The well-known horticulturist and television personality Peter Calamatta writes about how his long-standing dream has become reality thanks to the release of a CD called My Life in Song, all proceeds from which will go to a worthy cause: the Millennium Chapel in St Julian’s.

This is the story of a dream, a dream come true. My dream.  It is a story which shows that when a person dreams realistically, his or her dream will come true, sooner or (as in my case) later in life. We should not put a time frame on our dreams, just keep on dreaming and most probably, even after a lapse of many years, the dream will materialise. 

When I was young, in my early teens, my greatest dream was to become a singer. Needless to say this did not fall within the parameters that my parents had set for me and my brothers, in as far as our education was concerned, and my dream was shattered abruptly. But over the years my interest in song did not wane. I loved to listen to the great crooners like Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat King Cole and their Italian counterparts such as Domenico Mudugno, Adriano Celentano and Gianni Morandi. 

There were a few occasions when I grabbed a microphone and sang, at college parties, weddings and more recently onboard cruise ships.  However the real dream, that one day I would actually record a number of songs on a CD remained a very remote possibility.

Apart from believing in a dream we need a catalyst to make that dream come true. In my case that catalyst was a Maltese Australian, married to my cousin Maymay. His name is Stan Azzopardi. He has been in music scene down under all his life. A professional musician, he invested in a sophisticated recording studio in the basement of his home in Melbourne. Top stars recorded in his studios and his house overflowed with the sounds of the 50s, 60s and 70s which formed his musical foundation. 

Stan and Maymay visited Malta 3 ½ years ago after many decades away from their place of birth. Stan heard me sing in my car and with his  trained ears immediately realised that I had something inside me which was ready to burst out, a long-held wish maturing over many many years. Stan told me that we should record a CD and on his return to Australia started sending me backing tracks. I paid little attention because I was scared to take the first step. 

Time went by and Stan returned to Malta this year thinking that I had done my homework. When he found out that this was not the case he could not hide his disappointment. But Stan is not one known for giving up. He got me going in finding a recording studio. We were very lucky to have been introduced to Elton Zarb of Freetime Studios in Ta’Xbiex.  Elton is the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet but above all he is an expert sound engineer and in his inimitable calm way coaxed me towards recording my first song Blueberry Hill, a golden oldie by Fats Domino.

The minute I heard my voice married to the excellent backing tracks that Stan had sent me I knew that my dream was finally becoming a reality.  The rest, as they say is history. We recorded 18 tracks which practically followed the progress of my life story to this very day. Thus the CD became an autobiographical musical story.

I came up with the idea that we should produce two CDs, one with biographical anecdotes in between the songs the other with just the songs.  Stan orchestrated the recordings in a disciplined and professional way. I then passed on the ideas for visuals to Maria Degabrielle of Sense Design Studio who produced very effective and eye-catching designs for the CD booklet cover tray and the discs. Maria did an excellent job. 

At this point I decided to marry my dream to get another aspect, that of collecting funds for a special project that Fr Hillary Tagliaferro was proposing for the Millenium Chapel. The circle was closed and the CDs were born. My dream had come true. I had to wait almost six decades to savour the sweetness of this accomplishment. 

Public reaction was so favourable that suddenly people who knew me as Peter the plants and flower person stopped me in the streets to call me Peter the singer. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from this story, the main one being that of perseverance but also that of believing in friends and trusting in God.

‘My Life in Song’ contains 18 cover versions of classic hits such as ‘My Way’ and ‘What a Wonderful World’ and can be obtained for a nominal donation of €10 from the Millennium Chapel, Church Street, Paceville. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 2135 4464.