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 The
recent passing away of Żaren Mifsud "Ta' Vestru" is
a sad loss to all għana enthusiasts. Żaren
was an esteemed and respected folksinger, who
especially excelled in għana spirtu pront
(extemporised quatrains) in a career that spanned
some 65 years. He was convinced that he had been
created for the purpose of singing traditional
Maltese song, and this he did at every available
opportunity.
Anyone listening to him could not help admiring the
ease with which he improvised and responded
unhesitatingly with infallible rhyme. Above all, he
had over the years developed an immediately
recognisable expressive style which was entirely his
own.
Though Żaren was totally illiterate, he constructed
quatrains with an abcb rhyme or assonance with a
facility that was second nature to him. For emphasis
or effect, he often repeated words in his second
verse, thus lengthening the otherwise octo or nono-syllabic
verse.
Within the basic framework of traditional Maltese
melodies, he had a notable freedom of rhythm,
emphasised by his particularly stretched vowels.
Accompanying guitarists invariably had to drop their
brisk pace and recede into the background to
accommodate him. His accentuation was also typified
by a frequent displacement which, in his għana,
fell very naturally and paradoxically seemed totally
unstrained.
Żaren hailed from Żejtun, an area which has, over
the years, produced some of Malta's best known
traditional singers. It has often been referred to
as il-bejta tal-għannejja (the hatching
ground of għana). To this day it is still a
fertile breeding ground, with għana taking
place on a regular basis in the political clubs and
bars. Enthusiasts in fact tend to conglomerate there
from all over the island.
Żaren himself has described għana as ilma
ġieri (a running stream), constantly flowing,
with the young learning by listening to the old, in
true traditional oral style. Though he usually
insisted he was not taught by anyone, there is no
doubt that the established għannejja of his
youth influenced him in his formative years.
Fredu Abela, a fellow għannej also hailing
from Żejtun, had the following words to say of Żaren:
Jiena lilek inħobb nisimgħek
Ta' l-għana għandek il-qies u l-kejl.
(Serata ta' Ghana, Balluta, 10.9.96)
Loosely translated, this is: I love to listen to
your għana because it has the right weight
and measure. These are qualities of prime importance
in the making of a respected għannej. The
yardstick by which a good quality exponent is
measured has its own complex rules which one must
not be tempted to equate with those of art, music
and poetry.
By this particular għannej, Żaren was considered to
have the right balance or measure of words and
syllables which fell naturally within the improvised
Maltese quatrains. The true value of this quality
can only be appreciated when compared to the
strained quatrains of a folk singer just starting
out.
Żaren was generally treated with great respect by
most fellow għannejja. Nevertheless, some
established ones from other villages relished
engaging in merciless verbal duel with him.
Żaren was not one to pass a challenge of the sort
offered by Fredu Abela "Il-Bamboċċu" from
Haż-Żabbar or Ċikku Degorgio "Tal-Fjuri" from
Qormi. He in fact prided himself on being the best
of fighters. During his għana spirtu pront
Żaren would never lose his calm, though the
exchanges would get rather heated.
Ghana is an integral part of life, a natural
expression of all its emotions, troubles and joys -
a true għannej is totally immersed in his
art, body and soul. He will, in quiet moments, be
constantly thinking up rhymes. At the opportune
moment he will then carry out a conversation in sung
rhyme, drawing from this accumulated pool of
possibilities.
He will use words with amazing dexterity, employing
metaphorical language and proverbial dictum with
utmost ease.
The 'conversation' carried out may be on any topic
that suggests itself on the spur of the moment. If
the għannejja are that way inclined, it may
also take the shape of a heated argument, but this
is not always necessarily the case.
Żeppi Meli "Ta' Sika" uses very revealing
words when he says to Żaren: "L-għana flok
il-ħobż nikluħ" (Radio Malta, 10.11.96), meaning
that għana is the bread of life, the very
sustenance of existence. To Żaren it was the bread
of life from the time he first embarked on his long
career at the age of 10, through to the last days of
his life. In his quatrains he frequently conveyed
the inescapable, compulsive love of għana
which one is born with and then nurtured with. His
often repeated words, and indeed those of many an
għannej before him, were:
ll-karriera tal-għana tiegħi
mill-benniena sat-tebut
His career certainly did last all the way from the
cradle to the grave. In the interim, however, many a
young potential għannej looked at him,
followed him from bar to bar, listened attentively
to his many recordings and eventually attempted his
own quatrains.
Żaren has therefore sown the seed for the
għannejja of the next generation in true
traditional style. Among these is his own son Frans,
who continues in his father's footsteps.
To all għannejja, not only is every life-long
day immersed in għana, but no other more
pleasing thought can be envisaged than an afterlife
spent in yet more għana together with the
għannejja who have left this life before them.
The most cherished enjoyments of this earth are
therefore expected to be perpetuated in the next.
Singers will often talk of waiting for one another
in the next world. If this be so, then together with
a long line of exceptional Żejtun għannejja
such as Pawlu Seychell "l-Għannej", Pawlu
Degabriele "l-Bies", Żeppi Abela "l-Fenka",
Mikiel Abela "l-Bambinu" and so many others,
Żaren must now be blissfully indulging in what is
doubtless formidable Maltese għana.
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