Culture and community entwine at this year’s Ritmu Roots Festival
Ritmu Roots Festival returns this year with a celebration of music, culture and community. Taking place in Żejtun, Valletta and Argotti Gardens in Floriana, the festival is taking place until May 25.
With a line-up of international and local artists, workshops and immersive cultural experiences, Ritmu Roots Festival aims to create an intimate experience with artists from the Mediterranean and beyond.
Embracing the rich tapestry of global sounds, it showcases a diverse array of musical genres, from traditional Sicilian dances and electronic experimentations of Estonian music to traditional Maltese għana.
Headlining this year’s festival are artists DUO RUUT, I Casentuli, Loccisano & De Carolis, and għana led by fatherson duo Ta’ Nofsillejl,
promising exhilarating performances that will resonate with audiences of all ages.
Beyond the music, Ritmu Roots Festival offers a holistic cultural experience, featuring interactive workshops, art installations, culinary delights, and more.
Exhibition dEdiCatEd to thE MaltEsE VoiCE and
This year, Ritmu Roots Festival is again presenting an exhibition which homes in on the life and legacy of one of the main exponents of Taking place between today, May 19, and May 25 at The Splendid in Valletta, Il-Qagħda tal-Mument
is an audio-visual installation curated by Sarah Chircop in collaboration with Magna Żmien
which brings together neverseen-before archival content from Frans Baldacchino ilBudaj’s personal collection to the fore, while reinterpreting the content to reflect on the nature of the voice and the word, and its place within għana (Maltese folk song tradition) and Malta on a grander scale.
This audio-visual installation, which will mostly focus on the sonic aspects of archival material and reinterpretation, features research made on Baldacchino, the prolific għannej,
poet and artist who suddenly passed away in 2006.
Beloved by many, il-Budaj was a figure who represented a new wave for għana, a form typically seen as firmly planted within its set of forms, rhythms and cadences.
Through Il-Qagħda tal-Mument, curator Sarah Chircop aims to explore the multifaceted nature of il-Budaj, not only integrating objects associated with his practice as one of Malta’s foremost għannejja, but also as an artist, poet and friend.
But this installation will not only focus on this personality; the work will also utilise the female voice in għana, which is now nearing extinction, in order to reflect upon the nature of the voice and word and its importance in transmitting information between one person and another, and one generation to another.
By integrating and reminiscing about the ‘għana tal-banju’, a form of għana associated with women, this immersive installation questions the legacy of għana as a form, posing the question: “In what way is the voice a carrier?”
Tickets for Ritmu Roots Festival are available for purchase on the official website ritmu.mt. This audio-visual installation will be at The Splendid in Valletta for one week only from the May 19 to 25, and forms part of Ritmu Roots Festival which is dedicated to celebrating musical traditions. Ritmu will be happening from the May 17-25 in various locations, including two magical nights at Argotti Gardens on May 24 and 25.
For more information, including the full line-up, schedule of events and ticketing details, visit ritmu.mt.
Ritmu Roots Festival is organised by Festivals Malta on the occasion of maltabiennale.art, in collaboration with Visit Malta. The festival is supported by the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, the Ambassade de France à Malte, and Istituto Italiano di Cultura di La Valletta. The festival is also supported by GSD Marketing Ltd.
“Beloved by many, Frans Baldacchino
represented a new wave for