Maltese youths gathered at an unlikely venue for a party last Saturday night: the Marsa open centre, where a large concentration of African immigrants live and congregate.

Popular hip-hop bands No Bling Show and Sixth Simfoni gave a lively free performance, supported by African rappers from the centre, who joined in along the way.

Jamming For Change, as the event was called, was organised by Get Up Stand Up, a new NGO that encourages hands-on activism and is working on projects such as setting up a library in the open centre.

"There's a lot of boredom at these centres and many migrants have difficulties getting into nightclubs, so this event gave them the chance to have some fun," vice president Alex Cachia said.

"But, more importantly, we brought a lot of young Maltese who had never been to an open centre to see what life is like and to get to know migrants through music and dancing."

She added that such an event helped bring migrants from different parts of Africa together, to forget tribal conflicts and tension that tend to exist in such centres.

Rappers from places like Burkina Faso, Sudan, Somalia and Congo took to the stage and gave impromptu performances to the delight of the migrants, many of whom were not residents of the open centre but came specifically for the event.

"Life can be difficult but, then, something beautiful happens and you cannot do anything else except feel happy and appreciate it," a man from Ghana, who has been in Malta for six years, said.

Another said this was the best night of his five-year stay in Malta.

The event was supported by the US Embassy.