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M A L T A
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TRADITIONAL SONGS AND GAMES
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• Traditional Songs

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• Traditional Songs are very popular with the
  Maltese.
• Some are love songs and others are dedicated to
  our country of Malta by patriotic authors.
• Most of the traditional Maltese songs are sung to
  the playing of a guitar.

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One type of traditional Maltese folk music is
called Ghana.

• This type of singing is based on rhyming verse
  sung to a slow rhythm.
• These songs shed light on the typical life of the
  Maltese and the environment of the island.

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• Ghana was sung in the past by Maltese
  peasants and poor people as a means of
  entertainment

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Folklore Music

• Folklore music is popular in Malta.
• Such music is still played nowadays even though
  years have passed since it was first introduced.
• Most of the songs relate to the past life of the
  Maltese.
• Such songs are sung by Maltese singers who are
  still popular on the island.

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Some popular Maltese Songs

• Il-Karozzin is a popular Maltese folklore song
  about a means of transport that was used in the
  past.
• Nowadays, il-karozzin is just a tourist
  attraction.

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Another popular folklore song is Il-Vapur ta
l-Art. This song is about the train that existed
from 1883 as a means of transport in Malta. It
used to work by coal. This type of transport
only worked between Valletta, which today is the
capital city of Malta, and Mdina which was the
old Capital City.
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Traditional Games
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• Maltese games were very popular in the old days.
• Nowadays, children play more with electronic
  games but years ago such games did not exist and
  so the Maltese children played games invented by
  their ancestors.
• Some of these games are still played nowadays,
  although not as much as they were played in the
  past.

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Some favourite games

• One traditional game which was played by children
  was Pizzi, pizzi kanna.
• This game is played by singing a rhyme.
• Children gather together and take it in turns to
  say the rhyme.
• Each child selected puts out a finger and the
  first one to have all ten fingers out will be the
  winner.

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Pizzi pizzi kanna Pizzi pizzi kanna Dolores ta
Sant Anna Sant Anna tal-morina Habba bicca
pellegrina. Mgharef tal-fidda Bandiera
tal-harir Noli kannoli Insara qaddisin
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• Another traditional game which nowadays is still
  played by youngsters is Dawra Durella.
• A group of children form a circle by joining
  hands, and go round while singing a rhyme.
• At the end of the rhyme they all drop into a
  squatting position.
• This is one of the traditional games where there
  are no winners or losers. It is played just for
  fun.

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Dawra Durella Dawra durella Qasba zigarella Coff
tal-bellus Caqcaqhielu lill-gharus! Axxa
axxa Missieru mastrudaxxa Mela, wiehed, tnejn,
tlieta
PLAY ME
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• Another popular game is Bumm, Bumm il-Bieb.
• Two groups of children form a straight line, each
  taking it in turn to sing a rhyme.
• Each group has to choose a girl or boy from the
  other group and try to take him or her to their
  group.

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• Other traditional games are Zibeg (beads) and
  Bocci (marbles).
• Unfortunately, some of these traditional games
  have given way to the electronic games provided
  by software companies.
• Apart from this, most traditional games were
  played outside at a time when there was little or
  no traffic in our streets.

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The End