I love Chiara, but I’m not quite sure I want anything to do with her Zarbun.

Truth is, this artist is the epitome of natural talent, sheer determination and guts, and to top it all off she’s got a burning personality that makes it hard not to like her, but seriously? My Zarbun?

When I heard the song for the first time I almost fell off my wedges and broke my ankle! The Greeks and Italians whom I was with at the time didn’t quite get why I was practically rolling on the floor with laughter and why I needed a whole hour to regain my composure.

I tried to explain why I was in such hysterics but, no matter how hard I tried to explain the ‘hamalli vs pepe’ dichotomy of the Maltese people, the peppered language most of us speak with because we can’t speak either language perfectly, the sheer funniness of the word ‘zarbun’ per se, and the fact that the co-producer of the song is called Haffi, they just didn’t get it. 

Finally I put it down to humour being a cultural thing and that only the Maltese will ever get why I was balling my eyes out with laughter.

But true to my nature I couldn’t contain myself, so I abandoned my foreign friends and went in search of some Maltese ones with whom I could share the hilarity.

And boy did I find them! Within hours, My Zarbun has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter. 

Here’s a selection of some of my favourite statuses and tweets to date:

  • gonna wear my zarbun ax my feet keshuli and i got bruda
  • Lilli asked me to google "My Zarbun". It's going to be hit in this household!
  • my feet are killing me :( i blame my zarbun
  • Introducing Fascinators to match your zarbun sold complete with a song about "my splengun" .
  • In my zarbun .... I think i never laughed this much hard hearing the song and reading the comments .....lollll
  • Protesters burst into song about excessive pollution today, singing to the tune of "my zarbun", what sounded like "nugrufun".
  • New anthem for pro hunting lobby "my stagun" sung to the tune of "my zarbun".
  • oHHH Just bought some underwear! Gonna write a song now! 'Myqalziet ta taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaht aaaaaaaaht aaaaaaaaaaaaaht'...
  • Getting ready to go out in my zarbun :)
  • what is in your zarbun Malta....
  • to go out tonight or to stay in and listen to My Zarbun on a loop
  • In my Zarbun by Chiara...I smell a hit! Oh wait, it's athletes foot cream,my bad.
  • so ironic featuring Hafi #zarbun
  • let's get #zarbun trending
  • #myzarbun xP Oh God xP

But try to explain any of the above gags to a non-Maltese and I bet you’ll be faced with the same blank looks as I was.

So now I’m thinking (it does happen occasionally), that maybe, just maybe, Chiara and her agent might have hit on the right formula to make it big with this song.

You see, in Malta it is spreading like wildfire (albeit for the wrong reason), but because people off our shores wont’ get the ‘wrong reasons,’ it will be just help the song go viral over there.

And isn’t this every local artist’s dream? So good luck Chiara, even my very own thorn and weathered sneakers are rooting for you now.

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