Guitarist and teacher Evan Plumpton tells David Schembri how, on Notte Bianca, 35 guitarists of different abilities are going to play with folk singers – but in a different style.

Every Sunday, after Mass, a young Evan Plumpton – aged around 10 – used to go to a bar known as Ta’ Ċikku, where folk singers would gather for għana.

Already an accomplished guitarist at such a young age, he would be given one of the guitarists’ instruments to play. After playing a tune on his own, he would accompany the singers and play a couple of solos.

That phase did not last very long. Although brought up in a village where għana was common, Plumpton was brought up on the classical guitar. And it was that style of playing he would specialise in, and eventually teach.

Now renowned as one of Malta’s top guitar teachers, teaching across different styles, Plumpton is introducing his students – aged from six to 27– to the traditional Maltese folk song which is still going strong in bars across the country.

There is a twist, however. Although there is going to be an orchestra of guitarists, 35 in all, they will not be strumming the usual guitar accompaniment. Instead, għana will be given different dresses through different forms of accompaniment.

The project came about when the għannejja and guitarists both applied with separate projects, and Notte Bianca Valletta brought the two together.

“The singing is going to be spirtu pront, but improvised over a bluesy or rock accompaniment. I changed the rhythm, but not the melody, which the għannejja know inside out. We’re keeping the same sing-song.”

The project is a collaboration between Plumpton, his students and four għannejja who are working under the coordination of Saviour Tanti; the latter has been meeting Plumpton to get recordings of the arrangements in order to prepare his singers.

The show is not without its challenges. Having had its first test at the Żejt iż-Żejtun festival, there are many challenges. The first was trying to include musicians of varying experience and ability in one piece.

Young musicians with only three months of playing behind them are rubbing guitar necks with musicians who are at an advanced level; keeping this in mind, the guitarist prepared a six-part arrangement which could include everyone and which made musical sense.

The spirit of għana is, ultimately, not about technical virtuosity

The event is a meeting of two worlds. The world of sight-reading and classical notation meets the world of lyrical improvisation – as well as having a healthy dose of guitar improvis-ation, be it in the għana style or one of the adopted styles, thrown in for good measure.

As if having such young and inexperienced musicians in the mix weren’t enough to make a musical director sweat blood, għannejja, despite their knack for singing wisecracks at one another, aren’t always the most trained of musicians, and Plumpton is already preparing his musicians for that.

“It’s going to be very relaxed. Sometimes, as the singers reply to each other, they might slow down the tempo without knowing it and I’ve already told the musicians, including the drummer, that they have to follow the singers. The whole group is going to have to follow the singer.”

Because għannejja typically only play with guitarists, Plumpton is interested to see how the singers will adapt to a different sound accompanying them. This time, it won’t just be a raspy guitar providing the backdrop to the melodies, but a whole guitar orchestra and on a different rhythm to boot.

Despite its tweaking of the formula, L-Għana l-Kbira is actually introducing a new generation of musicians to a genre they might actually have been predisposed against.

“When I told my musicians that they were going to be playing għana, at first they were like, seriously? But they immediately warmed up to the arrangements, even though at its core it is still għana.”

“This is għana on a more modern key. I think it’s healthy to break out of traditional għana sometimes,” the guitarist says.

The concert, part of Notte Bianca, will be taking place in front of the law courts and it is sure to attract part of the mass of people that are expected to make it to Valletta this year.

And while not everything might go to plan – some of the younger musicians might miss a couple of notes, a singer might bring down the tempo – the spirit of għana is ultimately not about technical virtuosity or high art, but about people having fun together.

Just like in Ċikku’s bar on those childhood Sunday mornings in Fgura ...

L-Għana l-Kbira will be held at Great Siege Square, Valletta, between 7pm and 9pm as part of Notte Bianca on Saturday.