Scrapbook

The following are some newspaper articles that were printed about this website when the first few pages were placed on the Internet and had started web-casting the first għana programmes. One has to bare in mind when reading these articles that at the time they were written there where very few Maltese website available, and most important, this was the first and only Maltese website broadcasting Maltese programmes over the Internet.

Għannejja sing in cyberspace

by Ranier Fsadni
"The Sunday Times" a Maltese Sunday newspaper, 6 September 1998

YOU ARE SURFING the Internet when you come across il-Bamboċċu having a laugh with il-Baħri. And Lorry ta' Ġanna singing with Leli l-Fenka. Charles iż-Żorro, Fredu l-Indjan... fond photos, informative articles, promotion of events and għana merchandise... The world's first Maltese għana (folksinging) website has been designed by John J. Cassar, alias l-Iskoċċiż in Malta, The Maltese Falcon in Glasgow.

Born in Malta, he has resided in Glasgow for the past 37 years. A freelance programmer, he is brother-in-law to one of Malta's leading għannejja, Fredu Abela z-Żejtuni. He founded the website on January 7 this year.

Some 700 people visited this regularly updated website in its first month alone. They came from Australia (mostly), the US, UK, Canada, Malta. Since then, there have been a few also from France, Sweden. South Africa, Finland, Italy and Japan. The Guest Book is full of grateful comments and autobiographical notes.

In one sense, the bare facts about the website speak for themselves. An emigrant keenly aware of his Maltese identity, uses his skills to promote one of his favourite folk arts; hundreds of other aficionados, many of them emigrants too, give their enthusiastic support. Yet what might initially seem to be 'only' a valuable information service, has the potential to shape the very singing of għana.

For a start, the nature of communication on the Internet could simplify he tricky social relations in which għana is enmeshed, at least in Malta.

Tricky? Certainly. The point is often made, with some justice, that the middle classes condescend to għana and exclude it from the domain of 'proper' culture. But exclusion travels in the other direction too.

It is not easy for middle-class aficionados even to learn when particular sessions, featuring this or that singer, are to be held. The exclusion is not malicious but it is there. Singing sessions are often held in boċċi or Labour Party clubs, or in bars found in the winding streets of close-knit neighbourhoods with many eyes - all places which (if you'll allow the generalisation) are not associated with the middle classes.

These places always turn out to be welcoming; but often, for the middle-class person, to venture into them is also to cross social boundaries. Strictly speaking, the boundaries are unrelated to għana as a musical form. However, they still must be negotiated.

True, to some people being stranger has its pleasures. But for those who want to be regulars, a lot of effort has to he invested in social learning - not to say also in unlearning, of received stereotypes. One needs to insert oneself into an unfamiliar network: of information, etiquette, reciprocity, consumption. Then one can keep abreast with għana news, and fully appreciate the content of the songs, whose meanings are often allusive and crafty.

Nor is social learning something only for 'guests' (as middle-class newcomers are often treated). 'Hosts' too might find their assumptions challenged. I vividly remember my first foray into the għana circuit. It was 1989, when it was still unusual for a member of he Maltese middle class even to accord għana any value.

At this particular bar I visited, there was welcoming warmth and humour. Yet I was a puzzle to some of the regulars. Their imagination concocted a story to explain my presence.

I, this youthful, fair-complexioned stranger, was said to be the son of emigrants. I had returned from England to discover my roots. A mother and father, from Cottonera, were found for me.

I knew, when I disavowed this story, that, for some, the implication would be 'clear'. If I was a Maltese from Malta, then my clothing, my demeanour, my very appearance, showed me to be from 'Sliema' (another fantasy) and, very probably, Nationalist - in, as it happened, a predominantly pro-Labour setting. It was all unspoken; yet tangibly, oppressively, the spectres of politics and social class had, without anyone inviting them, appeared here too.

None of this meant that I was no longer welcome. Quite the reverse. Every effort was put into making me feel among friends. The first session I recorded, indeed, was taken up with this concern: "Here we are, Ranier-our-friend with us, united in our love of għana."

I am still proud of that cassette, but the division between generous hosts and welcome guests is still a division, and I was glad when the special attention subsided. I could then get on with being one among others.

What does all this have to do with an għana website? Quite a lot. Lack of full personal contact is a feature of the Internet often cited as a defect; but it is here a virtue. Being decontextualised, divorced from social complications, it frees aficionados to speak only of what unites them, their love of għana. The sideline complexities, patterned after the wider social divisions, can be dealt with later, when a relationship has already been established.

What kind of relationship should we expect that to be? I would hope of the kind that amiable football fans enjoy, when they meet and share all those passionate judgements stored, so to speak, at the bottom of their hearts.

The għana website is still too new for good manners to permit anything other than comments that call for universal approval. But when we read Manuel Casha (Australia) fondly describing the Żejtun monument to Il-Bambinu, in loving detail, we know we could be on the way to a golden age of għana debate: about heroes of the past, inspiring geniuses, crafty and sneaky singers, great venues, regrettable incidents, historic sessions, memorable ripostes, ignorant supporters, exquisite guitarists.

Ghana has for a long time been assimilating new technology comfortably. Each time, new technology entailed changes in audiences, in relations between singers, and in the form of għana itself. We can reasonably expect the use of the Internet by aficionados to grow. No doubt, unintended consequences will follow. At this stage, however, we can predict three kinds of changes.

First, already we can see international information circuit being formed on the Internet. So far, news has been trickling in slowly, but the conditions are there to enable free exchange. Moreover, it would be exchanged disembodied from other social contexts, and that can easily be merged with other information networks. There are, I believe, already plans to connect John Cassar's site with a future one managed from Australia by Manuel Casha.

Such a development does not only enable audiences at għana sessions to grow. It also makes them more sophisticated. They can keep tabs on singers' fortunes when these tour abroad, and quickly get to know the details of song duels. Singers often allude in coded ways to previous encounters with each other; a generally more sophisticated audience will be able to follow them better - a particular bonus for the audience members who cannot otherwise keep abreast with news.

Second, a sharper audience is likely to raise the standard of the singing. Moreover, if the website leads to more middle-class people attending regularly, the composition of the stock audience will have changed in an important way. Singers will be evaluated according to more or less different criteria. New reputations may be made, old ones corroded.

Those singers who have access to their audience's tastes, including through the website, will have a competitive advantage. Again, nothing very new as such; for many years now, singers with greater access to various kinds of knowledge (history, folklore, literature, current affairs), and with the cunning to deploy this knowledge in ways that please the audience, have enjoyed a great advantage over rivals. Il-Budaj is the best-known example, but there are others.

Third, the Internet might well generate its own kind of għana. Currently, there are cyber-novels being written collectively. Musicians, famous and obscure, from all over the world join in jamming sessions. There is room for cyber-għana!

Whatever that might turn out to be, it could let in a class of people that has for long been left out of the best għana: women. The post-WWII social changes shifted the best face-to-face għana from the whole village context to the male-dominated winebar, and contributed to the eventual exclusion (or, perhaps, withdrawal) of women, allowing for exceptions. The Internet, however, by simplifying gender relations, would permit men and women to sing together in a new way.

The flourishing of għana depends on much more than the novel incorporation of information technology. But the Internet might relax some of the current social control of għana information. And from there follow opportunities.

For those people who cannot immerse themselves in the social life surrounding għana, the website, with its promotions, enables economies of effort. By merging various information networks, it enables economies of scale.

By enabling people to come together in a new way, it fosters an environment favourable to innovation. In the future, we might well look back at John Cassar's design of his website as we now look upon Guze Cassar Pillicino's watershed għana festival of 1953.

A virtual treat

by Ranier Fsadni

The Homepage of Maltese Ghana is a growing għana market-place. Visitors flock to it. To judge by their comments, some are curious, others keen-eyed, or wistful. There are people hawking cassette-recordings featuring renowned singers. There are singers right here; or rather, għana ready to be downloaded. There are tourist-guides to explain the basis. And there are fiery street-preachers.

What does that make me? The website features two of my writings. I prefer to think of myself as a strolling theologian, thank you, nibbling a maqrut, sunning myself amid the stalls, taking notes, blinking happily at it all.

Some of the introductory information is in Maltese. There are articles for the confirmed enthusiasts, and occasionally there have been notices of upcoming events.

The heftiest għana-mongers are John Cassar who designed the website, and Manuel Casha who contributes his articles and għana knowledge to the site. Between them, they define the various genres, and give a thumbnail sketch of the cultural and historical context, as well as a sense of the contemporary scene.

Some of the basic information can be interesting even for the more knowledgeable reader. For example, Cassar has compiled (incomplete) tables of għannejja and guitarists, including details of place and year of birth, and year of onset of career. How interesting it is to note Nineties crop of young singers; up to the late 1980s, only one prominent singer was under 40. And a commonly held notion is shown to be false; it is not true that, typically, men begin their career when very young. That is only one pattern among others.

Casha's articles were originally presented elsewhere, in Australia and Malta. He contributes to the website's homely photo album. And he generously directs readers to the writings of others.

I am not sure about some of his interpretations of għana's history; for example, that many Maltese dislike għana because it represents for them a barbaric past from which they would like to dissociate themselves. For that matter, I have reservations about my own, longer piece - it was written years ago, and my thinking has developed.

But then this website was not designed to be a scholars' forum. It is a place where ideas are tossed around by aficionados.

Its success must be judged by how well it whets the appetite and sharpens the senses. It would be a partial failure if it did not spur some newcomers to attend actual performances. The enticing għana here might give you goose-pimples, but it is still no substitute for the drama of performance, and the magical quality of the live voice.

Worldwide appeal for Maltese Għana

It is now being exported with the help of the Internet

by Martin Debattista
"The People on Sunday" a Maltese Sunday newspaper, 12 July 1998

Malta għana, the traditional Maltese folk singing, is going through a sort of renaissance. Several clubs around the Island hold għana evenings regularly. However, for John J. Cassar, a Maltese emigrant living in Scotland, this was not enough for him. "I was annoyed I could not find anything about għana on the Internet", he told us, "instead I got references to Ghana, the African country'. Therefore, in a matter of a few days he designed a homepage dedicated entirely to għana, and made this beautiful Maltese tradition enjoyable to millions of people around the world.

For a once bus-driver turned computer programmer by chance and for fun, this homepage is one of the best Maltese homepages on the Internet. Now retired from work, John J. Cassar has great plans for his brainchild which is gaining popularity around the world. He gets most of his regular visits from Australia, Canada, the U.S.A. and Malta, but he was amazed to hear from an American that he listened to għana on a CD by Frans Baldacchino 'il-Budaj', one of Malta's finest għannejja, while he was in Mexico! The homepage helped this American chap to understand and fully appreciate what għana really is.

The għana homepage is not just a few words about its history but rather a complete reference collection about this Maltese tradition, together with news, features, and naturally some good audio clips. "I get information from Australia far 'quicker than from Malta. I wish I would find someone interested in feeding me from Malta through Internet and keep me up-to-date with reliable information. The problem is that għana is practised and enjoyed most by people who do not have much access to computers and the Internet", lamented John.

For the near future, he has plans to put on his homepage entire għana programs from Malta and Australia on a weekly basis.
John feels confident about għana's future because today it is even being, studied by researchers in folklore and has regained its status that had been lost in the past few decades. And his homepage is surely giving more than a helping hand in the conservation and appreciation of one of Malta's unique traditions.

L-għana Malti jitgawda
mill-bqija tad-dinja

minn Martin Debattista
"Kullħadd" a Maltese Sunday newspaper, May 3, 1998

WIEĦED mill-karatteristiċi ewlenin tal-Maltin li bih jintgħarfu minn ġnus oħra huwa l-għana tipiku Malti. Xi għanja tal-fatt b'xi storja li tnissillek xi demgħa, jew għana ta' ferħ b'taqbil ta' inkejja bejn xi żewġ għannejja minn dejjem kienu popolari.

Bħal kull tradizzjoni oħra, dejjem hemm il-periklu li din tmur maż-żmien u tintesa. Fortunatament mhux hekk il-każ ta' I-għana f'pajjiżna, li anke grazzi għall-istazzjonijiet tar-radju u t-tv għadu ħaj ħafna f'pajjiżna.

Imma t-teknoloġija moderna qed tagħmilha possibbli li l-għana Malti jkun magħruf ukoll mal-barranin u jkunu jistgħu japprezzawh wkoll. Fuq l-internet hemm paġna dedikata kollha kemm hi għall-għana Malti.

Konna nistennew li inizjattiva bħal din, li ta' min iffaħħarha, toħroġ direttament minn Malta. Imma kellu jkun emigrant Malti, John J. Cassar ilu jgħix fi Glasgow għal dawn I-aħħar 37 sena, biex joħroġ bl-idea.

Il-paġna hija ppreżentata b'mod professjonali ħafna n fiha mhux biss informazzjoni imma anke siltiet ta' għana li tista' tniżżilhom fuq i]-kompjuter tiegħek u tismagħhom. L-għana hija ta' kwalità tajba.

It-tagħrif dwar I-għana jinkludi x'inhi I-għana Maltija, tipi differenti tagħha u kif titkanta.
 

L-għanja tal-Maltin

minn Martin Debattista
"L-Orizzont" a Maltese Daily newspaper, April 11, 1998

Fl-edizzjoni li għaddiet ta' din il-paġna bdejna nagħtu ħarsa lejn il-mużika fuq l-Internet, u kif nistgħu nibdew ingawduha fid-diversi forom tagħha ta' siltiet mużikali, kunċerti diretti u anke stazzjonijiet tar-radju li jew ixandru fuq l-Internet biss jew dak li jxandru fuq ir-radju normali jitfgħuh fuq l-Internet ukoll. U Malta? Biċ-ċokon tagħna kollu hemm ukoll materjal audio bil-Malti jew li għandu x'jaqsam ma' Malta. Trid tisma' ftit għana Maltija? Hemm ukoll!!

Mużika Maltija

Fuq l-Internet ma jonqsux paġni relatati mal-mużika Maltija, fost l-oħrajn dwar gruppi Maltin u kif ukoll paġni minn Maltin dwar mużika barranija. Faċli ħafna li tagħmel paġna mimlija informazzjoni dwar xi grupp partikolari, imma mhux daqshekk faċli li toffri wkoll siltiet mużikali.

Fost il-gruppi Maltin li joffri siltiet mużikali tagħhom rekordjati hemm l-X-Tend li poġġew fuq il-paġna tagħhom siltiet mill-album tagħhom Powelpl@y, kif ukoll id-Dreamscape.

Imma l-lista ta' gruppi, bands u kantanti Maltin b'paġni fuq l-Internet tkompli u tinkludi ismijiet oħra bħal The Characters, Debbie Scerri, l-Greenfields u xi baned Maltin tal-festi fost l-oħrajn.

Hemm ukoll paġni oħra li huma dedikati għall-mużika u joffru ħafna informazzjoni dwar ix-xena mużikali lokali. Lista ta' dawn is-siti kollha bl-indirizzi tagħhom tinsab fis-Searchmalta.com fl-indirizz li qed nagħtu f'din il-paġna.

Issa li ftit ġimgħat oħra jkollna l-Eurovision Song Contest fl-Ingilterra, u Malta se tieħu sehem permezz tal-kantanta Chiara, ma setax jonqos li anke fuq l-Internet ikun hemm xi ħaġa dwarha. Victor G. Axiak ħaseb biex jagħmel paġna dwar din il-kantanta Maltija u l-parteċipazzjoni tagħha fil-Eurovision, li tinkludi wkoll sound file tal-kanzunetta 'The One that I love' li se tkanta Chiara.

Avvenimenti oħra mużikali ewlenin f'pajjiżna bħall-Għanja tal-Poplu u l-Malta Music Awards ukoll għandhom il-paġni tagħhom fuq l-Internet.

Għana Malti

Però l-iktar paġna li laqtitna u li fil-fehma tagħha ħaqqa kull tifħir hija dik dwar l-għana Maltija. Din ħejjiet minn J.J.Cassar, Malti li għal dawn l-aħħar 37 sena għex Glasgow, l-Iskozja (kif staporta f'dak il-bard???).

Il-paġna hija preżentata tajjeb ħafna u b'mod professjonali u tinkludi informazzjoni siewja dwar l-istorja ta' l-għana, tipi differenti, kif titkanta, u fuq kollox siltiet ta' l-għana ta' kwalità għolja MPG3 li jistgħu jiġu downloaded u jinstemgħu permezz ta' programm apposta.

Żgur li din il-paġna se tagħti sehem importanti ħafna biex din it-tradizzjoni Maltija tibqa' hajja u titgawda mhux biss minnha l-Maltin ta' Malta imma wkoll minn madwar id-dinja.

Radjijiet Maltin

Sal-lum m'hawn l-ebda stazzjon tar-radju Malti li jxandar dirett fuq l-Internet l-istess kif ixandar fuq l-FM. Però l-paġni dwar dawn l-istazzjonijiet u anke xi servizzi audio tagħhom ma jonqsux.

Ewlieni fost l-istazzjonijiet li l-iktar jużaw il-potenzjal ta' l-Internet huma s-Super Radio u Television li kienu minn ta' l-ewwel li marru fuq l-Internet. Il-programm Radju Internet kien l-ewwel programm f'Malta li recording tiegħu kien jinstab fuq l-Internet u seta' jinstema' minn madwar id-dinja. L-iktar servizz riċenti ta' Radju Super One huwa recording ta' l-aħbarijiet ta' l-istazzjoni li jitpoġġa kuljum fl-istess paġna ta' l-istazzjoni fuq l-Internet biex jinstema' minn madwar id-dinja. Dan is-servizz diġà kiseb popolarita' kemm Malta u kemm barra minn Malta.

Programmi oħrajn ta' dan l-istazzjon bħal Profili Misterjużi, li kien jittratta fenomeni u ġrajjiet li ma nistgħux nispjegawhom sew bhall-Piramidi, l-Iħirsa u l-UFO's, kellhom ukoll il-paġna tagħhom li kien ikun fiha siltiet audio relatati mal-programm.

Servizz interessanti u li anke rebaħ rikonoxximent internazzjonali huwa x-xandir fuq l-Internet tas-servizz reliġjuż 'Tiġi Saltanek' minn fuq il-paġna tal-programm stess. Dan is-servizz tant ġie apprezzat li qed jitniżżel mal-paġni ewlenin reliġjużi fuq l-Internet.

Imbagħad għal min irid jitbissem ftit u jinduna kemm jingħadu ċuċati fuq ir-radjijiet Maltin, jista' jmur sal-BlobMT's Blob u jisma' ftit ċuċati mhux ħażin.

Fost l-istazzjonijiet tar-radju li għandhom paġna tagħhom fuq l-Internet hemm Bay Radio, Radio Calypso, Radju Malta 1 u 2, ir-Radju ta' l-Università, u Voice of the Mediterranean.

Isma' t-TV

Għalkemm għadu diffiċli x-xandir dirett ta' video fuq l-Internet għax it-teknoloġija għadha mhix avvanzata biżżejjed, l-Internet xorta jista' jintuża biex programm tat-TV jitwassal madwar id-dinja, anke jekk bl-audio tiegħu biss.

Hekk gara bil-programm Xarabank li waqt li kien jixxandar dirett fuq TVM, l-audio tiegħu kien jixxandar dirett dak il-ħin fuq l-Internet.

Il-futur

Nixtiequ ħafna kieku jkun hemm iktar materjal bil-Malti li jista' jinstema' minn fuq l-Internet. Huwa fatt li l-ispazju biex tpoġġi l-paġni fuq l-Internet f'Malta huwa għoli meta mqabbel ma' barra, u ftit minuti paroli jew mużika jieħdu ħafna spazju. Jista' jkun ukoll li ħafna għadhom ma rrealiżżawx il-potenzjal ta' l-Internet f'dan il-qasam.

Però l-problema mhix lokali biss imma waħda dinjija. Biex tibgħat files tal-mużika fuq l-Internet jieħu ħafna żmien u spazju, u bil-kwalità mhix eċċellenti ta' konnessjonijiet li jkollna (speċjalment minn Malta fil-għaxijiet), jagħmel kollox iktar diffiċli.
Jekk tiġi żviluppata iktar it-teknoloġija biex siltiet mużikali jieħdu inqas spazju u jaslu iktar malajr, inkunu nistgħu ngawdu dan is-servizz aħjar.

Imma fuq kollox l-ikbar possibbiltà tal-mużika diretta fuq l-Internet hija li l-għażla ma tibqax iktar f'idejn biċċa DJ imma f'idejk. Inti tagħżel xi trid tisma' minn mijiet ta' eluf ta' diski li ħarġu matul iż-żmenijiet.

Meta tara li kantanti kbar bħal George Michael qegħdin jaħsbu biex iniedu diski ġodda tagħhom mhux fuq l-Internet ukoll biex mijiet ta' eluf ta' nies madwar id-dinja jagħmlu download tagħha u jisimgħu fi żmien ftit jiem, allura żgur li hemm futur għall-mużika fuq l-Internet.