Musician Ruben Zahra has dedicated much of his time towards reviving Maltese folk music. He was behind the formation of Etnika, later dropping out to pursue further studies and engagements in music composition, working both in Europe and America. Music correspondent Michael Bugeja meets him to find out more about his upcoming performances, his new book about Maltese folk music, and why every Maltese home should have a copy!

Growing up with a celebrated author and a poet for a father (Trevor Zahra) certainly left a deep impression on Ruben Zahra's love for the Maltese heritage and culture. His endeavours to promote and revive Maltese folklore have made his name synonymous with our island’s heritage, particularly the musical aspect of it. It is not undeserved either, as ever since he got the folk music itch during his childhood years, Ruben Zahra has been striving to breathe new life into a vital part of our culture that was perilously withering, even approaching extinction.

I recently met Ruben, who is an accomplished musician in his own right, in a Maltese band club (quite appropriately, I thought) in Birkirkara, where he has been regularly meeting with a group of musicians and dancers to rehearse his most recent venture, Icons. It is a contemporary performance built around a liberal interpretation in song and dance of Maltese heritage, represented by six prominent icons such as the ghonnella and the Maltese Cross. He explains the concept and the set-up of the event, the fitting choice of venue – it's being held at the old Opera House in Valletta – and also the logistics behind it and his hopes of taking the show abroad.

Involving Zahra's own band Nafra, dancers from Clarissa Borg's Creative Dance Studio, selected visual projections and a collective artistic interpretation, the performance will take place this Wednesday 16 August at 9pm and should prove to be an interesting and, more importantly, entertaining manifestation of Maltese tradition with a modern perspective. Aside from Icons, Ruben, along with his band Nafra, will also be performing on Sunday 20 August in the Seven Suns Seven Moons concert, which will also feature a brass band extravaganza and a 24-strong harmonica orchestra from Portugal.

And yet, possibly one of Ruben's foremost achievements to date has to be his recent publication, A Guide to Maltese Folk Music. Aside from the practical side of music, Ruben totally immersed himself in the intensely demanding task of researching, compiling and publishing Malta's first book of its kind about local folk music. Launched just a month ago, and sponsored by MIDI plc, the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, the book was edited by Steve Borg and published by PBS, whose archive proved a vital source of research for the author. He spent many nights going through reels of tape dating as far back as 1957, featuring performances by such folklore legends as Toni il-Hammarun, Anglu Zammit il-Hahaj and Mikiel Abela il-Bambinu, in the process of selecting which tracks to feature on the CD.

The idea of the publication was inspired by an attractive book-plus-CD package Ruben bought at a performance hall during his years in Hollywood. He has adapted the concept to portray a two-dimensional picture of Maltese folk music, highlighting a number of traditional instruments – among them iz-zaqq, iz-zummara and il-flejguta – as well as related traditions such as street cries, dances and nursery rhymes. To an extent, this might give it the air of a research tome, but the end result, rich in photographs and illustrations, simple in text and enhanced by the content on the accompanying CD is, in fact, quite appealing to the general public. It offers an insight into topics that are largely regarded as relics in this modern day and age. One of the main motivations behind the project was the abundance of publications about traditional music from other countries and cultures, but none about Maltese folk music, except maybe Edward Jones' work in 1807 and George Percy Badger's music notations in 1838. The fact that these were both written by foreigners underlines the importance of Ruben's endeavour. Finally, we have a Maltese publication about Maltese folk music, written by a Maltese author and musician.

Talking to Ruben about the book and its contents turns into an intrinsically inspiring conversation. Not only was it interesting to learn about the details that would normally require a particularly inquisitive taste for folklore, it was also stimulating to suddenly think back to those childhood memories of street hawkers, radio programmes of ghana and other traditions that have now practically vanished. In the process I realised just how much we took them for granted in the face of progress, without appreciating their true worth. This – among other reasons – makes Ruben's work all the more significant, his book all the more valuable and its appeal all the more imperative if our heritage is to survive for the centuries to come.

When he tells me that there are now at least five local musicians who can play the zaqq, I don't quite realise that this is a positive statistic, and it is only after he explains that just a couple of years ago, there was only one such musician that the real threat to our heritage sinks in. Fortunately, thanks to a minority of largely ageing (and some younger) enthusiasts, Maltese folk has been kept alive in the smaller, more close-knit localities. The advent of Etnika, of which Ruben was a founder/member, has also boosted the public profile of our folk music. It is this spirit of revival that convinced Ruben to write the book in English and not Maltese. He is not interested in seeing the book simply shelved as part of a collection, and he is confident that making the publication accessible to the Maltese public, visiting tourists as well as other cultures will help prolong the survival and appeal of our traditions, our music and ultimately, our heritage. I quite agree: if you only have one book about Maltese folklore at home, make sure it's this one.