The Maltese Chav

A word I came across often in childhood was one which portrayed the bogeyman of social standing, the one label you avoided, the ultimate condescending insult. Here, Dr Mark-Anthony Falzon, Head of the Sociology Department at the University of Malta dares to tackle the social connotations of the word - ħamallu.

So, who are the ħamalli? We tend to use the word in two ways. First, to describe individuals who are boorish, crass, loud, and the rest. One can be a ħamallu generally, as in a life project, or episodically, as in a lapse or moment of rudeness. There may, on occasion, be a certain subversive delight in performing ħamallaġni - the Prince of Hanover urinating in public sort of thing.

Which brings us to the second usage, which has to do with class rather than individuals. To a certain middle-class eye, the ħamalli are people who are fond of hoop earrings, mullet hairstyles, flashy cars referred to in the masculine, tile-clad façades, and frilly wedding dresses. They also tend to address people as 'ħi', talk of 'dik' and 'dak', and flail their arms wildly as they do so.

Ħamallaġni is thought to be a territorial animal, in Malta as elsewhere. Jeremy Clarkson, for example, commonly mocks the 'Cheshire-ishness' of car spoilers and alloy wheels, and the 'Croydon facelift' is not a compliment in contemporary British culture. No prizes for guessing which parts of Malta are imagined to be the prime lumpen candidates.

Things get more interesting if we consider the antonym of ħamalli. 'Puliti''s the word, and it means all those who abhor hoop earrings, mullet lifestyles, and so on. When they blaspheme, they do so in private. If they speak Maltese in public at all, they make sure they soften their 'r's. Ħamalli call this effete, but what do ħamalli know.

Puliti are also keen to maintain a certain aristocratic hauteur. Things like festa and regatta, which involve verve and passion, are not for them. (Incidentally it may well be that the recent Church document on 'restoring' feasts is also a class discourse.) Nor are a bit of noise and fun - puliti weddings, for example, are boring affairs where people stand around talking politics in hushed-up voices. So far so clear, but there are two problems. First, one man's ħamallu is another man's pulit, and it is in fact very difficult objectively to be the latter. One could always move to Ibraġ (soft 'r' at all times), run a family hatchback, wear greys and browns, and pretend not to know the neighbours. As much fun as slitting one's wrists, and less colourful. If we add to this the terrifying possibility of arriviste pulit-hood, there really is no escape.

Second, the word is hardly clinical. I wouldn't recommend walking up to Mr B.I.G. Silencer and explaining he's a ħamallu. Whether or not he thinks he's pulit, you're going to come away with one very black eye indeed. You'd deserve it too, because it's not nice to call people names. Ħamallu, then, is a derogatory word, and pulit a complimentary one.

A facelift for St Magdalen?

Anyone who has stayed at Valletta G-House will have noticed a pretty old church at the top of North Street in dire need of TLC. Ok, this is speculation on my part, but could it be that it's in line to be restored to its original glory?

According to the Malta Independent today, the deconsecrated church (I don't think it's 'desecrated', Ms. Borg) will no longer be used as a store for Carnival floats because veteran enthusiast Pawlu Curmi, well known for his creative creations, has been instructed by the authorities to clear the building.

As much as I feel for Mr Curmi (hopefully he'll land on his feet and find a better place to store his creations), I can't but be happy at the idea of what could be in store for the church.

If I am not mistaken the church was dedicated to Mary Magdalen and it is the one that in the past served the Magdalene Asylum for poor and abandoned young women who were in danger of ending up in prostitution, also referred to in Catholic circles as Magdalens.

I'm intrigued to know if there is already a planning application as well as plans to restore the church.

Kinky metal wear

The Guardian's Jonathan Jones writes about armour in art:

The artist Willem de Kooning once said oil painting was invented in order to portray flesh. He might just as well have said it was created to convey the metallic gleam of armour.

Men regularly wore metal in the 15th century, when oil painting first came into its own, and some of the greatest European painters were fascinated by the strange sartorial splendour of the battlefield and tournament.

You can visit the titillating armour in the Grandmaster's Palace in Palace Square when parliament is not in session.
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Are you ready for a blast of colour?

Carnival 2010 (or il-Karnival as it is known in Malta) will kick off on 12 February this year and it will bring a much awaited injection of colour to Valletta. Here are some pictures from last year's Carnival.

Citta' Magica

The 9th of January holds a few surprises to those visiting or staying in Valletta. Citta Magica follows the events of Notte Bianca and Notte Magica. The only difference is the event caters for creatures of the day as well as those of the night. Citta Magica starts at noon and will go on until midnight.

The newly restored St George's square will feature heavily but events will also be spread out in other parts of the city such as Merchants Street and Freedom Square. Visitmalta.com lists the events taking place.

All the events are within walking distance from Valletta G-House.
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Hearses with horses

Some time ago, in Sicily I noticed a funny thing happening when a funeral cortege passed by. Some of the male onlookers touched themselves - a superstitious habit that I have not noticed elsewhere. Not a thing of elegance, I'm sure. The Times of Malta has recently reported the entrepreneurial idea of a local businessman who is reintroducing the beautifully poised and dignified carriages of the past to the Maltese islands.

Horse-drawn carriage hearses were last seen on our streets some 40 years ago but an undertaker has dug up his collection and is breathing new life into them, following public demand. Louis Borg's resurrection of the horse-drawn hearses comes in the wake of the liberalisation of the motorised market, which led him to diversify, giving him the edge over double the competitors he had before.

Now he is bringing back from the dead his first-class carriage (tal-kewba), which was used by "rich Sliema residents"; the prima and sekonda, which are for lower levels of society respectively, but equally elaborate to the fresh eye; and the white version for babies and single women.

The set comprises the priest's carriage, which would also transport the altar boy dressed as he would have back then and carrying the large cross, sticking out of the window as tradition would have it.

Gay Pride in Valletta

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This week sees various activities for DiversCity, culminating in the Pride March this Saturday. Pride March is about visibility. It's a celebration of diversity. It's there to voice the wish that same sex relationships are recognised by Maltese law. Its also about a bit of fun and should not be seen as antagonistic toward the rest of society. It's as much about inclusivity as about individuality.

Some have commented that the colourful dressing up, common in more well attended Gay Pride Marches in other cities all over the world, are hardly the best way for LGBTs to be taken seriously and to be assimilated within the mainstream. I have known various gay men who describe themselves as 'straight acting'. They are adamant that what they call men with a camp disposition, those who stand out for not fitting into the grey stereotype of the 'virile' man, are a disservice to other gay men. They are equally scornful of lesbians who's demeanor fall short of what they expect women to look and act like. Their use of the phrase 'straight acting' to describe themselves is a clear sign of their repression, and how unwilling they are to accept the beauty of diversity. Assimilation does not mean melting into a mulch of indistinguishable sameness. It means enriching an already heterogeneous society.

Gay Pride is, above all, a celebration of diversity. That is not to say that the fight for equality is not also part and parcel of Pride. Fighting to change the law so that it recognises same sex civil partnership does not mean playing the victim as some would have us believe. And it is not an impossible task, even when one considers the staid two party system ruled by a powerful church institution Malta is lumped with. Look at Spain. It looks as though Ireland will be following suit too. Both have a very strong Catholic Church and yet they acknowledge the need for society to encourage stable partnerships of love.

Here is the programme of events prepared by MGRM. Hope to see you in Valletta on Saturday.

Mon 13 July: Film festival - 'Ma vie en rose' (released 1997; run-time 88 minutes) St James Cavalier, Valletta

Tue 14 July: Film festival - 'Bent' (released 1997; run-time 105 minutes) St James Cavalier, Valletta

Wed 15 July: Women Space. GAIA Foundation, Ghajn Tuffieha

Thurs 16 July: Film festival - 'I can't think straight' (released 2007; run-time 80 minutes) St James Cavalier, Valletta

Sat 18 July (10:00am at City Gate Valletta): PRIDE MARCH
Sat 18 July (20:30): Concert performance with The Pink Singers (London) and Zghazagh Haddiema Nsara choirs. City Theatre, Valletta
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Malta Arts Festival and Censorship

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It does not augur well for the annual Malta Arts Festival when the Arts Council decides to exclude an installation by artist Raphael Vella from a collective at 68 St Lucy Street.

It is not the first instance that the Maltese islands have been in the news for censorship. This year, the play “Stitching” was banned on moral grounds (Case is pending in court) and, egged on by Gozo Bishop Msgr. Mario Grech, police arrested a group of young men who dressed as Jesus during the Nadur carnival celebrations.

All is not doom and gloom for the 2009 Arts Festival. The Malta Jazz Festival has returned to its original form, taken away from the hands of purely commercial private interests. The annual Jazz Festival will hopefully become a fixed appointment on the calendar of many a true jazz enthusiasts, both local and foreign.
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Telling pictures

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The Three Graces at the Irxoxt (Holy Week Celebrations) in Birgu


One Foot in the Grave (M'Xlokk - fishing village)
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Tea with your sugar?

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In Marrakech people love sugar with their tea. In the UK, I grow mint in our conservatory just so as to be able to make tea in those beautifully decorated Moroccan glasses and remember the Hideous Kinky city. In the UK tea with milk used to be the drink that embodied Britishness even though the number of coffee chains now well exceeds that of English tea parlours. Which hot drink is it that makes you think of Malta? Mark Anthony Falzon writes about the ħanut tat-te' on today's Sunday Times.

John, a close relative of mine who is not Maltese, told me the other day how he had been charged 30 (euro) cents for a coffee in Vittoriosa. He wasn't complaining of course, and in fact asked me how come the cost of living in Malta was so heart-warming. It turned out he had forgotten two important details. First, the place was a 'men's bar', as he put it; second, the coffee had come in a glass.

This then was John's first brush with what we might call the 'Maltese coffee shop' - or, as better known, the ħanut tat-titotla (lit. 'teetotal bar'). I'm sure it won't be his last. He happens to dabble somewhat, and rather effectively, in anthropology and will no doubt be familiar with the saying that the way to a culture's heart is through its coffee. Or rather the context of its drinking it.

How 'Maltese' are the ħwienet tat-titotla? I'd say as Maltese as it gets, which simply means that we tend to read into them for elements of 'Malteseness'. Thus the noisy atmosphere will be interpreted as our 'natural Latin rowdiness', the whiff of illegitimate cigarette smoke as our national disrespect for law and order, and the heaps of pastizzi flakes as the sign of a generally unhealthy population.

We might add that the Maltese coffee shop is unique in that tea, rather than coffee, is the favoured choice. Which brings our history, in this case our take on British heritage, into the equation. Italians often complain that we couldn't make a 'proper' coffee at gunpoint, and they're probably right. We can't make coffee all'italiana simply because we are not Italian, and don't want to be. But we also prefer our tea not to come in a cup, or in the company of watercress sandwiches.

Mingle with a medieval mob

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Mdina is a superb city. I've frequently compared it to Joan Collins - It's so well preserved it looks the same as it did in it's heyday, but without the smut. Most Valletta G-House guests love it (Mdina, not the smut), while some complain it is too immaculate, lacking in city colour.

This coming weekend Mdina becomes Medieval, with pageantry, jousting tournaments, medieval football (If that is anything like Florence's Calcio Storico, that'll be a feast for the eyes), human chess games, medieval knights, men in Medieval costumes and, best of all, traditional medieval food and an abundance of wine and beer.

There will also be guided tours and relics of the past (no more Joan jibes please) as well as attractions like Punch and Judy, jesters, jugglers and donkey rides.

If you want a respite from the primitive throng outside, I beg you to take a peek at the amazingly beautiful Palazzo Falson. Chances are it might also be crowded but with a rather more enlightened assemblage, one would imagine. If not to look at the historical artifacts on show, perhaps you could have tea in the highest place of all, upstairs.

Take bus number 80, 81, 82, 84, 86 to Rabat Bus Terminus from Valletta Gate


The table is set at Palazzo Falson
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Too posh to sleep together

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We have always provided one bed at Valletta G-House and we were convinced we were offering the ultimate luxurious bed to aspire to. You can imagine our disappointment at finding out through none other than sleep researcher at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital - Neil Stanley - that posh people have never slept together. Only us mere middle class mortals, it seems, do so.

“Sharing a bed is just a cultural norm, with no science behind it,” Stanley says. “Posh people have never done it. It’s a mark of wealth to sleep separately — it should be aspirational.” In Britain, bed-sharing is a relatively recent development, entering the mainstream in the late 19th century. Sensible Victorians are said to have wailed about the intolerable cruelty of having to share a bed. As late as the 1970s, twin beds outsold doubles (remember George and Mildred?). It’s only in the past 30 years that adults have been expected to sleep in a bed that provides 9in less space per person, when divided between two, than a child’s single.

Stanley sums it up succinctly. “Sleep is the most selfish thing you can do, and you can’t share it.”

Read the rest of Neil Stanley's article on The Sunday Times

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT
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Square

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I can safely say that last Friday's exhibition opening at 68 St Lucy Street was a hit. Square is a collective exhibition of works, the common theme of which is the 10 x 10 inches size of each work. I usually find that the absence of a brief results in chaos, but if that were the case this was one pleasant chaos. The Valletta town house that has been converted into a space for creativity a few months ago keeps on providing us with outstanding stimulation for the brain and for the heart. Square will be open until 19 April. 68 is an 8 minute walk from Valletta G-House.
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Holy week

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the street down from Victory Square in Vittoriosa

This morning I ventured over to Vittoriosa and thought I'd wander down to Victory square for a coffee. It being close to Good Friday, the band club in the square has already started putting up the decorations related to the holy week. I walked down some steps and the paved road that leads from the square towards the water front and noticed some tourists walking out of a relatively modest looking church.

The church turned out to be the Collegiate Church of St Lawrence, one of the most historically venerated churches in Malta. The original building was built on its site in 1090 and the Knights adopted it as their first conventual church in 1530 after enlarging it. It contained many treasures the Knights brought over from Rhodes when, two years later, it was badly damaged in a fire. The present church is that which was built by Lorenzo Gafa' in the 17th century.


The pulpit

Inside I met a wonderful 72 year old volunteer who told me of the town's well known expertise in wood furniture and intarsjar (inlaid wood). He proudly showed me the amazing pulpit in the church as a prime example of such work.


A Mattia Preti

He insisted I have a closer look at the Mattia Preti painting above the altar. It depicts the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Lawrence is said to have been martyred on a gridiron. An interesting anecdote is that during his torture Lawrence cried out "Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca." (This side’s done, turn me over and have a bite). Christians' dark sense of humour never escapes them, it seems!


Spanish statue of Veronica (17th Century)

But what really intrigued me were the wooden sculptures, some imported from Spain and some sculpted by Maltese artists. They represent the different stages of Jesus' Passion. Some are rather gruesome and in normal circumstances (outside of a church) would require parental guidance.


The dead Jesus

The statue of the dead Christ is housed in an old hearse originally used for the funerals of prominent people during the time of the Order of St John. In 1793 a local by the name of Frangisku Demajo sponsored its redecoration with silver a martello.


Ganutell on top of the hearse decorated with hammered silver

Vittoriosa is one of the places one must visit during holy week. Buses number 01 and 04 from Valletta Gate take approximately 20 minutes to arrive in Birgu/Vittoriosa. Otherwise take a water taxi from Customs House.
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Half price entry to museums next Saturday

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A visit to the National Museum of Archaeology in Republic Street, the National Museum of Fine Arts in South Street and the Palace Armoury will only cost half price on Saturday 28 March on the occasion of Valletta day. Tickets from Heritage Malta.
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Fra Cretien, the custodian knight.

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In 1998 the upper part of Fort St Angelo, on the other side of the Grand Harbour from Valletta, was handed over by the Maltese government to the Order of St John for a period of 99 years in an effort to find the finances to restore the fort. Unfortunately the money needed has so far eluded the present incumbents and Fort St Angelo is still crying out for some tender loving care.

The Australian's Angela Shanahan writes of Fra John Cretien's plans for Fort St Angelo:

"Grinding out yet another cigarette on the ancient battlements, he casually remarks he is considering a plan to convert part of it into retirement units for old knights or perhaps a spa for the Euro-rich who moor their yachts in the walled seclusion of Valletta harbour.

"Anyway, whatever we do with St Angelo, it must be in keeping with the charitable spirit of the order, which has morphed into a huge international aid organisation, and hopefully make a bit of money for our present-day work," he says.

Some of the Australian lay knights who have accompanied me on the climb to the bastion look faintly appalled. The knights built Valletta in 1530 after their expulsion from Rhodes and it was from the battlements of St Angelo that they famously repelled the Turkish invasion fleet. In fact, originally they were reluctant to administer Malta, describing it as a barren rocky place, with a bad water supply and people who spoke a form of Arabic."

Read the rest of the article on The Australian News
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An evening with two

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My sister invited me to go watch a Unifaun Theatre play yesterday at the St James Cavalier Centre. Unifaun have featured in the news lately for challenging the absurd censorship of a Nielson play by the local Censorship Board. I have been wanting to go watch Frost/Nixon at the cinema, based on the interview that Frost made with Nixon on the Watergate scandal but have not had the time so far. Like the film, the play I went to watch - The Devil's Advocate - by Donald Freed also deals with the conversation between two people.

The military dictator Manuel Noriega seeks refuge at the Apostolic Nuncio. He and the Vatican's Archbishop Jose Sebastian Laboa partake in a game of accusations that gives us an insight into the relations between the US of A and Latin America. The tension in the play is throughout, with hardly any respite. I don't know if, in effect, it is a failing of the script or in the way it was directed, but there were times I wanted out. Actors Manuel Cauchi and Paul Portelli gave a most powerful performance. My favourite scene where the archbishop prays for Noriega while Noriega danced in a trance titillated me, but I still felt it could have been even stronger had the lights been more dramatic.

Devil's Advocate is on at St James on today, 21, 21, 27, 28, 29 March. Tickets from St James Cav.




Just before the play, we managed to catch a glimpse of Robert Zahra's exhibition of drawings, paintings and photos of city spaces. A strong line, stripped to its raw form, frequently dark and just as compelling. "Mkejjen" is on at St James until 03 May.
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Feast of St Joseph

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Returned to Rabat this evening to join my friend Antonio on the occasion of the feast of St Joseph. We watched the statue of the saint be carried out of the church to the sound of shouts from an enthusiastic bunch and the deafening fireworks. We then fought our way through the crowd and into the church where Grandmaster Isle Adam insisted his heart be buried. It is indeed a beautiful church, even more splendid on this occasion when all the best bits are shown off to the faithful (and to infidels such as I).

Malta 1970 vs Malta 2009

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Not many people are aware of the length of time that the British author of dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess, along with his wife Liana, resided in the village of Lija in Malta (1968-1970), partly to avoid the 90% tax his family would have had to pay in Britain. Some of his literary contributions were not actually available to the Maltese public in those days. The censors on the island, pressured by the church in Malta, saw to it that the Maltese were protected from such "occasions of sin".

The Malta Independent have re-published an interview with Burgess that originally appeared in the Times of Malta in 1970, just before the author left Malta because of the censorship he encountered on the island. It is particularly poignant in view of the recent censorship of Anthony Neilson's Stitching in Malta.

You have ‘harshly criticised’ Malta on several occasions. Seeing that we have been under colonial rule for so long, don’t you partly blame your own countrymen for a great many things which have been left undone, say, in the educational and cultural fields? Don’t you think you are expecting far too much from such a small island?

Last question first. I don’t think size has much to do with cultural achievement. Look at what ancient Athens did, as well as Elizabethan London. Blame colonialism by all means, but remember that the British, unlike Napoleon, scrupulously refused to interfere with Maltese traditions and never tried to diminish the power of the Church. Malta has had its own destiny in its hands for many centuries. But by Malta I mean the ruling oligarchy, not the people. The people have always had a rough deal and they are still having it. Otherwise why so much emigration? They have never been encouraged to think for themselves. Their very language has been relegated to a minor place, while the oligarchs talked about art and politics in Italian or English. Who is to blame that Maltese has had an orthography for only a little over a century?

Surely Malta’s paternalism has been a good thing, no drug addiction here, no sexual perversion, not much violence.

We can eradicate any public evil we wish most efficiently if we employ dictatorial methods. The secret of government, as of private morality, is to balance individual freedom of choice with what is considered to be a necessary apparatus of repression. Lead us not into temptation. But it’s only to God that we pray so, it’s not up to the State to keep away the occasions of sin. There should not be any protection at all: it’s up to us as individuals to engage temptation and try to conquer. That’s what free will is about. Malta would try to do away with the concept of the Church Militant altogether and see this theocratic community as a trailer of the Church Triumphant. No fight against sin, no athletic struggle of the soul. Just the flabbiness of virtue achieved through sheer repression. If you can call such virtue virtue.

The Maltese cannot yet discriminate and judge for themselves and the majority are not prepared to cope with a flood of permissive literature, films and so on. What solution do you suggest for giving more intellectual freedom to a people traditionally not encouraged to think for themselves?

Are the Maltese different from any other people in the world? Are they not human beings? Give them what London or Rome already has, progressive cinema, the right to read books written and published in an honest spirit of enquiry as to the nature of man and society. Is Malta in greater need of protection than Rome? Or are Malta’s faith and morality so shaky that they cannot resist the onslaught of new ideas and images of life? Christ came to bring not peace but a sword, meaning, I should have thought, the dialectic of human living through which the faith should be brightened and sharpened. As for a greater permissiveness in the provision of art and literature people don’t have to go to the library or the cinema if they don’t wish. Nothing is being forced on anyone.

Read the interview in full on The Malta Independent on Sunday
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Children's theatre in Valletta

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Teatru Qroqq will be producing two well loved children's plays in April and May. I shall be writing about them nearer to the time but, for those who want to make sure they book their tickets in time, I thought I'd tell you booking is now open.