If you missed the rapping version of the popular rhyme Paċikk qabeż mit-tieqa last year, the concert Kelma Kelma Nota Nota is returning with three editions this summer.

The concert by the Facebook community Kelma Kelma, the Big Band Brothers and entertainer Ray Calleja kicked off last year and was a successful experiment.

Michael Spagnol, the man behind Kelma Kelma, the Facebook page dedicated to the intricacies of the Maltese language, said the debut concert, commissioned by the Malta Arts Festival last July, was so successful that an encore was called for. In fact, another edition was held in August in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund.

This year, the team is returning with three editions, called Kunċert tal-Qaddisin, Koffee Morning and Kieku d-Dinja kienet Maltija in June, July and August respectively.

The July concert forms part of the Malta Arts Festival programme. Dr Spagnol said the concert included traditional Maltese prose, poetry and songs highlighting aspects of traditional Maltese culture that were given a contemporary look (and sound).

The humorous performance is the first of its sort and is made up of a combination of recited text, reworked manuscripts and original music and prose but it is not a music literacy night. Its humour also steered away from the usual Maltese double entendre vulgar jokes, he pointed out.

The edition to be held on Tuesday at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, in Valletta, with a repetition on Wednesday and Thursday, will be about saints in heaven and those living among us.

It comes at the right time, with the Maltese islands ablaze with fireworks as villages and towns celebrate their patron saint.

“We will learn about some new saints during the concert and there will also be a mention of some people who are not as saintly as they think they are. Ultimately we hope that patrons return home saying it was a concert tal-qaddisin,” Dr Spagnol said.