M M A L T A

TRADITIONAL SONGS AND GAMES

Traditional Songs

 Traditional Songs are very popular with the Maltese.  Some are love songs and others are dedicated to our country of Malta by patriotic authors.  Most of the traditional Maltese songs are sung to the playing of a guitar.

One type of traditional Maltese folk music is called ‘Għana’.  This type of singing is based on rhyming verse sung to a slow rhythm.  These songs shed light on the typical life of the Maltese and the environment of the island.

‘ Għana’ was sung in the past by Maltese peasants and poor people as a means of entertainment ‘ Għana’ was sung in the past by Maltese peasants and poor people as a means of entertainment

Folklore Music  Folklore music is popular in Malta.  Such music is still played nowadays even though years have passed since it was first introduced.  Most of the songs relate to the past life of the Maltese.  Such songs are sung by Maltese singers who are still popular on the island.

Some popular Maltese Songs  ‘Il-Karozzin’ is a popular Maltese folklore song about a means of transport that was used in the past.  Nowadays, ‘il- karozzin’ is just a tourist attraction.

Another popular folklore song is ‘Il-Vapur ta’ l-Art’. This song is about the train that existed from 1883 as a means of transport in Malta. It used to work by coal. This type of transport only worked between Valletta, which today is the capital city of Malta, and Mdina which was the old Capital City.

Traditional Games

 Maltese games were very popular in the old days.  Nowadays, children play more with electronic games but years ago such games did not exist and so the Maltese children played games invented by their ancestors.  Some of these games are still played nowadays, although not as much as they were played in the past.

Some favourite games  One traditional game which was played by children was ‘Pizzi, pizzi kanna’.  This game is played by singing a rhyme.  Children gather together and take it in turns to say the rhyme.  Each child selected puts out a finger and the first one to have all ten fingers out will be the winner.

Pizzi pizzi kanna Dolores ta’ Sant’ Anna Sant’ Anna tal-morina Habba bicca pellegrina. Mgharef tal-fidda Bandiera tal-harir Noli kannoli Insara qaddisin

 Another traditional game which nowadays is still played by youngsters is ‘Dawra Durella’.  A group of children form a circle by joining hands, and go round while singing a rhyme.  At the end of the rhyme they all drop into a squatting position.  This is one of the traditional games where there are no winners or losers. It is played just for fun.

Dawra Durella Dawra durella Qasba ż igarella Ċ off tal-bellus Ċ aqcaqhielu lill-g ħ arus! Axxa axxa Missieru mastrudaxxa Mela, wie ħ ed, tnejn, tlieta……

 Another popular game is ‘Bumm, Bumm il-Bieb’.  Two groups of children form a straight line, each taking it in turn to sing a rhyme.  Each group has to choose a girl or boy from the other group and try to take him or her to their group.

 Other traditional games are ‘Żibeg’ (beads) and ‘Boċċi’ (marbles).  Unfortunately, some of these traditional games have given way to the electronic games provided by software companies.  Apart from this, most traditional games were played outside at a time when there was little or no traffic in our streets.

The End