Conceived in the year 2000, the Etnika Project was created to boost local and international consciousness of Maltese traditional music by gathering and reinterpreting local songs and melodies. Etnika embarked on a research project to define the characteristic sounds of the culture, documenting its musical instruments and existing repertoire and creating new repertoire based on recognizable tradition. The flag-bearer for traditional music from the island, etnika was renowned for its innovation on tradition, blending the new with the old. The music, forged on traditional instruments, is a collection of eclectic grooves and moods, which evoke the sentiment and fervour of a Mediterranean island at the intersection of cultural influences, which determined its own fate. Laments and popular band marches, tambourines and disconcerting lullabies, gutsy folk stomps and reedy flutes mingle and tease a full moon on an idle sea.

Produced by Andrew Alamango and Andrej Vujicic.
April 2003 release by etnika.
Recorded at Farmhouse Studios, Malta.
Artwork and design Andrej Vujicic