Pipe major Edmond Jackson became hooked on the haunting sound of the bagpipes as a teenager. He now plays the rare local version of the instrument, which he constructs himself, in a Maltese traditional musical ensemble. Edwina Gouder found out more.
Like so many other things in life, it all came down to a pretty girl. Richard Jackson, an Irishman stationed in Malta with the Royal Irish Fusiliers during Malta’s years as a British outpost, fell in love with Carmen and our beautiful island, and set up home here. His other passion, though, was playing the Scottish bagpipes, and so Richard became Malta’s first bagpipe teacher and pipe maker. He tried to convince his son to take up the pipes too, but Edmond was never really interested. Not until his father pointed out that if he learnt to play he could teach the Girl Scouts, that is. Then Edmond vowed to practice for four hours a day, much to his mother’s dismay.
Richard never learnt to play the Maltese bagpipe equivalent, known as the zaqq, though. He had told Edmond that he used to know a man who played it but had forgotten his name or where he lived. So Edmond, now a bagpipe fan, made it his mission to find this man, whoever he was, and ask him to teach him to play the instrument.
It didn’t seem like such an impossible mission at first. In Malta everyone is related to everyone else by far less than six degrees of separation after all. But it still took him 25 years to find the last zaqq player in Malta, Toni ‘il-Hammarun’ Cachia.
“By that time”, Edmond told me, “Toni was an old man of 80 and could no longer play the instrument himself, and so he was more than happy to teach me. He also gave me a saqqafa (chanter), the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody, which he had created himself from metal scavenged from a crashed British aircraft during the war. Toni sadly passed away in 2004, but his son Guzi Cachia gave me the zaqq that Toni himself played ever since he was 16 years old. I restored the instrument and, though it is too fragile to be played in public, it is now my most prized possession. And that is the story of how I came to play the zaqq.”
HOW IT’S MADE
The saqqafa Edmond talks of is made of two cane pipes, one with five holes and another with one. A large qarn (bull horn) is then attached to the end of the saqqafa. The Maltese word zaqq literally means ‘belly’, and the instrument’s name refers to the fact that the bag was traditionally made of a complete animal skin, including all four legs and the tail. Edmond explains that skins of cats and dogs were traditionally used. I was horrified to learn that nowadays Edmond and his son Anderson make the instruments using the skins of goat or calves, however they assure me that the animals used are killed primarily for their meat.
It takes them up to four months to make one zaqq, he said, and that is assuming they manage to come by the materials required, which is a challenge in itself. Sheepskin would be relatively easy to get hold of, but Edmond explained that it ss too oily and tends to stain and smell. The best skin to use is apparently that of a calf, born prematurely at about seven months, as sad as that is. Of course, no one would consider killing a cow just to get to her unborn baby’s skin, so the only way for Edmond to come by a calf skin suitable for making a zaqq is if a cow happens to die when she is about seven months pregnant. “Even then”, he went on, “acquiring the qarn is next to impossible as common practice in Malta is for all bull horns to be incinerated, as a means of preventing mad cow disease. I could of course import the horn, but I’m very particular about using only Maltese products.”
Despite being the only pipe maker on the island, Edmond admits that he tends to get rather attached to his handmade instruments and has never managed to bring himself to sell a zaqq he has made. This means that unless you happen to have a family heirloom zaqq, the chances are you won’t manage to get your hands on one. I can’t help but point out that this means that there is little or no hope for prospective students of traditional Maltese musical instruments and folk music. Edmond doesn’t beat around the bush. “I can’t mass produce the zaqq”, he says, “but I’ve been considering making the instrument’s bag using synthetic leather, just as Scottish bagpipes have evolved from animal skins to alternative materials such as Gore-Tex, which is a waterproof breathable fabric. However, in the meantime, I am also looking forward to one day soon forming part of the Directorate for Lifelong Learning, teaching the Zummara (mirliton), Flejguta (whistle flute), Zavzava (friction drum) and Tanbur (tambourine).”
STALLED CD LAUNCH
Edmond is proud to have established Malta’s first folk group, “Jackson’s Zaqq u Tanbur Folk Group”, along with his wife, his children and friends. Over the past year and a half they have worked hard on their first album but, after having spent thousands of Euros on professional recording and producing, the group lacks the funds to launch the CD. “Sponsors are few and far between,” Edmond lamented. “We’re not looking for much, perhaps a hotel who would be willing to let us use a conference room for a press conference, and maybe provide refreshments for the journalists, that’s all. The problem, as always, is that we’re ‘just’ a Maltese folk group.”
I ask Edmond about his hopes and dreams when it comes to his passion for Maltese folk music. “It pains me to see that, in general, the Maltese do not appreciate their country’s traditional music. Ever since our group was established in the late 1990s, we have worked hard to try and raise awareness about Malta’s traditional instruments, and show the public that our music, though not what you might hear on MTV or most radio stations, can really be extremely enjoyable. There has been a slight shift, and our group is now being invited to play at cultural events organised by the local councils. We also perform at weddings and other private events, but the most overwhelmingly positive feedback we receive is still from foreigners leaving the island after a holiday, especially Maltese Australians and Canadians, who see us play at Malta’s International Airport’s departures lounge three times a week.”
You can’t miss them; they’ll be the ones wearing the traditional clothes, complete with Edmond’s mum wearing an authentic ghonnella (Maltese traditional costume). Do approach them: Edmond would be more than happy to show you his musical instruments and play a tune or four.
If you are interested in knowing more about traditional Maltese instruments, you can also find them on www.jacksonspipeband.com