ROCKNA, Michael Bugeja's weekly radio show on Radio 101 will be celebrating its 6th Anniversary with a live concert that will be held on Friday, July 8 at Dar Ċentrali in Pieta'. The concert will feature performances from newcomers Decline The Fall, whose recent live debut performance received rave reviews, Falcon’s Flying Circus, one of Malta’s top Blues rock acts and Airport Impressions, who are without a doubt one of the island's leading rock bands. All three bands are kno

Michael Bugeja’s iconic radio show, ROCKNA, is celebrating its sixth anniversary with a triple-bill event. Ramona Depares finds out more. How was the idea for Rockna born? The idea for the show is actually connected to the weekly music pages I had been writing for The Sunday Times of Malta for a number of years, although somewhat indirectly. Around May 2010, Charles Saliba, the station manager at Radio 101 and a regular reader of my music pages, had approached me when he was

On May 30, 2016, instead of my usual Monday night edition of the Fuzzbox rock show, Radio 101 broadcast a special edition dedicated to the memory of DJ Lito, a former Fuzzbox presenter who had died tragically the previous day. Lito started his radio career in the early 1990s, presenting shows on a number of stations, among them Radju99, Capital Radio, One, AllRock, Radio 101 and Radju Kottoner. He was widely known for his passionate love for all things rock and his relentles

It's actually hard to believe that 18 years have passed since Teatru Unplugged unveiled its first edition on an unsuspecting Maltese audience back in 1998. But pass they did, during which time, dozens of bands and artists, both local and foreign, have been given the amazing opportunity of performing on the Teatru Manoel's prestigious stage. Amid the countless moments of musical splendour and all-round entertainment however, there will forever be an empty space, that previousl

One month on from our 5th Anniversary special edition, here's a little video clip summing up the ROCKNA event in a nutshell. Once again, huge thanks to Radio 101, Hard Rock Cafe', Chris Mallia, Adolf Vella, Lito, Noel Mifsud, the four bands who played live - nosnow/noalps, Jane Doe, Fuzzhoneys and Massacre House Party, and above all, all those who turned up at the Hard Rock Bar in Valletta or tuned in from some place or other! ROCKNA is broadcast every Friday at 8.05pm CET on

Radio show ROCKNA, hosted by DJ Michael Bugeja, celebrated its fifth anniversary with a four-bill line-up and a live broadcast from Hard Rock Malta at the Valletta Waterfront. The event was introduced by Radio 101 station manager Charles Saliba, who also opened the evening’s edition of the radio show. Saliba reminisced about how the show kicked off soon after he had approached Bugeja to discuss the idea. Bugeja then found himself experiencing the other side of the coin, as he

Popular weekly radio show ROCKNA, which airs every Friday evening on Radio 101, recently broadcast its 250th edition, making it quite possibly the longest-running show of its kind on the Maltese airwaves. As of last month the show, hosted by DJ, music journalist and all-round Maltese music scene supporter Michael Bugeja has been sponsored by Hard Rock Cafe Malta. The international franchise, now celebrating its 15th year in Malta, has always enjoyed a strong relationship with

The results of the first ROCKNA listeners' polls were announced during the first 2015 edition of the weekly radio show on Friday, January 5. The polls were divided into four categories, namely Best Band, Best Album, Best Song and Best Music Videos. Voting was open for four-weeks, with the choice of picks left entirely open to encourage inclusion of all genres. ROCKNA t-shirts were won by three of the competition participants, Mario Saliba, Carmen Cuschieri and Sephora Cutajar

With just a few weeks to go until the end of 2014 and the annual appointment with the end-of-year special edition of ROCKNA drawing closer, I thought it would make sense to ask which bands, albums, videos and tunes from the local scene our audience thinks were the best this year! Please send your Top 5 picks for Best Band, Best Album or EP, Best Music Video and Best Song to bugeja.michael@gmail.com by 22 December 2014. We’ve got three ROCKNA t-shirts up for grabs so please in

Local songwriting duo Mistura will be launching its first album, U d-Dinja Tkompli Ddur, during the October 10 edition of the ROCKNA radio show. The weekly Friday night show, hosted by Michael Bugeja and broadcast nationwide on Radio 101, is now in its fifth year and is widely regarded to be a leading showcase for the Maltese music scene. Mistura’s debut album will be the first-ever full-length release to be exclusively launched during the show. Clocking in at around 64 minut

My friend Colin Fitz from SWAG asked me to pick 10 essential albums, which is certainly a tasking exercise given the list of my must-have/must-listen albums is far longer than that. With much effort I finally managed to come up with the following list that is certainly indicative but by no means exhaustive or definitive (so expect more lists in the future)... meanwhile look them up and have a listen for yourselves! Here is the feature as reported online: One of Malta’s best-k

Weekly radio show ROCKNA, which is broadcast every Friday on Radio 101, will be celebrating its 200th edition with a special show on June 20. Focusing entirely on the music scene in Malta, the show was first broadcast on July 9, 2010 and is hosted by Michael Bugeja. In the 4 years ROCKNA has been on air, it has featured interviews with over 200 different bands and artists, with a good number of them often also performing live unplugged sessions during the programme. A compila