The arts constitute a vast subdivision of a particular country’s culture. The culture we have today and which makes us what we are and distinct from other nations is the ongoing result of what was yesterday.

That is why I am worried about recent manifestations of culture in Malta, symbolised for me by the roofless theatre that has denigrated the proud achievements of our forefathers and a three-legged horse that is absolutely foreign to our artistic sensibilities unless we are now defining culture as symbols meant to shock and/or amuse.

I am concerned about how the nation is going to use the great compliment of Valletta’s choice as the culture capital of Europe in 2018. Manfred Gaulhofer, chairman of the selection board, announced the verdict at St John’s Oratory against the backdrop of Caravaggio’s masterpieces. As reported in Times of Malta on October 23, 2012, Mr Gaulhofer, taking note of Caravaggio’s St Jerome behind him, remarked: “This is probably the most wonderful setting ever for a Culture City press conference.”

The emphasis seemingly being placed by the V-18 committee on manifestations of ‘modernistic’ nature to celebrate the year, normally forgotten by tomorrow, seems to me to be very foreign to Gaulhofer’s very weighty comment. By all means, be ‘modern’ if you like, but please base your ‘modernity’ on Malta’s traditional culture and do not compare our country to others when planning any manifestation.

Do not mimic other country’s programmes but be original taking into prime consideration our country’s culture, implied so specifically by Gaulhofer. But I now unfortunately have to ask: do you know what Malta’s traditional culture is?

I wonder whether a wiser use of funds available would not be the conservation of Malta’s cultural capital. I am asking this because I am worried about its ongoing loss. For example, I am worried about the important music archives of the Manoel Theatre which were passed on to the National Orchestra (now the Malta Philharmonic) in 1997.

Among the many items by Maltese composers, it included the full scores of Agostino Camilleri’s one-act opera Delia, Carlo Diacono’s L’alpino, Antonio Nani’s I cavalieri di Malta, Paolo Nani’s La mezzanotte and the four operas by Carmelo Pace, who donated his original manuscripts to the Manoel Theatre on October 13, 1988.

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