Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500237
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 MAY 2023 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt Recovering Malta's 'lost voice' According to the programme, 'Roots' will feature "the musi- cal stylings of instrumentalists from around the Mediterranean, [and] traditional Maltese folk music interwoven into contem- porary sound." This suggests that the festival is more than just a successor to the (now-de- funct) 'Għanafest'; but rather, an attempt to somehow 'revitalise' Maltese Għana, by placing it in the context of a wider Mediter- ranean folk music tradition. First of all, is that impression correct? And if so: why the need to revi- talise this genre, anyway? Do you feel that traditional Maltese Għana is... 'endangered', per- haps? The bottom line of the festival, I would say, is to highlight our tra- dition of Maltese Għana: which, in itself, is more of a 'linguistic' tradition, than a musical one. Be- cause even if music is an essential part of Għana: like many other folk traditions around the world, it is there primarily to support the verse. And with Għana, in particular: the verse serves as both a means of communication... but also, as a form of individual/societal 'catharsis', whereby you can 'say what you need to say' - and 'get it off your chest' - by singing it out in the traditional metre (which, in the case of Għana, is the octo-syl- labic verse) But while the main emphasis of the festival remains Malta's traditional Għana – in fact, all the international acts that are being brought over, will be there primarily to reflect on certain aspects of the local tradition - I wouldn't describe it as a succes- sor to Għanafest, myself. For while I did 'inherit' that fes- tival, so to speak, after its final edition last year... I felt the need to restructure it, and give it a new 'vision', based on my own expe- rience with local 'għannejja' (and obviously, with 'Għanafest', too; a festival I attended regularly, over the past 20 years; and also per- formed in myself.) At the same time, however: the format has changed considerably, since then. For one thing, because I feel that – from what I have wit- nessed, anyway – there seems to be a general lack of understand- ing about the Għana tradition, among much of the population at large. Not very many people out there seem to know what Għana really is; how it is done; how it works; and 'why people do it'... In brief, there seems to be a total detachment, on the part of the wider majority. And with this lack of appeciation, or under- standing, Għana itself comes to be viewed as more of a 'curiosi- ty', of sorts. And the ghannej, in turn, becomes the equivalent of an 'exotic monkey, performing on stage'... I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. Because even when we view Għana as a mere curios- ity; there is still part of us which recognises that these people are more 'authentic', so to speak, than us. So we still appreciate Għana, for its authenticity; but – in most cases – we don't really know what the hell is actually going on. But that, perhaps, is how the wider public percieves Maltese Għana: which brings me to the question of whether or not the tradition itself is actually 'endan- gered'. This is something I hear quite a lot, to be honest: people often tell me that "something needs to be done, because Għana is 'dying' (if not, 'already dead')." But I don't hear that from the ghanejja themselves: or from any of the aficonados, or 'dilettanti', to whom it is part of their every- day reality. To those people, Mal- tese Għana is very much alive. Not just in the sense that they still practice it, every day... but al- so because it still 'works', within the context of the community in which they live. It still provides a cathartic 'lan- guage,' that enables those people to freely express themselves. It is a voice that they have retained; but that we - the rest of us - have lost, in the meantime. In fact: they are singing on our behalf, really. So... for whom is Għana 'dead', exactly? For the people who are detached from it, perhaps; or for those who only ever view it from a distance... and possibly, with a certain amount of disdain... You took the question clean out of my mouth. Let's face it: there's also a 'class' issue embedded in all this, isn't there? At the risk of a possibly unfair analogy: Għana is often compared (in terms of influences, etc.) with other Med- iterranean folk traditions, such as Flamenco. But in Spain, there isn't the same sense of 'detach- ment', that there is here. On the contrary: Spaniards are fiercely proud of their local traditions (which may, in turn, also ex- plain why Flamenco has such a vast international appeal). How do account for this difference, yourself? There is clearly a social stigma, if you like, associated with Mal- tese Għana. And it doesn't help, naturally. Not only does it holds people back, from even attempt- ing to understand what Għana is all about... or to see the beauty in it: because there is a lot of beauty in Maltese Għana, at the end of the day... ... but it also reinforces the per- ception that Għana is a very lo- calised, very 'niche' tradition, that the rest of the country feels no affinity towards, whatsoever. And this, in turn, holds the għannejja themselves back, from feeling any impulse to teach it to others; or to share their knowl- edge with what they view as 'out- siders'. In that scenario, Għana becomes 'their' thing – and right- ly so: because it still works, for them – and not a national tradi- tion, which is supposed to belong to everybody... In fact, one of the questions that I hope the festival will raise, is pre- cisely this: to whom does Għana belong, really? To the practition- ers, alone? To the aficionados, and the usual audiences? And if, at a certain level, it can only really ever 'belong' to those people, an- Artistic Director ANDREW ALAMANGO, on why 'Ritmu: Roots Festival Malta' will be striking out in a different direction, from previous celebrations of Maltese folk music