Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Travel, as the splendid maxim argues with total conviction, broadens the mind. If that is the case, then listening to music from another country in its own language should fill the soul to the point of bursting; each note hurtling a word filled with power and beauty into the musical arena and even if the phrase that is sung or the expression uncomprehending and perhaps meaningless, it still adds bounty to human experience.

Malta’s Kafena is one drop in a multitude in an ocean of world musical expressions but the fact that unlike many of their compatriots from the sun blessed and peaceful island of Malta, they have released an album sung completely in their own language, a spirited and beautiful endeavour which melts the heart and gives the soul, not just the right jolt of experience, but makes it rattle as if lightning had struck; Lukanda Propaganda is an album of exquisite memory and tatste.

There will always be those who find the experience of listening to a reasoned discourse or art filled conversation in another language stretching their own personally held beliefs, it is after all human nature to ignore what you cannot understand. However, just as British music is loved the world over, so perhaps the sound of a different view or truth be investigated and like many of the bands that have filled the Mediterranean radio waves, Lukanda Propaganda have crafted an album of incredible sincerity and bountiful illustration which cannot help but be explored and admired; even if the words initially mean nothing, it is the exercise of investigation that holds the listener to account.

The overall sense of calm that pervades from the subtle displays of music is like spending a week surrounded by a group of good friends who want nothing but the best for you; the cheering nature of each note, the reflected ideas that gather with articulation and fearless abandon are genuinely interesting and full of introspection of the way that many see one of Europe’s smallest but undoubtedly most passionate nations.

In tracks such as Poezija, Ghallimni, Hudo Gost and Victoria, the sense of occasion is overwhelming and a demonstration of keen observation, they are a true representation of what can be heard when allowing the brain to dismiss arrogance and deny the egotism of your own language.

Lukanda Propaganda is not some half hearted half truth, rather it is a summit worth seeing beyond, for the view from Kafena is a sight to behold.

Ian D. Hall