Two years have gone by and that can only mean one thing. Voices are back this year with another edition of their popular concerts. Voices 2008: “Tell me Why” was launched at a press conference attended by the Minister of Education and Culture, Dolores Cristina and Mrs Gemma Mifsud Bonnici, Chairperson of the Vodafone Malta Foundation, which is the main supporter of the event.

“I am pleased to say that over the past five years, since its inception, the Vodafone Malta Foundation has supported numerous projects with the aim to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating fully in society. Voices is a biannual national fund raising event, which is very popular with the general public. The foundation is glad to lend its support to Voices so that more charitable organisations may benefit from the proceeds generated by the ten concerts,” said Mrs Gemma Mifsud Bonnici.

The theme for this year’s edition is Youth, and the slogan “Tell Me Why” refers to the questions we often ask ourselves about the plight of today’s youth. Why the poverty, why the social problems, why the illiteracy facing our youngsters?

Voices are a 200-strong choir which sings to raise money for charity. To date they have distributed €1,000,000 in cash to beneficiaries.

It all started off in 1991 as a modest group of people from St Aloysius who loved to sing and who wanted to “give back” to the community.

Today, 17 years and ten editions later, most of the founding members are still actively involved, except for the late Louis Naudi, who sadly passed away in 2004 and is greatly missed by all. The successful Voices formula of performing classic and contemporary pop songs in five-part harmony ensures that demand for tickets is high and the ten concerts are always sold-out. Emerging new talent is also given a chance to shine with soloists performing certain songs, backed by the choir.

“The magic which is Voices is hard to describe to someone who has never been to one of the concerts,” says Chairman Antonello Gauci. “The live band and choir provide an unforgettable show while the audience is even encouraged to get up and dance in the aisles. The fact that all this is done voluntarily with all proceeds from ticket sales going directly to charity, gives an added dimension to what Voices is all about.”

This year, half the proceeds will be going to one major project, an educational centre at San Blas, which is run by Caritas. This project was chosen after several proposals from different charities were made. Mons Victor Grech and Ms Mariella Balzan from Caritas were also present at the press conference.

Speaking about this substantial donation, Ms Balzan said: “Caritas is being supported by Voices to create a project that will empower rehabilitated drug dependant adolescents to re-enter into society. The Learning Centre will be available to 50 clients residing in all our residential programmes. This Centre will be teaching life-skills, basic literacy skills, up to ‘O’ level standard of education as well as computer skills, drama and music lessons.”

Voices: “Tell Me Why” is being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre from 1 – 5 October and from 9 – 13 October. Apart from the main benefactor the Vodafone Malta Foundation, Voices is being supported by Island Group, Nestle, P. Cutajar, Kinnie, Banif, Gasan 80th and XFM.