Appreciation - Dennis Vella

Patrick Fenech, Artist and photographer, writes:
My mind at the moment is like a cinema projector. It cannot stop playing backwards and forwards the memories I have and experiences I shared with Dennis Vella.

It's a long reel of cherished moments, beautiful images, sounds, experiences, conversations, looping continuously as I try to come to terms with his untimely death. Untimely, because we not only lost a dear friend but Malta also lost one its best creative writers especially when he wrote about art, which was his passion, pride and profession.

I met Dennis just before we enrolled at MCAST Polytechnic. We both had hair down to our shoulders and sported 'flower power' shoulder bags. This was an exciting time and we all wanted to change the world with peace signs hanging from our necks. At least we got one thing right, we believed in the power of the sun and that some day it will give us free and clean energy.

Dennis was an instant source of inspiration; there was something quite different about him than my other peers. A kind of 'Pied Piper' of the time, a perfect gentleman with a wicked sense of humour, a knowledgeable and bright young man.

Dennis was also an excellent guitarist and had a band called 'Hard Up'. We had endless jam sessions. He asked me to help him run a music programme on the main radio station which he called 'Tropicana' airing music. Music was then central to our lives.

Gozo was our regular haunt, thanks to our friend and artist Norbert Attard who had acquired a farmhouse in Gharb. Dennis also obtained a diploma in catering and we used to cook for anybody who fancied dropping by. It was around this time I started developing my photography and recorded these beautiful moments in black and white.

Then I went to Italy to study photography and suddenly I started receiving small trials of abstract painting from my friend in Malta. Dennis had decided to quit his music and dedicate the rest of his life to art. And so he did and in a grand way.

Dennis has been a constant source of inspiration to me and other artists and his track record is impressive not to say astounding. His last wish before he passed away was to play the guitar again and asked me to take him round to the music shops to purchase a Fender Strat.

Eventually he got better. But we both knew this would not happen so I lent him my son's amplifier and our friend Joe Brincat his guitar to savour the fret board once again and bend the notes just as the 'reincarnated' Malta Jazz Festival was underway below the hospital window. His ever loving partner Bebe Scicluna stayed with him till the end.

On top of my next shopping list I will buy a 'Stratocaster and start playing again. I promise.

I am sure you are now surrounded by the most sublime music and art.

I will play back this long reel ... endlessly ...