Maltese folksinger at Tuscan festival

Vincent Carabott, il-Bukku, a folksinger from Zejtun, will represent Malta at a folk improvisation festival that will take place today and tomorrow in the Tuscan village of Pomonte, Italy.

Mr Carabott, who started singing ghana from his childhood, specialises in the Bormliza, an old genre that is gradually being lost. He said he could also sing other forms of ghana, such as Ghana tal-fatt, where well known stories or events that took place in the past are narrated, Spirtu pront, which is the most popular form of ghana and which is a song contest between two or four singers who improvise as they go along, as well as other forms of ghana.

The festival is being organised by the Lega italiana di poesia estemporanea (LIPE), which has invited Mr Carabott on a regular basis for the past three years.

LIPE artistic director Mauro Chechi said the audience liked Mr Carabott for his striking and intense voice, as well as his presence on stage.

"When the Maltese improvisations were translated into Italian, the audience was stunned by the high content of his poetry. He is also an outgoing character and has managed to integrate with the members of the organisation," Mr Chechi said.

LIPE was set up in 1998 by a group of Italian folk singers and poets, with the aim of researching, conserving and spreading the heritage of improvised song in octaves and the traditional Italian stornelli that form part of centuries-old heritage.

Mr Chechi said LIPE is the only Italian organisation researching improvised song. Apart from the singing itself, the festival includes round table discussions on the evolution of song improvisation.

LIPE regularly invites folk singers from a number of Italian regions such as Tuscany, Abbruzzo, Sardinia and Lazio, along with singers from Spain, the Basque Country, Malta, Cuba and Venezuela.