Għana has in fact been the subject of a Ph.D. dissertation (Herndon 1971) but unfortunately this is largely anecdotal in character. A much better but brief treatment of the subject is Dr. Paul Sant Cassia's article (1989) exploring the status and role of għana in official Maltese culture.
 

It is difficult to calculate the size of its following. Most għannejja believe it is quite popular. However some admitted that most working class youths attend sessions occasionally, not regularly.
 

The elaboration of the music is generally accredited to a 'genius', Carmelo Cardona ('it-Tapp'), under whom most of today's guitarists studied. He flourished between the late twenties and the early sixties.
 

One difficulty in trying to trace the evolution of għana was that I was often referred to a flat-dimensional past: 'archaic għana', 'thirty years ago' (in 1969/70 Herndon was also referred to 'thirty years ago' - e.g. 1971: 154-155, 164, 187-188) and 'before the war' were standard phrases.
 

The singing used to take place outside in a square usually. Informants described how they used to be chased by the police, and how their guitars were smashed if the latter caught up with them. Occasionally they are also taken to court.
 

On March 31, 1979, the last British ship left the island. Up till then the British had rented a military base in Malta.
 

This was not only due to the attention heaped upon them but also because they gained extra points for turning up in folkloric dress.
 

Again, some of these rules were not completely new. For example, a certain għannej, Pawlu Seychell, had been deprecating għannejja who did not rhyme words well for many years. Likewise, the reason why the ghannejja had to stick to a subject pre-selected by the organisers was that there was some awareness that they could start insulting each other. The organisers were therefore not unaware of the competitive għana.
 

This is the most evocative translation of the Maltese word il-popolin, which is a diminutive of 'the people'. It carries with it the connotations of little ones', innocent but also naive and simple.
 

One is reminded of Prince George of Greece saying of the Cretans, 'The naive, not to say child-like, trustfulness made a great impression on me ...', going on to add that the Cretans 'are sterling men when they do not get mixed up in politics' (Herzfeld 1987: 69).
 

The audience may be hushed during the heart of a performance if it is being particularly rowdy. Also the audience may be referred to, especially as a witness to the truth of what the għannej is saying, but here it is not addressed directly.
 

It happened that this last mentioned reconciliation was deliberately engineered by għannejja who wanted to bring the two singers concerned together again. It is possible to see in this instance a use of għana as a curative 'rite of affliction'. However it does not fall neatly into this category because the 'afflicted' għannej, should he want to, has several routes open to him to dodge the subject of the quarrel, which his colleagues want brought out into the open.
 

The Fatt was written in the early sixties, after Mintoff had resigned as Prime Minister and during the time he was leading the Opposition. The Fatt, which depicts Mintoff in heroic terms, amongst other things explains that his resignation was due to political back-stabbing by 'traitors'.
 

In fact, only the best għannejja manage to give their songs this mythological quality. With the mediocre għannejja all that usually results is a tedious harping on the same subject, as some għannejja themselves pointed out to me.
 

This point was corroborated on another occasion by a woman informant who also sings herself. 'People (i.e. occasional listeners - mostly women, and a few men) prefer joking [għana], not serious għana, with the "Subject'".
 

This is why the 'folk-singing' associated with women exclusively in the Mediterranean usually consists of funeral laments (Mathias 1977; Danforth 1982). In Malta there is no tradition of funeral laments however.
 

Although one is born an għannej, with a 'fixed amount' of talent, this talent still needs to be developed to its full potential. Bamboċċu explained it to me thus: If you have a wiżna [a weight measure] of potatoes you cannot increase the weight, but you can polish the potatoes and make them more attractive.'
 

The sixties were marked by a bitter conflict between the institutional Church and the Labour Party. The Bishop declared it a mortal sin to vote for Labour. The wounds inflicted on both sides are still felt today.
 

In the sixties, the għana radio recordings were vetted for references to brand-names, individuals or political parties before being broadcast.
 

The fact that Fattijiet are written probably helped crystallise an overt position.
 

There are also strong hints that anybody who snubs Maltese for English is betraying his identity or is not truly Maltese. This is similar to the Cypriot situation described by Loizos (1975: 284).
 

For example, in the mid-eighties the then Labour Party leader and Prime Minister used to speak of the 'aristocracy of the workers'. The present Nationalist government's rhetoric, as well as that of the Church (the official hymnbook has a beardless Christ in workman's overalls on its cover) is also very egalitarian.
 

They are 'marginalized' in that they have not been socially mobile for generations (though some of their former neighbours may have been) and also in that, despite the political parties' rhetoric, the middle classes look down upon them.