that one of the signs of something being a language is that it can be translated to another language, despite the difficulties we sometimes encounter in the process. There are a thousand pages of philosophical text there, and I did not find it difficult at all to write in Maltese, it’s not forced, it flows.” While In-Nisġa tal-Ħsieb saw him trying to prove a linguistic point – apart from leaving behind a legacy which will surely be appreciated by Maltese linguists and philosophers – his creative work stems from an urge to write, and Maltese just happens to be the language he is most comfortable in. His contributions to philosophy, bar In-Nisġa and his first doctoral dissertation (written in Italian), have mostly been in English, to reach the widest audience possible. Although they are sometimes intertwined, he sees philosophy and literature fulfilling different, albeit complementary roles. “I think philosophy as a discipline teaches you to think rationally, to argue in a systematic way, and I would say it teaches you to do that about many spheres of life.” Literature, on the other hand, explores life in a different way. “Very often, if you take a novel, it tells you a story. It develops character, it develops plot. You can learn a lot about character in literature, or through literature, just as you can learn about character in philosophy. But literature, as it were, 54
Sunday Circle | July 2014
places people in a concrete context and there’s an immense variety of situations in which characters can find themselves. Where emotions are concerned, literature can play a great role there in allowing you insights into character, emotion, likes, dislikes, things like love and hate, jealousy and so on, which is what the great works of literature are about.” “Any creative writing – even visual art – worth its salt, is never neutral,” Friggieri states. “Writers and artists are always inviting you to look at things in a new light, which, I would say, is the main function of literature and art,” he says. This lack of neutrality spills over into realms other than art. “In my poetry, I make use of imagery from the natural environment. I think poets were the first environmentalists, because they drew our attention to aspects of the environment which now unfortunately we’re losing, if we haven’t lost it already.” That he chooses his words carefully when he speaks is evident, which lends more force to them when he decides to get political: “We should be more careful in the way we treat our environment, and I believe successive governments have not given enough importance to that. Actually, they’ve neglected the environment, it’s a trademark, and sometimes they actually set out, deliberately, to ruin it,” he says.
literature
“It would be disastrous for a democracy if only politicians made decisions”
“I think poetry can serve that kind of function, and I think that it does make a statement, directly and indirectly, where people who learn how to enjoy the kind of poetry I’m describing, will also, directly or indirectly, appreciate or get to appreciate the environment more. They look at it in a different light, they realise its importance.” Friggieri’s political stance was most emphatic prior to Malta’s EU accession, culminating in his candidature for the Nationalist Party in the 2004 EP elections. “I believed that it was an important decision for the Maltese to make, and that it was an important turning point in our history. I felt strongly that it would have been disastrous if Malta had not joined,” he says. He has since retired from active politics, but believes academics and intellectuals, particularly in the humanities, should not shirk away from their political responsibilities. “If you have your views on an issue, you have to express them, and it’s important for academics of that ilk to continue making these contributions without fear. We can’t abdicate our responsibilities as intellectuals in this field. We ought to be critical of what politicians do. It would be disastrous for a democracy if only politicians made decisions. Ultimately they make the law, but before they get to that stage, and maybe even after, there must be a process of discussion in which I feel that intellectuals must play a part. And politicians ought to be thankful if we do that,” he says. He is also making a political point in the Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice, he is directing later this month. Apart from admiring Shakespeare’s mastery of the English language – “he was a wordsmith” – in the anti-Semitism Shylock, the play’s antagonist, faces, Friggieri finds a theme which resonates strongly in today’s Malta. “There was a lot of anti-Semitism when Shakespeare was writing this play, just as there is a lot of racism now in Malta, when we find ourselves faced with the influx of immigrants who come to our shores,” Friggieri says. “Some of it is sheer, unadulterated racism based on prejudice. The idiotic idea that the colour of skin makes a difference is simply racism of the worst sort.” He fetches his script and reads: “‘Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?’ Of course there’s also a certain amount of fear generated by the phenomenon and so I think that this play is relevant because at least it teaches you one thing: whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever your beliefs, the colour of your skin, your religion, there’s always a basic human essence that’s always the same, that doesn’t change. Shakespeare has a very down-to-earth way of saying this, almost materialistic,” he says. “I don’t want to go into the philosophical discussion on whether there is a human nature or otherwise, but this is certainly true!” The Merchant of Venice, directed by Joe Friggieri, will be staged at San Anton Gardens between July 23 and July 30. For booking information visit www.madc.com.mt or phone 7979 9623.
56
Sunday Circle | July 2014
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SPORTS
QUEENS AMONG KNIGHTS PhiliP leone-Ganado meets – and Gets beaten by – younG teenaGers ariana axiaq and Jamie FarruGia, two oF the Fastest risinG stars oF chess in malta, as they Jet oFF to norway to rePresent their country in the 2014 chess olymPiad Photography Jacob Sammut
I
’m a reasonable chess player, by which I mean that I usually come out on top against most comers at a pub chess board. But the best I can say about my performance against Ariana Axiaq, 13, and Jamie Farrugia, 15, is that I went down fighting. The two defeats were different, but equally decisive: against Ariana, it was a slow, creeping dread, my opponent ever-so slowly pushing me back and waiting for my first, inevitable mistake; against Jamie, there were brief moments where I actually thought I might snatch a win,
only for a rapier-like three-move sequence to bring me crashing back down to earth. I probably shouldn’t feel too bad about how things played out – Ariana and Jamie are, after all, two members of the Malta women’s chess team participating in this year’s Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway in August, alongside 1500 players from over 160 countries. Despite her young age, this is already Jamie’s second Olympiad – her performance two years ago in Istanbul having earned her the July 2014 | Sunday Circle 59
SPORTS Ariana Axiaq
“I love it when I play against older people, especially men, and beat them” international title of Women’s Candidate Master (WCM), the youngest Maltese woman to do so. “It was a bit out of the blue,” she smiles. “The women’s team needed another player, so I went for it. I wasn’t expecting much: I was on Board 5, and I wasn’t too good yet. But after the first game I started getting a bit more confidence – after all, you’re playing against people who are roughly at your level. I started winning some games, and got 3.5 points, which got me the WCM title. It was out of the blue, but it was great.” She also has a host of other prizes to her name, including the silver medal at last year’s Junior National Championship – where she also scooped best U18, U16 and girl. Two years younger, Ariana will be playing her first Olympiad in Tromsø, but she has already experienced international tournament play at the World Youth Chess Championships in AlAin, United Arab Emirates, and is currently in Glasgow for this year’s Commonwealth Chess Championship. Locally, she also won an U16 tournament last December with a perfect score – ahead of Jamie and 51 other players. 60
Sunday Circle | July 2014
Women’s chess in Malta remains a fledgling venture, but the signs are positive. This year, for example, was the first time a selection process was needed to select the final five-woman team. Moreover, in Jamie and Ariana, the team has two young, talented, and Maltese-born players – the remaining team members, WFM Oana Caruana Pulpan, WCM Nina Aguilar, and Jutta Klotz, who have all been active in redeveloping the scene, are all naturalised citizens. Both Ariana and Jamie started their training at the St Benedict Chess Academy. “I liked it because was different” says Jamie. “I loved all the different combinations you can have.” Ariana adds: “It’s a very interesting game. It gets you to plan for the future, and it teaches you that if you don’t, there’s serious consequences. And you learn from your mistakes: you’re not always going to win.” Today, both put in the hours to ensure that their game continues to improve. Ariana says that she might spend anywhere between an hour and two every day studying, watching videos,
analysing Grandmasters’ games online. “I play a lot online – and against my brother – and that’s all good practice,” says Jamie. “But just playing can only get you to a certain level. So I also study my openings, middlegames and endgames. We also have training with the team – that’s once a week and it’s very intense, so it helps a lot.” As I learned to my peril when I took them on over the board, neither girl is much intimidated by age when facing a new opponent. “I prefer to look at the rating: age tells you nothing. In fact I love it when I play against older people, especially men, and beat them – they usually take it quite badly,” Ariana laughs. Jamie goes further: “Often it’s the kids that you have to be careful against. They tend to be a lot sharper when it comes to tactics, and they’re more aggressive, so they can catch you out. Older players have more experience so they tend to be more positional.” Being herself on the cusp of adulthood, where does her style land? “I have moments of both, but maybe I’m more tactical than positional.”
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SPORTS
“I want to raise my rating – and maybe get another title. But more than that, it’s about the experience”
Jamie also questions the value in having different categories for men and women. “Why should they be separate?” she asks. “Once [in the National Junior Chess Championship] I finished 2nd overall, and they gave me Best Female – there were a bunch of boys saying I only got anything because I’m a girl.” Her favourite player, in fact, is Grandmaster Judit Polgar, who usually plays in the Open categories and is known for taking on – and beating – many of the world’s leading men. Neither player can quite put their finger on a reason for the underrepresentation of women in the local game, but they’re keen to see chess promoted more in schools as a way of tackling what they see as an image problem. “I think a lot of people think chess is boring: it’s got a bad name,” says Jamie. “They think if you’re not good at maths, you won’t be good at chess. But it’s not the case. If teachers could pass on to students how useful chess can be and encourage them to try it, that would help.” “We need to encourage children to try different hobbies, not always the same few,” Ariana adds. “I want to see more people competing in tournaments. When I played in the UAE there were a lot of very young players – 7 or 8 years old. But outside Malta, it’s more of a profession than a hobby; here there aren’t too many opportunities for young chess players.” With the Olympiad just a few weeks away, both girls are deep into preparation. “I think it will be very challenging because you’re playing against adults as well,” says Ariana. “And there’s more pressure because you’re in a team, and your score affects the whole team, so you have to be more persistent. But it’s a great experience, because you also have the support of your team mates.” “I want to raise my rating – and maybe get another title,” says Jamie. “But more than that, it’s about the experience. You’re playing against players you’ll never have the chance to play against again. In Malta, you always end up playing against the same players and you know exactly how they all play. Playing against new players encourages you to start studying again and preparing for games in advance. And it helps you raise your level.” As for the future? “I want to improve, obviously,” says Ariana. “And I want to have more time to play chess: school wins out over everything, and sometimes I don’t have as much time as I’d like.”
Jamie Farrugia
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
“There’s always that dream of somehow becoming a Grandmaster,” Jamie laughs. “But I just want to keep going abroad and getting different experiences... maybe even teach chess myself one day.”
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society
home t e e sw home ?
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
society
They’re maligned as being spoilT, buT young adulTs living wiTh Their parenTs have grown-up reasons for noT leaving The nesT yeT, david schembri finds ouT
H
ome is where the heart is. There’s no place like home. A home is a house with a heart inside. These aphorisms, perennial fixtures of embroidered cushions, make it clear that home is where you should be, and anything else doesn’t quite make the cut. Given the positive connotations the word home has, the disbelief and disdain with which the question “Do you still live at home?” is asked is somewhat perplexing. Equally, how a phrase such as “living at home” for anyone over 20 is taken to mean “failure” is also confusing. If home is so great, what’s the rush to leave? The numbers seem to show that in Malta, many people don’t seem to have that rush. The latest Eurostat data available (2012) shows that 67 per cent of young people aged 18-34 in Malta live in the family home. We are only topped by Slovakia, at 74.4 per cent, and Croatia, at 70.5 per cent. We even managed to beat the Italians, famous for their mammoni (mummy’s boy) mentality, at their own game. But the oft-perpetuated image of adults who relish being spoilt can be misrepresentative. Jo, 27, moved out when she started work, but has moved back in and out a couple of times because of her changing financial situation. “Living alone meant I had to make time for housework and cut down on going out because of increased costs, but I learnt a lot and enjoyed my time at home. The fact I’m 27 and my mom cooks and does the laundry for me is embarrassing,” she says. 26-year-old artist Ryan feels the need of having a place he could call his own,
but the lack of a steady income prevents him from doing so. “Although I still live here, I try to be as self-sufficient as possible: I buy my own food, I clean the area I live in. I don’t come home just to sleep, eat and ask for money; I fork out money for bills, which is something I do on my own initiative,” he says. “I don’t think this is getting in the way of being my own man.” Teodor, 28, a journalist and a creative writer,
“I don’t come home just to sleep, eat and ask for money; I fork out money for bills, which is something I do on my own initiative” still lives in his family home, but pays his share of the rent. “I’m basically roommates with my dad. The place is large and central and my lifestyle is compatible with his. We both spend a lot of time working on our creative projects and understand that dynamic. I don’t feel as if it’s the typical situation where the parent is ‘intruding’ on my lifestyle and ambitions. At this point, it allows me to concentrate on my creative activities without having to bother about hunting around for property. I did think about moving out,
but then I realised I would be moving out for the sake of moving out, and that in practical terms it didn’t make all that much sense.” Dr Michael Briguglio, who lectures in the sociology of family life, says that part of the reason for people moving out later in life might be in part because of Malta’s culture of home ownership, with people waiting until they have enough capital to buy their own place before moving out. Manuel Pace, a real-estate agent, finds this is the case with many young people, particularly those in a relationship. “If you have the purchasing power, it’s better to buy rather than to rent, as the payment terms are cheaper than renting, and at the end of the day you’re left with a house,” he says. Not everyone is keen on settling down, though – Ryan, who isn’t sure whether to settle in Malta or live abroad, doesn’t consider buying, while Teodor has “resolved never to buy property”. “I have also considered renting with other people my age, but in my experience people aren’t that up for it,” Ryan says. Gail, 31, is in the final throes of living with her parents as she furnishes her recently-acquired apartment. Having moved to a flat in Valletta, then to the UK to live with her then-boyfriend, when the relationship ended she returned to Malta to unemployment and her welcoming parents. Living with her parents after living on her own was both “beneficial and stressful,” she says. “I’m old enough to want to have my own space, but I also needed their support after the break up.” Although now that she works she’s been able
65 July 2014 | Sunday Circle 000
society
to buy her own property, her new apartment is just four streets away from her family home. “I’m not moving far because I like living in the South and have got plenty of childhood memories there. In a way, I also wanted to be close to my parents. If something had to go wrong with either of us, I want to be as close to home as possible – and they’ll also take care of my dog while I’m at work!” she says.
“My foreign friends mock me for living at home, but they don’t have the same relationship that us Maltese have with our parents”
According to Dr Briguglio, Gail is not alone in this. “Many times, young people who live independently are still extremely close, geographically, to their parents, and it’s not just because of Malta’s small size, but because many choose to buy a house very close to their family home. One of the main reasons for this is that in Malta, like in other Southern European countries, many people believe in welfare, a system of solidarity, which comes from within the family. Societies in Northern Europe, on the other hand, have more of an individualistic ethic, which is very different from ours,” he says. Apart from this “social capital”, there are also situational factors which make Malta different from other, larger countries. “If you’re a German student from Munich going to study in Dortmund, then you have no option but to move. In a small country like ours, it is less likely you’d need to do that,” Dr Briguglio says. Independence, it would seem, should not come at the cost of family ties. “I’m not ashamed of living with my parents. Why should I be?” Gail says. “I’ve only got one set of parents – I might be growing up but we also forget that they are growing older as well. Our time is limited with them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it as long as you know you can leave. My foreign friends mock me for living at home, but they don’t have the same relationship that us Maltese have with our parents – we’re close-knit.”
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
HEALTH
REgAining ConfidenCe Dr Jean Paul DemaJo talks about getting your teeth back to sParkling form
Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if your teeth were in pristine shape? What went wrong? Have they reached this state due to lack of care or do those genes you inherited have a part to play? Where has that left you? Besides the obvious poor aesthetic smile you carry around with you on a daily basis, what has all this done to your confidence?
Pre-Treatment
Intra oral pre-treatment
Post treatment
Intra Oral post treatment
Take this scenario; a middle-aged patient in a long-term relationship, with a history of bad dental care and an even worse relationship with previous dentists, toying with the idea of correcting his teeth. Where does he start? The first and most important thing is the will power to make that call and fix an appointment for a consultation. The consultation is broken down into the following main fields: 1.
Past Dental/Medical history: listening to the patient’s past experiences puts into perspective why his/her teeth are in this state. What went wrong along the years gives a dentist insight on what must be done to radically improve the patient’s oral and mental well-being.
2. Patient’s complaints: listing all of the patient’s wishes helps the dentist formulate a dental treatment plan and present it to them. The patient’s requests should be realistic, well-addressed and convincing enough to the dentist that once all the work is done, what would have been poor dental attendance would be converted to good patient compliance. 3. Treatment options: treatments may vary in time, expense and endurance. Different lines of treatment can achieve
different goals. This brings us back to the patient’s list of complaints and wishes. Will that particular treatment plan tick all the boxes on the patient’s list? 4. Advantages and disadvantages: Listen to what the pros and cons are. Weigh everything out and choose what is best for you. A CAse sCenArio: Starting off with no lower back teeth and very broken down upper remaining teeth commands a CBCT scan. The scan will show: 1.
Bone levels: is there enough bone to place dental implants?
2. Periodontal status of remaining teeth: are remaining teeth in good health or do they require removal? Can the patient maintain good hygiene post-treatment?
The dental work involved is anything but simple. It is enduring and requires dedication from both parties. Patients need to be patient and reassured at all times. This nature of dental work also carries a hefty cost in time and money but the confidence achieved is priceless! Take action now and ask your dentist for advice!
3. Endodontic or root canal status of remaining teeth: do any teeth require root canal therapy? Is it worth trying to redo a root canal or does the tooth need to be pulled out? 4. Potential presence of pathology 5. Anatomy of jaws: sinuses, nerves, buried teeth etc PlAn: 1.
Remove all upper remaining teeth
2. Bilateral bone grafting in sinuses with simultaneous placement of eight implants 3. Restoration of remaining lower teeth with all-ceramic zirconium crowns and bridges. 4. Planning of upper fixed implant-retained prosthesis six to eight months post-implant insertion.
Dr Jean Paul Demajo is a Dental and Implant Surgeon trained in London working in private practice in Malta
July 2014 | Sunday Circle 67
PROMOTION
Keep your Kids active and healthy, with free bowling all throughout summer The eden SuperBowl make iT Their miSSion To help fighT child oBeSiTy
Throughout summer, the Eden SuperBowl will be giving all children (aged between 5 and 16) two free games of bowling a day. With the number of free games valued at €600 per child, there are no strings attached. Children can use their free games between Monday and Friday throughout their holidays, starting on July 1. Parents simply need to sign up their kids to the Free Summer Bowling club on the Eden SuperBowl website. Healthy snack options will also be available at the centre. “The intention behind this scheme is to give back to the community and Malta’s youth by providing them with a fun and active way to stay fit and healthy in a safe environment,” says Eden Leisure Group’s Director of Operations, Simon De Cesare. “Statistics continue to confirm that obesity is a worldwide epidemic, which has unfortunately developed into an acute problem in Malta. Recent studies claim that Maltese 10-11 year olds are the second most obese in Malta and that more than 34 per cent of Maltese children are classified as overweight or obese. “With such alarming figures, it is crucial that a longterm solution is found for this problem. The Free Summer Bowling Club is the Eden Leisure’s way of contributing to this, by encouraging children to keep active and eat right. Moreover, this initiative will hopefully continue to raise awareness about such issues, as well as highlighting the ways in which children can make beneficial lifestyle changes.”
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
1. Roberta Borg, Sarah Doublet, Clare Aguis & Marika Galea
2. Joanne Galea, Stephanie Attard, Daniela Ebejer & Alexia Pirotta Harmsworth
5. Dorianne Calleja, Franco Aloisio, Lorraine Casha & Daniela Anastasi
3. Julianne Galea, Annie Galea, Jeanette Aquilina, Alicia Galea, Graziella Cortis, Brjonj Piscoppo, Marika Magri & Maria Sammut
6. Krystle Penza & Tamara Webb
4. Mark Watkinson, Matt Macdona & Lorraine Casha
7. Gordon Penza, Lyndsey Grima, Steph Lauri, Daniel Azzopardi, Caroline Paris, Marisa Grima & Tiziana Gauci
PAPARAZZI • 1-3: Decleor 40th Anniversary at the Radisson Blu Resort and Spa on June 19. • 4-5: HSBC Summer staff party at Smart City. • 6-7: Mvintage 1 year anniversary at The Point Shopping Mall.
8. Raina Zarb Adami & Elisa McKenna
9. Christine (model), Michelle Degiorgio, Joanna Delia, Elisa McKenna, Fiona Galea Debono, Marika Rocco, Raina Zarb Adami, Marie Claire Bartolo, Nicole (model)
• 8-9: Launch of Lierac skincare suncare range, Sunific at Settimo Cielo at The Vivaldi Hotel on June 5. • 10-15: BOSS Store Malta (VF Group) & P. Cutajar & Co treat guests to a fine evening at the Ristorante Dolce Vita with Francois Thibault, creator of the world famous Grey Goose Premium Vodka on June 18.
* For inclusion in Circle Paparazzi contact Renee Micallef Decesare on renee@networkpublications.com.mt 10. Sean Camenzuli, Hezron Muscat & Jean Claude Farrugia
12. Conrad Buttigieg, Joseph Giglio & Riccardo Lorefice
11. Mark Camilleri, Conrad Buttigieg, Riccardo Lorefice, Francois Thibault & Claudio Bedini
13. Claudio Bedini, Sarah Zammit Cutajar & Francois Thibault
13. Anthony Zammit Cutajar, Francois Thibault & Claudio Bedini
13. Albert Bonello Ghio, Denis Zammit Cutajar, Roberta Zammit Cutajar, Francesca Zammit Cutajar & Fiona Galea Debono
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
disease
PROMOTION
Summer ShakeSpeare Join the MADC for the CoMpAny’s AnnuAl AppointMent with shAkespeAre At sAn Anton gArDens: the MerChAnt of VeniCe
Directed by Joe Friggieri, The Merchant of Venice is a seamless canvas of romantic comedy and drama, with tensions heightened by racial and cultural differences. Antonio, the merchant of Venice, lends three thousand ducats to his friend Bassanio so he can woo the wealthy and beautiful Portia. However he has to borrow the money from Shylock, the Jewish moneylender. Failure to repay the loan on the agreed date entitles Shylock to a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Meanwhile, Portia’s father decrees that she will marry whoever makes the correct choice from three caskets. Bassanio succeeds where wealthy suitors from Morocco and Aragon fail and marries Portia, while his friend Gratiano marries Portia’s lady-in-waiting Nerissa at the same time. When news arrives that Antonio has lost his ships at sea and is unable to pay his debt, Shylock claims his pound of flesh in the law court before the Duke. Unknown to their husbands, Portia and Nerissa, disguised as a young male lawyer and his clerk, arrive in Venice to defend Antonio . Leading the cast are Manuel Cauchi as Shylock, Coryse Borg as Portia, Mchael Mangion as Antonio and Philip Leone-Ganado as Bassanio.
Antonio (Michael Mangion) & Shylock (Manuel Cauchi) Photograph Darrin Zammit Lupi
This new and exciting production of The Merchant of Venice blends together the themes of wealth, friendship, love, revenge, race, despair and hope, thus strengthening the contemporary relevance of Shakespeare’s poetical work of great beauty. The Merchant of Venice will be staged at San Anton Gardens between July 23 and July 30. For booking information visit www.madc.com.mt or phone 7979 9623
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Sunday Circle | July 2014
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