A carnival village, a gay marriage with a twist, and an ever more inclusive performance space are just some of the highlights of carnival director Jason Busuttil’s plans. He speaks to Veronica Stivala.
A carnival village, which will encompass workshops for float builders as well as a multi-visual theatre and a cafeteria, is the highlight of Jason Busuttil’s plans for this year’s festivities.
“This is something new for Malta,” Busuttil, Carnival Director at the Arts Council Malta, says. “It’s an ambitious project which the government has been working hard on.”
Busuttil is keen to show me the final plans which have just been approved, and which signal the start of construction works for the village in Marsa which is aimed to be ready by 2018.
“The village is a dream come true for me,” Busuttil says. He has a longstanding relationship with carnival that dates back to his childhood when he first helped build a float aged seven.
The aims of the village are three-pronged: it will be a workshop area where floats can be built; it will serve educational purposes and students will be taken on outings to learn more about the art of float building; and it will be an entertainment area where visitors can watch shows.
Looking at more imminent plans, Busuttil takes me through some highlights of this year’s carnival. Appropriately, a big eye-catcher for this year’s celebrations is the vintage-looking poster. There is an interesting story behind this and one which ties in neatly with another of Busuttil’s plans for taking the Maltese carnival forward: bringing back the historical aspect of carnival.
“I like to mix the old with the new so that the past is not forgotten,” Busuttil says. And with the current trend for vintage clothes, furniture and the like, his timing could not have been any better.
Featuring a merry knight holding a carnival mask in his hand, and painted in bold, bright colours, the poster caught Busuttil’s eye in a property magazine he was flipping through. Following some research, he learnt that this was originally used as a carnival poster in 1938. It was painted by Robert Caruana Dingli, a household name among collectors of Melitensia. Caruana Dingli was trained by Giuseppe Cali and then went on to train many of Malta’s finest budding artists including Emvin Cremona, Esprit Barthet and Antoine Camilleri.
This was originally used as a carnival poster in 1938
Carnival is one of Malta’s oldest festivals and acknowledging its roots is important to the director. Busuttil is working on reintroducing elements of carnival that unfortunately faded in Malta, but are still very much alive in Gozo, such as the kukkanja and carriages and carts on which people dress up and play out satirical sketches.
Busuttil blames the fierce competitive element in Malta’s carnival for having killed off the spontaneity.
“Spontaneity makes carnival fun,” he notes. “I’m a fan of the carnival in Gozo, where you laugh and enjoy yourself. This is something I wish to get back to Malta.”
Another link with the past is the recent introduction of the qarċilla. Now in its third year, this satirical street theatre play will have as its main theme gay rights and will see a gay marriage take place. Other than revealing that there is a new author and that it will be performed on both Saturday and Sunday, as opposed to a one-day show in Castille Square, Busuttil is keen to keep other elements of the performance a surprise.
He does, however, reveal other plans for this year’s carnival, including the centralisation of activities in Castille Square which will see a more accessible carnival for people with disability and those with prams. Celebrations will this year extend to Ħamrun on Sunday morning where there will be a feast involving some six bands. Interestingly, this is not a new concept, but one that was successfully organised some 10 years ago.
Busuttil speaks proudly of the progress made this year and attributes part of its success to ACM festivals director Annabelle Stivala Attard who was instrumental in easing the friction that existed between the ACM and the Carnival Union (Għaqda Parteċipanti Karnival ta’ Malta).
Satire must be recognisable
“We are now working closer with the participants to organise the programme together. They are ultimately the people who make carnival what it is,” Busuttil says.
Quality is a recurring word in our conversation but one, we both agree, which is difficult to measure. Busuttil’s remit includes surveying the floats to assess whether they are up to standard. While he does not interfere with the subjects chosen, he does assess their quality in terms of checking whether guidelines on music and measurements are being adhered to. A good quality float, according to Busuttil, is realistic. When it comes to satirical floats, a realistic face is key and must resemble the person it is satirising. Busuttil lauds the high levels of dancing and costumes that will be on display this year.
The carnival organisation is indeed a fascinating educational microcosm which Busuttil describes as the “biggest school of arts” on the island where apprentices learn the art of papier-mache, clay moulding, ironwork, carpentry and painting. Everyone does this on a part-time, voluntary basis but, he notes, the quality has improved greatly. He is adamant to praise stalwart Pawlu Curmi, “an icon for carnival and one who has given it a big boost”.
Busuttil is keeping his fingers crossed for a spate of good weather which last year contributed to an unforgettable carnival.