Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature: for Buena Vista Social Club (1999), about Cuban music culture; Pina (2011), about the contemporary dance choreographer Pina Bausch; and The Salt of the Earth (2014), about Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado.
Wings of Desire is a 1987 romantic fantasy film written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and directed by Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its human inhabitants, comforting the distressed. Even though the city is densely populated, many of the people are isolated or estranged from their loved ones. One of the angels, played by Bruno Ganz, falls in love with a beautiful, lonely trapeze artist, played by Solveig Dommartin. The angel chooses to become mortal so that he can experience human sensory pleasures, ranging from enjoying food to touching a loved one, and so that he can discover human love with the trapeze artist.
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or "guitar pop rock".
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock.
SPK were an Australian industrial music and noise music group formed in 1978. They were fronted by mainstay member, Graeme Revell on keyboards and percussion. In 1980 the group travelled to the United Kingdom where they issued their debut album, Information Overload Unit. In 1983 Sinan Leong joined on lead vocals. The group disbanded in 1988. Two years later Revell and Leong relocated to the United States, where Revell works as a Hollywood film score composer. According to Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane, SPK were "at the forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s ... [their] music progressed from discordant, industrial-strength metal noise to sophisticated and restrained dance-rock with strange attributes".
The music of Malta ranges across a spectrum of genres such as traditional folk music, metal and various forms of electronica.
"Brother Louie" is a song about an interracial love affair between a white man and a black woman, and the subsequent rejection of him by his parents because of it. The title was written and sung by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of the group Hot Chocolate, and was a No. 7 hit in the UK Singles Chart for the band in 1973, produced by Mickie Most. Alexis Korner has a spoken word part in this version of the song. Phil Dennys arranged the string section.
Age of Chance were a British alternative rock-dance crossover band from Leeds, England, active from 1983 to 1991. They were perhaps most known for their mutant metallic cover of Prince's "Kiss" which topped the UK Indie Chart in 1986, and peaked at No. 50 in the UK Singles Chart in January the following year. Despite signing for major label Virgin, and being favourites with the UK music press, they never enjoyed a major hit in the UK, although "Don't Get Mad… Get Even" reached No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart.
Owain Phyfe was a vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, and the founder of Nightwatch Recording, which concentrates on Renaissance and Medieval music. He lived in Berkley, Michigan, United States, often playing at O'Mara's Restaurant when he wasn't traveling the Renaissance circuit. He died from pancreatic cancer on September 5, 2012. The following day performers and fans held an all night wake in his honor.
"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It appears in the 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which was produced by U2 lead vocalist Bono, and the song was included on the film's soundtrack. Author Salman Rushdie is credited as the lyricist, as the words are taken from his 1999 book The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Written during the recording sessions for U2's album All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000), the song features Daniel Lanois, who played pedal steel guitar. A different mix from the soundtrack version appears in the film. "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was released as a promotional single in February 2000, reaching number two on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart, number 22 in Canada, and number one in Iceland.
Health is an American noise rock/industrial band from Los Angeles, California.
Philip Vella is a Maltese musical composer. He has won the main national festivals of Malta several times such as the Malta Song for Europe, International Festival of Maltese Song as well as L-Għanja tal-Poplu festival. He has successfully competed in International festivals in the Netherlands, finalist in the Belgian Song for Eurovision competition in 2006, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Romania as well as six times representing Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest, placing 2nd in 2002 in Estonia with the song "7th Wonder", in 2000 in Sweden with the song "Desire", in 2004 in Turkey with the song ‘On Again... Off Again’ and in 2007 in Finland with the song "Vertigo" that received over 31,000 televotes in Malta. For 2008 he composed the song "Vodka" sung by Morena.
Jun Miyake is a Japanese composer. His music was used in the film Pina, nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature in January 2012. He has also been awarded by the German critic's award, Der Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, as Best Album of the Year for his last three albums, "Stolen from Strangers", "Lost Memory Theatre act-1", and "Lost Memory Theatre act-2".
Ian Schranz, best known by the stage name Bark Bark Disco, is a Maltese indie musician. Schranz first began his career as the drummer of the band Beangrowers before establishing himself as a solo artist.
"Stay " is a song by rock band U2. It is the fifth track on their 1993 album, Zooropa, and was released as the album's third single on 22 November 1993. The song reached number one in Ireland and reached the top 10 in Australia, Iceland, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. The music video was shot in Berlin, Germany. The earliest incarnation of the song developed during sessions for the group's 1991 album Achtung Baby. It was written for and inspired by Frank Sinatra and bore his surname as the original working title. An alternative recording was used in the Wim Wenders film Faraway, So Close!.
Although Malta is a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with a small population, it is nonetheless rich in its history and its culture. When in the 1950s, in nearby Italy the San Remo Festival, and later in Switzerland, the Eurovision Song Contest came into existence, Malta soon followed suit by organizing its own National Song Festival.
Jürgen Knieper is a German film score composer. Born in Karlsruhe, he was educated at Berlin's State High School of Music.
The Hole in the Wall is a restaurant and bar located in Sliema, Malta.
Rev Rev Rev is an Italian shoegaze and psychedelic band formed in Modena in 2011 by Sebastian Lugli and Laura Iacuzio, then joined by Andrea Dall'Omo and Greta Benatti.
