The National Folklore Commission in the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts has announced that the ninth National Folk Singing Festival will be held on Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May at the Argotti Gardens in Floriana. The performances start at 7pm.

Founded in May 1998, the first National Ghana Folk Singing Festival was a success with the participation of over 60 amateur and leading exponents. This year’s edition features a large number of Maltese folk singers and musicians, and the participation of Mediterranean folk groups from Ragusa, Spain, Libya and Tunisia.

This year’s festival has Maltese folk singing or ghana in its three sub-genres: l-ghana spirtu pront (extemporised singing), the most highly developed form revolving round values at the core of Maltese society though the words appears to focus on insignificant and banal facts; l-ghana tal-fatt (ballad singing), and l-ghana la Bormliza or l-ghana fil-gholi (singing in high register) sung by two singers (though it can also be sung solo).

This is made up of one standard line usually repeated by each singer and followed by two improvised lines (kadenza). There is also another genre of oral poetry, handed-down songs, popularly called l-ghana tal-banju (lit. “folk singing at the wash fountain”) the singing of which is still a living tradition though with different semiotic implications and displaced performances, invariably sung or recited in quatrains (ghanjiet).

Various innovative features introduced in past editions will retained this year: a monitor where translations in Maltese and English are made for the local and foreign members of the audience, as well as Maltese traditional and typical food on order. A live crafts exhibition by Maltese artisans with the collaboration of the Malta Crafts Council will also be put up.

The festival will be screened live on www.di-ve.com.

Admission tickets will be available from 15 May from The Malta Council for Culture and the Arts at 230 Republic Street, Valletta, Tel: 2124 5168 (opening hours from 8am to 4pm), or from the Booking Office at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta Tel: 21 223 291 or at the door prior to the performance. The price is Lm1 for each evening.