This Friday sees the launch of the first solo album from multi-instrumentalist Benji Cachia, bringing together a vast range of sounds – and instruments – from around the world.
Cachia is perhaps most closely associated with his work in The Ranch, a virtuosic Maltese progressive rock band that has released three albums and performed extensively in Malta and overseas.
The group’s drummer, Cachia, better known as ‘Banjo Rancho’, has established himself as a formidable percussionist over the years, but in his latest venture has branched out into guitars, electronics and even an instrument of his own design.
And that’s not the only thing eclectic about Cachia’s latest outing; while primarily a world music record, his upcoming album Akshara brings together different genres in a sublime and entirely unique offering.
“It’s definitely world music, because there are instruments from all over the world, but it’s not typical because it’s mixed with prog [progressive rock], jazz and cinematic soundtrack stuff – it’s a big mix,” said Cachia.
“People who have been following me starting from metal music, going into [Maltese indie band] nosnow/noalps then The Ranch say it’s completely different again.”
Cachia’s musical evolution is certainly reflected in the album, which, while clearly a new direction contains echoes of his past musical outings and influences.
While some tracks are arguably more idiomatic than others – The Shady Side of Callisto for example, presents a driving rock face much of the time while Echoes of the Fulani is perhaps the most devoted to world music – no track is entirely of one genre.
Indeed, closing track Dance of the Actias Luna artfully brings together jazz fusion, progressive rock and world music – genres explored throughout the album – in a thoroughly enjoyable musical coda to the record.
Showing Times of Malta his extensive set-up, which includes dozens of instruments, Cachia points out one of his own design he has appropriately named the ‘Benjicordofone’.
Describing the sound of the DIY instrument as an “earthy bass sound,” he explained it was made from a box – used for amplification and to house internal microphones – and bungee cords, with home-made wooden bridges used to tune the cords.
“Once I run it through effects I have a lot of possibilities. I can use delay to make it a bit creepy, or I can use reverb which opens up a lot of space,” he said.
Cachia said he was inspired to create the Benjicordofone by Hans Zimmer’s work on Superman film Man of Steel, which saw the composer commission the creation of instruments made exclusively out of metal to match the qualities of the protagonist.
“It inspired me to just keep searching for other people doing this... there are people coming up with really cool stuff,” he said.
This foray into new territory could be said to reflect his journey into world music
Other DIY instruments on the album include household items such as knitting needles combined with electronic effects and even a bucket of water to change the sounds of other instruments.
More familiar offerings, meanwhile, include drum kit, Darbuka – a goblet-shaped drum closely associated with Egypt – cymbals, hand percussion, keyboard and guitars.
But despite the plethora of instruments featuring at next weekend’s concert, Cachia will be the only musician on stage, relying on loops and other electronic effects and triggering pre-recorded musical fragments to recreate the complex and multi-layered tracks from the album.
Cachia, pictured here in Turkey, visited various countries to learn new instrumental techniques.“That’s all I’ve been doing for the past few months; just going over and over it, then stopping for two weeks and doing it again to make it second nature,” he said of preparing for the performance.
Cachia explained the origins of the album date back to the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he began writing new music with the intention of meeting with different groups of musicians to rehearse and later record it.
But when rehearsals finally started, scheduling issues made things difficult: “It was getting hard; everyone was busy, and we were only meeting once or twice – and I had a date booked to record the album.
“I went to David Vella at Temple Studios, where I was planning to record, and he said, ‘why don’t you just do it on your own?’ So, I decided to do it.”
While circumstances led Cachia to recording – and now, performing – the album alone, a first for the musician, this foray into new territory could be said to reflect his journey into world music.
Over the past few years, the multi-instrumentalist has journeyed to different countries to learn new instrumental techniques, most notably India where he spent months at a time during several visits, most recently two months ago.
Recalling his time spent in the world’s most populous country, Cachia described group music classes there as “amazing; they would start with a Tabla [a pair of hand drums] class, then a singer would walk in and it would turn into a voice rehearsal and whoever decides to stay on just stays on.”
“Then a dancer would walk in two hours later. It just keeps morphing without stopping, it keeps going and becomes a dance rehearsal.”
Looking ahead to the next album, Cachia said he was interested in bringing musicians from places he has travelled to Malta to record.
“It’s great to have people from different parts of the world, using their own instruments,” he said. “They get great sounds.”
Benji Cachia’s Akshara album launches on Friday, April 25 at 8pm at the University of Malta’s Valletta Campus Theatre. For tickets, visit showshappening.com. For more information, visit banjorancho.com.Benji Cachia to launch solo album.