J Oseph V Ella I

Music J oseph V ella n order to understand properly the has to look in order to understand Malta's I Maltese cultural background, one must cultural heritage and to a great extent its be aware of the historical associations the musical traditions. History shows us that island passed through over the centuries cult and music-making were not only and which, in some way or other, left their complimentary but almost inseparable mark on the Maltese way of life, socially partners. It is, then, not that difficult to and, at a tangent, also culturally. imagine that at some point in time in this Although written evidence about musical island of temple worshippers one could hear activity in Malta throws us back less than the pervasive rhythms of the sacrificial four centuries (that is around the year drums of the Neolithic peoples in their 1600), I think that one can safely assume massive stone temples, the rippling fresh that these practices have had their roots in sounds of the Greek lyre, the martial the misty dawns of prehistory. When one fanfares of the Romans or the mystic chants remembers that archaeological research has of the Byzantines and the Arabs. placed some of Malta's ancient stone The year 870 A.D. marks the scene of temples as anteceding even the pyramids of active history by the advent of a new Egypt, one can then easily surmise how far Mediterranean power which for long had back in time this line can stretch. challenged European civilization. F. W. The Mediterranean region has often been Ryan in his book Malta writes that: referred to as the cradle of civilization and "the Arabs inspired by Mohammed roused themselves Malta, being right in the centre of this from their leisured life as mere tent-dwellers in area, could never escape or be immune to Arabia, and poured in vast numbers out of their the cauldron of political and cultural country, with the fury of fanatics, carrying their new upheavals that from time immemorial religion abroad at the point of the sword. They swept successively engulfed this region as nation westward through Syria, Palestine and North Africa to Spain and also took possession of Malta". after nation, dynasty after dynasty, creed after creed battled it out for supremacy Thus, the authority of the Byzantine and assertion. In fact, Malta's geographical Emperor, Basil I, was declared at an end position plus an inherent helplessness in its and the government was assumed by an defensive potential due to its size, pre Arab Emir. It is a curious fact that despite ordained a pattern of events that can be a physical presence on the Island lasting monotonously traced from the time of the about four centuries, apart from the Phoenicians to the tragic days of the spoken language, practically nothing is left second world war - whichever nation or of the Arab cultural heritage whether this rPlioinnc fal'tinn hP1r1 thP cnT!:nT nf militar" hP <>rl"'h<>Pnlna;,.,,J <>rl"'hhPI"'tnr<>l nr mndl"'<~l .a.-.&ACA"'-u .... __ ...a._&& .&&V&- ................ UYY-J -.& AAA&•.o..._.&.J .., ..... _ .... _ ...... _ ..... ..., ....... o ... --... , _ ... ..,. ....................... _ ... _ ... _ .......... _. ............. _ ... power along the Mediterranean littoral When Count Roger of Hauteville dominated this small island. In the fashion wrested the island from the hands of the of the classic Roman dictum "Veni, Vidi, Arabs, Malta became a feudal fief until the Vici", they came, they saw and they year 1530 and as such was successively conquered, and some of them even stayed subject to the many different holders of for hundreds of years. the Sicilian crown, namely the Normans, It is in the light of the above that one the Hohenstaufens, the Kings of Anjou, of 159 Aragon and of Castille. perhaps fit the style of a particular genre From Count Roger's time onwards one of Maltese music, namely the "Ghana". can safely say that Malta always looked "Ghana" is the major expression (and in towards Europe for its cultural inspirations many reasons one can say the only and models. expression) of the Maltese folk musical In his book Musica e Musicisti a tradition in spite of the fact that the main Malta, Livorno, 1932, Ulderico Rolandi, interest of the "Ghana" lies more in its without however quoting his sources literary rather than its musical aspect. writes: "I have come across here and there In the field of "Ghana" singing, one names of various cantors, precentors etc comes across a few melodies, (or better still who from time immemorial were active in melodic forms) which serve the "ghannej" the churches of Malta''. He goes on to (singer of "ghana") as a vehicle on which make a list of some of these, mentioning, to improvise his verses or else to relate in for example, Guido Anselmi, Cantor in the verse form a pre-established story from the year 1112; Magister Philippus, Cantor folk literature tradition. As one can easily Tripolitanus in the year 1124; Raimondus note, in both cases the musical element is Provincialis, praecentor in the year 1170; always secondary to the text. Rainaldus, Cantor Tiberiadis in the year "Ghana" is invariably sung to an 1174; Joannes, Praecentor acconiensis in accompaniment of guitars which serve a the year 1200; and Wi/lelmus, Cantor dual purpose. One is to provide a harmonic vallaniensis in the year 1234. This basis for the melodic line, and the other is information attests most vividly not only to to play interludes between the many verses a healthy musical life in Malta at such an to give the singer both a period of rest and early age, but is also indicative of an a short time to think and formulate his artistic phenomenon valid for most of the next stanza. The played interludes are of successive centuries, namely the musical an improvisatory nature using. the main ties Malta has had on an international melodic line as a basis. level, especially with Italy. Another The fact that in "ghana" we find limited important point that emerges from use of melodic intervals smaller than the Rolandi's writing and which ties closely semitone has led some people to associate with the phenomenon just mentioned is the its roots with North Africa where mono fact that Malta, during this period, not melodic variations and micro-tonal only "imported" musicians, but also had intervals are an integral part of the musical its fair share of "exporting" them. One culture. Personally, I am of the opinion finds, for example, mention of Don Luca that the spiritual roots of "ghana" are to Vel/a, Cantore Maltese and Giovanni be found in the south of Spain, and that Jsconfort, Maltese who, in 1550, were they reached our shores via Sicily. If one employed with Cardinal Alessandro listens to traditional singing from these Farnese, and the Papal Cappella in Rome places, one can easily associate similarities ~ectively. of construction and performance with . The first ever known poem written in Maltese "ghana". The traditional use of Maltese belongs to the middle of the 15th guitars as accompanying instruments is, I / rP.ntnrv It i.;: ::~ mo."t intP.rP.l:tinP ::~ncl J -------J. -- --- ------ ------------g ---- feel; a very strong relevant detail in this 1 important "Cantilena" penned by Pietro regard. I Caxaru, discovered in 1966 by Prof. G. Other instruments belonging to our folk Wettinger and Fr Mikiel Fsadni. The musical tradition (some of which are, structure and rhythm of the poem strongly unfortunately, well on the way to suggest that it could have been sung, extinction) are the "fifra" (reed pipe) and although no hard evidence in this direction the "tambure/1" (tambour). A variant of is extant. However, the poem could the "tambure/1" was the "tamburin" 160 (tambourine). Another popular percussion impetus for a wave of cultural experiences instrument was the "Rabbaba" also known hitherto unknown on the island. as the "Zuvzaja" (friction drum). However, as events began to take their The "bronja" and the "qrajna" were course, for its culture Malta started to look two primitive, folk instruments. The more and more closely towards Italian "bronja" (sea-shell trumpet) and the ideals and practices. I am inclined to think "qrajna" (hull's horn trumpet) are well on that there were two reasons for this state the way out to disappear completely from of affairs - one was the geographical the local scene. Malta too had its variant proximity which made actual physical of the Pipes of Pan, locally called contact easier than that with any other "flejguta" and "bedbud". nation: the other was the influence of the In all the above there are very few things Catholic Church which for its spiritual and that can be called purely indigenous. As artistic inspiration obviously looked regards "folk instruments", Malta shared towards Rome. From this time· onwards, a most of these with other countries found lot of details about musical practice in along the Mediterranean littoral. Malta started to be documented, and thus However, from this aspect one could one can trace this phenomenon emerging make a special reference to the Maltese slowly but very clearly. bagpipe "zaqq". Of all the varieties of We know that by the end of the 16th bagpipe found all over the world, the Century there were two established Maltese bagpipe seems to be the only one "cappellas" on the island .- the one at St made of an inflated dog's skin, which is John's in Valletta, the seat of the held under the left arm with the dog's legs Grandmaster and the one in Mdina, the directed upward.

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