Berlin-based Maltese label My Fair Lsdy, founded by Luke Scerri (a.k.a Fake Ophelia) and Belgian Verta Hermov, has released a mix of Maltese songs from the late 1960s and ’70s titled Mother Sun.

The curated selection of songs includes tracks by The Malta Bums, Vanni Pule & Mary Anne, The Pirates, The Jaywalkers, The Lost Sound and more.

“Mother Sun was an idea I came up with after going through the online and physical archives of records and YouTube videos and essentially realised there was no singular place where you could find a good selection of these great pop songs, which I felt was a pity,” says Scerri.

“With My Fair Lsdy’s co-founder Verta Hermov, we decided to sit down and go through all that we found to assimilate a two-part compilation of the dawn of Maltese pop music from the ’60s and ’70s.”

Seeing as this was a completely non-profitable venture, the pair decided the fairest and best way to disseminate the music was through a mix.

“This way we thought people would have to just press play and enjoy the curation as opposed to having the option to simply choose the songs,” explains Scerri, saying that they wanted to create a similar experience to how they felt listening to these songs the first time.

Scerri and Hermov were keen on sharing the tracks as they were originally recorded to capture their true spirit.

“Some of the more well-known tunes of the time were re-recorded in more recent decades and, in all honesty, we felt that they lost their original spirit. One example is Viva Malta by The Malta Bums: the ghostly harmonies, the striking guitar tone and the zest with which Freddie sings the well-known verses of the original recording echoes Malta in that period of time – a newly independent nation ready to start a blank page in its history.

The people who wrote and performed these songs should be remembered and celebrated

“I don’t want to read too much into it, but there is a remarkable energy in the original recording of that song,” says Scerri. 

Among the selection are also some other gems – some yet to be released – which the pair say truly blew them away. One noticeable track is an untitled piece by a band called Cinnamon Hades which, as far as the pair’s knowledge of Maltese music goes, seems to be the oldest and possibly the first ‘heavy’ group from the local pop scene.

“One of the main reasons why I felt the need to do this is that almost none of these songs (except the re-recording of Viva Malta) are on Spotify or any music streaming platform,” says Scerri.

“I’m sure people have tried to make cassette mixtapes or pirated CDs before, but none have lasted to the point where I found them anywhere when I was researching these songs. This is what I hope the mix will end up being.” 

Scerri says he finds it important to be able to look back and see the beautiful compositions of this period of time in Malta’s musical development.

“There is a clear western influence that can really be found in any other country at the time, but there is also an undeniably warm and local Mediterranean seasoning to all the songs, and the people who wrote and performed these songs should be remembered and celebrated since they paved the way for everyone else in their own ways.

“We hope that this mix somehow manages to reach some of them and that they know they are still appreciated to this day.”

The second volume of this compilation will be released on July 17.

Also stay tuned for Fake Ophelia’s second solo album titled Till I Can Gain Control Again to be released with My Fair Lsdy in the coming months.

Hear volume one of Mother Sun here. Visit the My Fair Lsdy Facebook page for more updates.