MUSIC CATALOGUE:
Brand X Trilogy
Brand X Timeline
Sarah Pillow Remixes
Sarah Pillow Nuove Musiche
Sarah Pillow Paper Cuts
Tunnels Live The Art of Living Dangerously
Tunnels Progressivity
Tunnels Progressivity
Tunnels Painted Rock
Mike Clark - Paul Jackson - Marc Wagnon Conjunction
Marc Wagnon An Afterthought
Marc Wagnon Shadowlines
Nicholas D'Amato Nullius in Verba
Percy Jones Cape Catastrophy
Percy Jones Propeller Music
Morris Pert The Voyage
Morris Pert The Music of Stars
Morris Pert Desert Dances |
Listen to all the Buckyball releases in a continuous stream.
Make your own mix!! |
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| The next morning I woke up very early, still a bit jet lagged, and I sat on the balcony overlooking Sliema Bay. The sun was about to rise and Venus was shining brightly. Further out in the sea (about a mile) are the flooded ruins of an ancient temple, or at least there were several sightings of it by scuba divers, but mystery is still surrounding its exact location, as well as firm evidence of it. |
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| What is evident, on the other hand, is that many people and cultures have visited Malta during the ages. To navigate in the inlets of the Valletta harbours- at each turn you discover a new city, the sea is everywhere, as well as the boat, ships, some sitting in huge dry docks. On one end is the citadel of the Knights of St. John, bearers of the Maltese cross, who established themselves on the Island at the time of the crusades. Invaders of all kinds have visited this land: the Turks established a siege, the Spanish came, Napoleon briefly invaded; then the English until 40 years ago ruled the Island. |
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| And one thing that the English left, among other things, the typical phone booth, here put to good use by Percy who tried to call home. |
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| This boat mooring has a long history. it once was on a Spanish ship or high up on one of the walls surrounding the city, blasting at attacking ships. Once the English took it over the island, and not know what to do with all of these 400 cannons, they decided to plant them in the ground all over the shores of the city for a new destiny as boat moorings. This peaceful recycling of weapons should set an example. |
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| Paul (in the middle) is a very resourceful man, a Maltese who gave us an inside look on Island politics, although he is himself a musician, photographer, (he took the live Tunnels picture on the previous page), a diver (which is one of the main attractions here on Malta), and a worldly man who took us on a seafood feast and entertained us with stories of the Maltese Knights of St. John, their closeness to the Templars, and the ambivalent relationship between the people of the island and their historical heritage. The cronyism from the local politicians who were able to misplace a whole thousand-year-old monument that was taken in pieces in order to be moved... at the end of the discussion we asked him if there was animosity toward England since they ruled the land for 300 years. "Not at all" he answered; "we took what was good from them but told them to keep their cuisine!" |
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As I said before, Malta is full of mysteries, one of them being the origins of the many megalithic monuments that dot the island. Before coming to Malta a friend of mine told me that I should absolutely read the book "Underworld" by Graham Hancock. Well I did, and it is a fascinating book that talks about the wide swat of lands that became submerged in the past 17,000 years, due to the end of the last glacial period, with global melting that echoes our actual predicament with global warming.
Back on Malta the temples were built at least 5500 years ago (pre-dating the pyramids and Stonehenge), but by whom?, there is no trace of the builders. Moreover, there are structures made of huge stone blocks submerged around the island, and a unique Maltese phenomena, tracks carved in the rock on land, which extend to underwater- again for an unknown application.
The structure above is part of the Mnajdra temple and functions as a solar calendar. |
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| To reflect on this whole trip we took a boat trip to the island next door called Gozo, less populated but the site of the biggest of the temples. Unfortunately we were disappointed because the site was closed, it only is open in the hottest part of the day, (go figure), but the ride on the ferry was a treat. |
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| OK it is a bit predictable, but I leave you with this sunset on Gozo. We are busy booking the fall tour (when these musings will start again), so we'll see you then. |
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