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'Traditional' music, modernity, and nostalgia in Malta
and other Mediterranean societies

The different genres of għana

I am concerned with traditional folk singing in Malta called għana (pronounced aana). The general contours of għana have been dealt with by various authors (Cassar Pullicino 1961; Cassar Pullicino and Galley, 1981; Ciantar, 1994; Fsadni, 1993; Herndon, 1971, 1987; Herndon and McCleod, 1981; McCleod, 1975; McCleod and Herndon, 1980; Sant Cassia, 1989) and only a brief outline is given here. Singers or għannejja (pronounced 'anneyia - as the għ is silent) are men usually from relatively humble backgrounds, mainly the port conurbation. Għana consists of three types of singing: (i) spirtu pront, (ii) tal-fatt and (iii) il-Bormliża.

Spirtu pront għana is the most popular live form of għana nowadays and is almost exclusively practised by men. Spirtu pront (literally quick spirit, or ready wit) is an extemporised song contest between two to four singers, nowadays accompanied by guitarists, usually three in number. Specific subjects are evolved during the contest, the improvization being subject to certain 'rules' (see Herndon and McCleod, 1980). Singers thrust and parry in extemporized octosyllabic quatrains around a theme chosen and developed by the singers in the course of their contest known as botta u risposta (risposte and counter-risposte). Each singer tries to outdo his opponent in wit, general knowledge, humour, and lexical choice, bearing in mind the overriding need to rhyme. Failure to do so can sink a singer. Metaphors, double-entendres, and lexical-switching from English to Maltese are often employed.(1) In style, context, content, and contestation, għana can vary from the informally amiable, egalitarian and exploratory singing between friends (the serata) emphasizing commensality, to almost hostile, barely concealed agonistic challenges (sfida) in wine bars which can develop into socially disapproved, but often vicariously enjoyed (by singers' followers), 'vendettas' between singers ( McCleod and Herndon, 1980). In such a competitively egalitarian society, a bad performance can severely damage a singer's reputation and prestige. Some singers have a reputation for aggressivity and for personalising their songs, and risk permanently alienating their opponents. Many singers (ghannejja) learn informally (Herndon and McLeod 1981:54; Fsadni, 1993) from accompanying their elders. In being exposed to subtle, complex, and exophoric references to the slipperiness of language and metaphors, children are socialised into the flexible and ambiguous world of Maltese adult society.

The ideal voice type is that of a high tenor. Lomax's description of Southern Italian singing could apply to għana: 'a voice as pinched and strangulated and high-pitched as any in Europe. The singing expression is one of true agony, the throat is distended and flushed with strain, the brow knotted with a painful expression. Many tunes are long and highly ornamented in Oriental style' (1959:942). Yet as a nineteenth century Arab visitor noted, singing in Malta was distinctive in terms of style, and subject matter and influence:

'In music as in other things, the Maltese waver; they are neither like the Franks nor like the Arabs. Their villagers have but a few songs, and when they sing they strain their voices excessively, so that they shock the ear. They resemble the Franks in that they confine themselves to the rasd, and the Arabs in that when a number of them assemble to sing they use sounds which belong to one mode only, also in that one of them stands up to recite and the others respond. Their notables learn Italian melodies' (Cachia 1973: 47)

Some of the themes dealt with are: the 'language question', i.e. English versus Maltese where English words can be inserted ironically to denote high status, social pretence, and 'softness' or frivolity (tal-pepè), with Maltese words used to denote egalitarianism, manliness, and 'naturalness'; social stratification as reflected in residence and housing; insiders versus outsiders; official folklore versus għana proper; and the high status of literacy (literally ta' l-iskola) versus the low status of illiteracy. Such oppositions are rarely presented rhetorically, nor are overt ideological positions taken. A singer may ironically refer to himself as of low status and yet display his virtuosity. Spirtu pront għana in its most highly developed form can expose the contradictions and tensions in Maltese cultural identity or identities, and whilst it appears to be referring to small and banal facts it can revolve around values at the core of Maltese society: literacy, folklore, status, language, social pretence. Most spirtu pront singers are not so much interested in singing overt political songs as in demonstrating their virtuosity.

Ghana tal-fatt is less popular than spirtu pront as a performance, and has less of a high profile. Fatt means 'fact'. According to Ciantar 'this style is more westernised. The lack of a melismatic nature allows for the words to be clearly expressed and understood' (1994; 4). Fatt songs can deal with well known stories or events, taken either from life or from literature, such as ballads. Singers also compose their own songs, or are commissioned. Tapes circulate widely. Traditional contexts for fatt singing were the xalati (community or neighbourhood-based outings) some of which have disappeared but replaced by other occasions such as state-sponsored festivals (Lejliet Mediterranji). In the pre-war period cheap chapbooks on popular themes were printed and used for extemporization. There are examples dating from before the standardization of Maltese orthography in the early twentieth century. Fatt has thus been more heavily influenced by literary concerns than spirtu pront. Although some songs dealt with epics explored by western literature, others also provided social commentaries on moral crises or local issues.

Due to the wide availability and knowledge of such texts it is likely that this genre was not only vibrant, but also it could have been extemporized more than nowadays, as many people then knew the structure of the plots. Nor was it an indigenous 'spontaneous' tradition divorced from literacy and literature. Fatt singing was heavily influenced by Maltese popular poetry, and translations of, and elaborations on, well known Italian songs or poetry, such as Tasso, etc, were common. The favourite form was the octosyllabic verse (2) - the ottava rima also favoured by the poeti contadini in central Italy (Kezich, 1996). This suggests that fatt singing was then primarily a folk version of high culture, and was even more closely harnessed by it, rather than a grassroots critical elaboration on Maltese official culture, as spirtu pront is nowadays. Literacy (even of a restricted type) was useful for a singer as this gave independent access to the literary sources. Fatt was mainly but not exclusively sung by men. Although women also sang handed-down songs, their differential access to literacy and formal education may have placed them at a disadvantage in terms of access to ballads. As formal education became increasingly identified with high status (more available to men), it is possible that this elevated men's status who sung fatt, whilst women's singing, embedded as it was in the local community and dealing with intimate embarrassing details concerning reputations, etc, became devalued. Today the fatt genre is less vibrant as a live performance, not only because many poet-singers do not know the stories which are less relevant and even seen as archaic, but also because their audiences are less knowledgeable on such stories. Fatt, to a much greater extent than spirtu-pront was dependent upon two moulding facts: restricted literacy and underdeveloped means of communication on the one hand, and a classical fixed hegemonic educational system based on recitation, on the other. It was linked to a classical (Italianate) education that has little relevance nowadays and was adversely affected by the removal of Italian as an official language by the British in the pre-WWII period.

A similar form of singing existed in Cyprus, known as tchiattista. There are reports from the 16th century of poet singers (piithares), singing their verses (laika poimata) at the religious festivities of Kataklysmos (2nd day of Pentecost) at the major port cities.(3) Poems consisted of distychs in fifteen syllables. There are also examples of anti-clerical songs dating from the 1700s.(4) By the late 19th century songs were used to commemorate bandits' exploits (Katsiaounis 1996). In both Cyprus and Malta printing had a radical effect on popular poetry. In 1879 the first printing press was brought to Cyprus. Soon poets were printing their own compositions, as well as singing others imported from Greece. The topics were those that affected the popular imagination: murders, epics, floods, etc (Yiangoullides 1982). Some were melodramas, satires or even nationalist themes such as the cessation of Thessaly to Greece. Others were more political dealing with taxation under the British, but were naturally less likely to be printed. Some were even anticommunist. Piithares clearly required literacy, even of a restricted type. They represented a transition from the old world of a largely oral society and the modern one of newspapers, literacy, and mass political activism, which came in with the post WWII period. They have all but disappeared in this form, but there were still a few going around Paphos villages when I did my early fieldwork in the late 1970s. In Malta and Cyprus this type of factual poetry/singing has largely survived through the radio and the cassette. Phone-in poetry is popular in Cyprus on the private radio stations in the early hours and fatt survives in Malta through the radio and the cassette.

In both Cyprus and Malta popular poetry in sung/recited form has also been associated with the Left and somewhat ambiguously with indigenous culture, a point I explore below. Tchiattista is seen as 'Cypriot' rather than 'Greek', and AKEL (Communist Party) MPs attend meetings as a means of demonstrating that Cypriot popular culture has a distinct character. An elderly left wing poet explained 'it is always problems (panta ine ta vasana) that these poems deal with. This is why the singers/poets are left wing (aristerii)'. Similarly, both forms of singing are traditionally looked down upon by the elites. Tchiattista is considered suitable for the aplos kosmos, the ordinary folk, but not for those with a secondary school education. In Malta left-wing political ballads are also common in fatt such as the L-istorja ta' Mintoff (The Mintoff Story). This epic song commemorates the achievements of the socialist party leader Dom Mintoff who dominated Maltese politics from the early 1950s till the mid 1980s and radically transformed the island.(5) Partly because of its populist ideology the Labour Party has been more well disposed towards ghana than the more centrist and pro-Church Nationalist Party.

The self-aggrandizing claim by singers that they are 'poets' in their bawdy, combative, quick-witted, often insulting botta u risposta, are often advanced half in self-mocking irony, and half as a self-assertive daring gesture against an official hegemonic (political) culture which grants them little official recognition. In the next section I examine how Maltese scholarship has approached għana, and why it has tended until very recently to have an ambiguous status.