A celebration of Maltese art, music and culture took place at the Prince Taz Palace in Cairo as part of the celebrations in connection with the 60th Anniversary of Malta’s independence. The event was attended by a varied audience that included members of the diplomatic corps, a number of Maltese resident or working in Egypt, as well as several creative professionals, including Egyptian actress Yousra, Mr. Alan Bishop, founder of the band Sun City Girls and the Sublime Frequencies label, and Mr. Sherief Elkatsha, director of the award-winning documentary Cairo Drive (2014).
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Pace explained how the idea for this project came about after a conversation he had with a Maltese artist on how best to articulate Maltese identity. The artist suggested focusing less on what defines us and instead embrace the diversity of Maltese culture that is the result of the many peoples that came and went and left their mark on the Maltese. This reply prompted Ambassador Pace to organise an evening where Maltese culture would be presented through three different, yet converging, audio-visual approaches.
The first, consisted of an exhibition featuring 22 photographs by Maltese amateur photographer Guido Stilon. This exhibition was curated by Magna Żmien, a grassroots project dedicated to preserving and digitising Maltese analogue memories with a particular focus on the 20th century. The selection showcased a series of images that were scanned and digitally restored by Magna Żmien archivists, and forms part of their archive that became popular during Valletta’s tenure as the European Capital of Culture in 2018.
The second, entailed the screening of a short film directed by Maltese anthropologist Adrian Camilleri that includes content from the same archive. Bejn is-Sema u l-Art, which was originally commissioned by the Ritmu Roots Festival and produced by Festivals Malta, reflects upon the life and legacy of one of the island’s most prominent folk singers: Frans Baldacchino known as ‘il-Budaj’. The film showed previously unreleased footage of the għannej (folk singer), reflecting upon Malta’s indigenous music heritage post-Independence.
And finally, the programme’s highlight: a performance by one of Malta’s most renowned bands, *etnika. Founded in 2000, the band has followed a trail of fascinating archival and field research, unearthing and rescuing long forgotten instruments, local melodies and genres from the verge of extinction. Having toured extensively whilst representing Malta, they performed internationally in over 15 countries and prestigious venues in Europe and North Africa, including the Montreux Jazz festival. Their current performance is an arrangement of songs from their last album combined with their latest production the Arrow of Time (2022).
The Embassy thanks Investia, Marmonil, Methode Electronics, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt for their financial support to this event.