Barcelona-based Maltese singer-songwriter TroffaĦamra has just released her new album Weġgħat Żgħar. Predominantly in her native Maltese language and recorded at the prestigious Temple Studios, the album offers a glimpse into the life of a woman and mother navigating the challenges of living far from her homeland. Each track explores the ambivalence of maternity, the inexorable passage of time, living away from family and friends, and the inevitable winds of change.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the album, TroffaĦamra muses: “Making music has always been what makes me feel myself the most. After I became a mother six years ago, I felt I lost my identity, suffered from post-natal depression, and didn’t really know who I was anymore. Living abroad, away from my family didn’t make it easier, and I didn’t really have time to make music anymore. So when I slowly started to find inspiration to write songs again, I started to heal, in some way, and now I feel like myself again!”
Weġgħat Żgħar’is a collaborative project featuring some of Malta’s finest musicians, such as Brodu’s Żiżża, Oliver Degabriele, Michael Galea, Franco Tartaglia, Mark Attard, Mariele Żammit, Justin Galea, Mario Borg, Fiorella Camilleri, and Spanish trumpeter Javier Manzanares. The support act for the launch concert will be David Schembri. “I’ve been away from Malta for 13 years now, and I wanted to collaborate with Maltese musicians who are also friends, as I miss that so much in Barcelona,” she beams.
The first single from the album is called Noa and it speaks of TroffaĦamra’s relationship with her daughter Noa. In a heart-warming moment, the six-year old can also be heard singing at the end of the song. The second single Mifruda bil-Ħin (Time Difference) tells the story of how two sisters experience their relationship from two different hemispheres. The lyrics were written by TroffaĦamra’s childhood friend and writer Annamaria Schurmann, who has been based in Australia for a number of years.
Speaking about the way she composes her songs, TroffaĦamra explains: “Songwriting for me is like tapping into a kind of magic. It’s crazy how I can go ages without jotting down a single note, and then out of nowhere, boom! Inspiration hits, and suddenly I’m crafting a whole song from start to finish in just an hour—music, lyrics, the works.
“Sometimes it feels like the song already exists in some alternate universe, and if I’m in sync with that vibe, I just snatch it up and bring it into our reality. However, that usually means having a ton of free time on my hands, which doesn’t happen too often. However, over the past few years, I’ve had to scale back on my workload as a music therapist because of some vocal cord issues. Weirdly enough, that setback ended up giving me the downtime I needed to dive back into my songwriting groove.”
The official album launch concert took place at the Każin tal-Blu in her native village of Żabbar, an intimate affair, a group of friends and family gigging and buzzing together.
Weġgħat Żgħar is now available for download on digital platforms.