CC 2014 #14 Malta

Wednesday 7 May 2014, 16:45

Gavin McCollum

Producer, Commonwealth Connections

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It is early Sunday morning. I am waiting in a car, in a side street, in the small village of Zejtun, Malta. Malta's curse is the car and this alleyway is the only space available on a road that, like a Russian doll, gets smaller the closer you get to the centre.

I'm meeting my host, Ruben, at the local parish church (photo above) which looks far too big for this little town but it is breathtakingly beautiful and has a remarkable number of naked light bulbs dotting its walls. As this and all the other churches empty, so the bars fill up and it is in these bars that the purveyors of Ghana (pronounced aa-na), Malta's traditional folk music, gather together do battle.

Ruben, waves and instructs me to follow his car through the narrow, potholed streets until we arrive at the Ta' Ganna bar.

Street outside the Ta 'Gana Bar

The Ta' Ganna consists of one long room with a bar halfway along the right hand wall and a spiral staircase in the back left corner. Beside this staircase, six men line up and stare at the floor with intense concentration as they prepare for the 'Spirtu Pront'. In front of them, five guitarists prepare their instruments. The guitars are tuned to the singers pitch because it is the singer who rules the roost and the chords that waft through the bar waiver around the notes with a relaxed Mediterranean charm.

Ghana session in full swing

For the 'Spirtu Pront', the six men sing in turn, duelling verbally with their counterpart - the first singer spars with the third, the second with the fifth... They invent their replies on the spot and you can see their lips moving in silent rehearsal as the reply must fit the meter and rhyming structure of the songs. Today's impromptu topics include a recommendation of a workman that went wrong and the grand-standing of one of the younger singers for our recording session. An old man pulls my sleeve "that's you they're sing about" - I'm a little worried. Down the spiral staircase a steady stream of small dishes are carried to the tables, filled with pasta, butter beans, snails and olives.

Maltese Guitar

After 45 minutes of lyrical to-ing and fro-ing the session draws to a close - nothing is said other than an exchange of glances, but somehow everyone knows when to finish. They shake hands and part as friends until the next Sunday morning bout.

As I leave another man tells me that "this is dying out" but I sincerely hope he is wrong. It may sound rough around the edges but this musical gathering binds the community together. It comes from the streets, from the bars and from the heart.

Gavin

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