German songwriter Philip Boa has declared himself “alienated from his second home” Malta in interviews released to German media on the occasion of the release of his new album “Earthly Powers”.

The album is named after a 1980 novel by Anthony Burgess, another artist alienated from Malta who fictionalised his experience of Malta’s state-mandated censorship and corruption in the Mintoff years.

Asked in this Neue Presse interview why he named his new album “Earthly Powers” in view of the earlier Anthony Burgess novel, Philip Boa said “Anthony Burgess lived in Malta for a while and has been heavily censored there. ‘Earthly Powers’ is one of the novels that have been occupying and influencing me for a long time.”

Read this 20 June 2017 article by Daphne Caruana Galizia for more background on the Anthony Burgess story with Malta.

Philip Boa was asked by Neue Presse if he wrote his album in Malta “which has become your second home”.

He replied: “I write my songs everywhere, including in Morocco, in the US, in London. There I moved into my old house again. I broke a bit with Malta because it turned out to be very negative. Malta now has online casinos around every corner, shell companies, money laundering, and EU passports are sold there. These are all speculations. And then the most famous journalist of Malta was killed, which has hit very high waves. Her son has given the wrong laptop to the police, who are considered corrupt. These are the reasons why I have alienated myself from Malta.”

Though not all departing expats who are quitting Malta having made it their home are famous enough to give interviews to the international press, Philip Boa’s experience is by no means exceptional.

I personally have received several messages from long-time residents of Malta who no longer remember the reasons why they chose to make Malta their home 6 years ago or more. None of them is surprised to be met by the classic Maltese defence mechanism of ‘jekk ma jogħġbokx mur mn’ejn ġejt’. This is how we rationalise that nothing can ever be wrong with our own choices.

In the meantime, people like Philip Boa go find other great places to live in. We are losing our home for good and leaving our children a Gomorra of speculation, crime and bloody murder.

Phillip Boa’s Wikipedia entry says he was born 18 January 1963 in Dortmund, Germany. He is a German independent music songwriter, musician, singer, guitarist, composer and producer. His current name is unknown after two divorces and name changes. Phillip Boa “lives in Dortmund, Hamburg and on the island of Malta”. As a songwriter, Boa has written over 400 songs, and 21 of his studio albums made it to the top 60 of the charts. He has received several “Album & Single of the Week” awards in British magazines like NME, Sounds or Melody Maker. The musical style followed by Boa and his band Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub was described in a review by NME as “a cross between B52’s and Captain Beefheart”. The style of his lyrics is a mix of irony, love songs, sarcasm and is often of bizarre and deranged content.