Classic Maltese novels and stories brought to life at this year’s Ziguzajg
Ziguzajg is an annual festival aimed at bridging Maltese traditions and arts in a modern artistic context. This year’s edition will be the sixth and the numbers of attendees has increased year after year.
“The professionalism with which performances are delivered, attracts thousands of people and the quality is getting better and better,” Programme Manager Daniel Azzopardi told The Malta Independent.
As per previous years, this year’s edition will be packed with exhibitions, performances and workshops throughout a 10-day programme.
With no less than 14 different venues round the streets of the capital, the festival is aimed at young people and children. Daniel Azzopardi explained that Ziguzajg is, in fact, the only festival on such a large scale which caters for these ages.
This year, Ziguzajg was inspired by Maltese novels, such as Inez Farrug.
“It’s quite incredible to look at young children who had never heard of this book before, singing and playing around with the main protagonist of the book,” he told this newspaper as he showed us round a room where children stuck small paper figures of Inez Farrug all over the walls. One of the exhibitions focus on this book and those who attend get to play “Where is Inez?” as the story is essentially about the disappearance of Inez Farrug. However, Ziguzajg’s modern version of Inez depicts the little girl facing young teen clans in Valletta, like the Perfs.
But what makes Ziguzajg special is the professionalism by artists performing in front of thousands of children.
“We brought international artists from seven different countries and chose only the best proposals by Maltese performers. It’s a show essentially for children, but even adults can appreciate how much work and time is needed to create such presentations.”
Some 150 artists will be taking part in 14 different venues all in Valletta. Around 24,000 people are expected to attend.
In an attempt to reach various audiences in Valletta, organisers decided to spread the events in every corner of the city. So Daniel and his team organised various shows at the Manderragio and the primary school in Valletta.
To keep up with the demand and take care of 14 different venues with multiple activities going on, Ziguzajg is manned with 80 people, including volunteers.
Ziguzajg is being held between 11 and 20 November. The programme of events can be access through their website www.ziguzajg.org.