Nicolò IsouardOver the weekend, I watched a programme on a local station about the state of culture in Malta. Allow me to pass some observations on the topic.
The Malta Arts Festival: this has now acquired the colonial pattern of an impresario importing ready-made foreign offerings for which we have to pay. Surely the Maltese nation has the right to expect a more valid approach.
Valletta City of Culture 2018: I do not know the use this is going to make of our cultural heritage in order to upgrade it in our eyes and that of Europe. Let me point out that major Maltese composers hail from Valletta: Giuseppe Arena, Girolamo Abos, Nicolò Isouard, Pietro Paolo Bugeja, Paolo Nani, Antonio Nani, Francesco Schira, Carmelo Pace, etc.
Isouard: a special emphasis should be placed on this exceptional composer. He died in Paris on March 23, 1818, and so 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of his death. In addition to obligatory performances of his works, the nation has the right to have a statue made to honour him and Malta. Unless it is only politicians that have the right for statues.
Knowledge: it is high time that before individuals are appointed on cultural boards they are examined on their knowledge of the Maltese cultural heritage. It will also benefit the nation if jobs and contracts given in this field would include a clause making it obligatory on the person to actively promote and promulgate it.
Let there be an end to the situation at public and national level where Malta is made to put on exclusively the drapery of foreign countries. Let us put an end to a situation where Malta is ignored and humiliated by its own flesh and blood!