A Maltese team of kittaristi (guitarists)
and Ghannej (singer) from Sydney and Melbourne will represent
Maltese Ghana & Prejjem Music for the first
time at Exhibition Park in Canberra, at the National Folk Festival
2002.
The Festival, which opens on the 28th March, and ends on 1st
April 2002, is one of the most prestigious in the world, where
many overseas artistes assemble to perform and watch other performers
from all parts of the globe.
The Maltese team will be making appearances and displaying samples of Ghana genres as well as take part in workshops. This is a great occasion for Maltese Traditional Music, which will be presented to an international audience for the first time since Maltese Migrants brought this Mediterranean musical form to this continent in the early fifties.
The Maltese team is made up of four musicians, Joe Galea (vocals), Ray Attard (Lead guitarist) and brothers France and Tony Camilleri accompanying.
The debut of Maltese Ghana music at
the National Folk Festival 2002 is a result of much hard work
and organisation behind the scenes by Kevin Bradley who has recorded
many sessions of Maltese Ghana over the last decade. Apart from
being a very competent musician himself, Kevin is also the Head
of Sound Archiving at the Australian National Library of Canberra.
His deep knowledge of the topic should be of great help in the
Music workshop.
Joe Galea: Ghannej Singer:
Joe is a popular singer from Sydney who will
sing various types of Ghana such as Tas-Suggett, Spirtu
Pront and Tal-Fatt and more.
He has recorded many Maltese albums and CD's and is very much
in demand in the Maltese popular music scene in Australia. His
love for Maltese Folklore singing has always been a great passion
and has sung with some legends of Ghana. He has sung in
some very big events and milestones representing the Maltese
community.
Joe Galea has just come back from very successful appearances
in Melbourne. His experience spans over forty years in a career,
which started at childhood.
Ray is a very talented Prejjem player
and is very sought after in the Sydney and Melbourne Ghana
scene.
Ray's music is played on various Maltese programmes in Australia
especially in Sydney where he lives.
He mastered his art with guidance from the legendary Maltese
guru of the Prejjem guitar, Indri Brincat "Il-Pupa".
Indri, who is an octogenarian, considers Ray to be among the
most promising players he has ever heard in his long career.
Attard's expression, attack and playing style is pure and traditional
but still unique enough to have his own signature.
France Camilleri: Kitarrist guitar accompanist.
France, who is the son of a legendary Maltese
guitarist Neriku "Sponos", is one of the finest accompanists
of Prejjem in Australia. He specialises in playing the
Doh guitar, but is equally at home in any other key.
He started his career as a very young man and is very much in
demand in the Ghana sessions, which are presented at the Ghana
clubs in Melbourne. For a long time, along with his brother Tony,
France formed a formidable team with Lippu Gauci, a master player
who has now retired from the Maltese Ghana scene.
Tony Camilleri: Kitarrist Guitar accompanist.
Tony is the brother of France who also inherited his father Neriku's talent. He is a regular player at the Maltese Ghana Singing clubs and is highly sought after. Tony started playing as a result of his brother's influence but has backed all the great virtuosi both in Malta and in Australia.
We wish the Maltese team the best of luck and we are lucky to have players of their calibre representing Maltese Traditional Music of Ghana (aanah) and Prejjem (Prayyem)
