“Bliet (u Miti)” u Miro Villar
L-awtur żagħżugħ mill-Galizja, Miro Villar, rebbieħ ta’ l-ewwel edizzjoni tal-Premio Tivoli Europa Giovani għal ktieb tal-poeżija fl-1998 u finalista fl-1999, se jkun Malta biex jieħu sehem fiż-żewġ attivitajiet letterarji ewlenin ta’ Inizjamed għal din is-sena li huma parti mill-proġett “Bliet (u Miti)”.
Dawn il-lejliet, li fihom se jieħdu sehem mill-aħjar kittieba f’Malta llum, se jsiru Couvre Porte, Il-Birgu, il-Ħamis 29 u l-Ġimgħa 30 ta’ Awwissu 2002, fit-8.30pm. Id-dħul huwa b’xejn.
Miro Villar se jagħti wkoll tliet workshops ta’ kitba kreattiva fil-Kavallier ta’ San Ġakbu għal kulmin jinteressa ruħu fil-letteratura. Dawn se jsiru l-Erbgħa 28 ta’ Awwissu bejn l-10.00am u n-12.30pm u bejn is-7.00pm u d-9.30pm; u s-Sibt filgħodu bejn l-10.00am u n-12.30pm. Il-prezz huwa ta’ Lm10 għat-tliet sessjonijiet jew Lm4 għal kull sessjoni.
Il-Ħamis, 29 ta’ Awwissu, Miro Villar se jkun wieħed mill-kelliema ewlenin f’forum pubbliku dwar l-identità kulturali u l-miti li joħolquha. Il-kelliema l-oħra se jkunu Adrian Grima, kritiku letterarju u koordinatur ta’ Inizjamed, li se jitkellem dwar in-“nazzjon” bħala “rakkont” u dwar l-implikazzjonijiet tal-metafora ta’ Malta bħala raħal rurali fil-letteratura Maltija; u l-antropologu Dr. Mark-Anthony Falzon (fir-ritratt), li se jitkellem dwar il-kosmopolitanizmu. Dal-forum se jsir bil-Malti.
Fil-lejla tal-Ħamis, se jinqraw ukoll għadd ta’ xogħlijiet letterarji mhux ippubblikati minn awturi stabbiliti u oħrajn ġodda bit-tema “Bliet (u Miti)”, fosthom Victor Fenech, Henry Holland, Immanuel Mifsud, Ġorġ Peresso, Leslie Vassallo, u Karen Vella. Ix-xogħlijiet se jkunu kollha bil-Malti.
Il-Ġimgħa, 30 ta’ Awwissu, Miro Villar se jippreżenta sensiela ta’ poeżiji ġodda flimkien ma’ 29 slajd tal-fotografu mill-Galizja, Xan Muras. Il-preżentazzjoni jisimha “Diapoesia” u hija xhieda tal-ħila ta’ Villar li jlaqqa’ l-letteratura tiegħu ma’ forom oħra ta’ l-arti, l-aktar il-mużika, il-pittura u l-fotografija.
F’din il-lejla se jsiru “rappreżentazzjonijiet letterarji” ta’ xogħlijiet ġodda bil-Malti ta’ Stanley Borg, Norbert Bugeja, Maria Grech Ganado, Adrian Grima u Simone Inguanez, bis-sehem ta’ l-atturi Romina Cachia, Ray Calleja u Marcelle Teuma, il-mużiċisti Jonathan Grima u Vince Fabri, u l-artisti Savio Deguara u William Azzopardi (fir-ritratt).
Fi “Bliet (u Miti)” tal-Ġimgħa se jieħu sehem ukoll Joseph Vella, sassofonista ewlieni li tant ħalla impressjoni tajba meta daqq fil-lejla “Gżejjer” imtellgħa minn Inizjamed waqt il-festival Evenings on Campus ta’ l-2001 organizzat mill-KKU. Matul il-lejla voluntiera tal-ħanut tal-kummerċ ġust L-Arka se jkunu qed ibigħu CDs ta’ mużika etnika mid-dinja kollha.
Miro Villar twieled fl-1965. Huwa l-awtur u l-editur ta’ għadd kbir ta’ kotba u huwa wkoll kritiku letterarja li jispeċjalizza fil-letteratura tal-Galizja. Qed jippubblika sensiela ta’ kotba għat-tfal dwar Carlota, a Marmota (Xerais, 2000) u f’Settembru għandu joħroġ ktieb ta’ poeżiji tiegħu ispirati minn sensiela ta’ ritratti ta’ sajjieda mill-Galizja bl-isem ta’ Gameleiros. Miro Villar huwa l-president attwali tal-“Batallón Literario da Costa da Morte”, u minbarra l-Premju Tivoli rċieva għadd ta’ premjijiet importanti oħra għall-kitba tiegħu. Ix-xogħlijiet tiegħu nqalbu f’għaxar lingwi differenti.
Iż-żewġ lejliet ta’ “Bliet (u Miti)” qed jittellgħu minn Inizjamed bil-għajnuna tal-Kunsill Lokali tal-Birgu, Bay Street Hotel, NSTS, il-ħanut L-Arka ta’ 306, Triq San Pawl il-Belt, is-Segretarjat Parlamentari fil-Ministeru ta’ l-Edukazzjoni u l-Kavallier ta’ San Ġakbu.
Matul il-lejliet tal-Ħamis u tal-Ġimgħa, se jkun bar b’ikel u xorb Malti.
Għal aktar tagħrif dwar il-workshops u dwar l-attivitajiet ta’ “Bliet (u Miti)” ikteb lil inizjamed@maltaforum.org jew ikkuntattja lil Stanley Borg fuq 7959 5290 jew lil Adrian Grima fuq 2137 6941. L-indirizz postali huwa Fair Haven, 40, Triq Pawlu Ebejer, Ħad-Dingli. RBT 11. Żur ukoll il-website http://inizjamed.cjb.net/.
Adrian Grima | Koordinatur, Inizjamed | Is-16 ta’ Awwissu, 2002
Bliet (u Miti) – poeżija u proża* | A new publication from Inizjamed | [Cities (and Myths) – poetry and prose]
Articles by Mark Anthony Falzon, Adrian Grima, Miro Villar ٠ Poems by John Betts, Stanley Borg, Norbert Bugeja, Kenneth Busuttil, Stephen Cachia, Ray Camilleri, Victor Fenech, Sergio Grech, Maria Grech Ganado, Simone Inguanez, Immanuel Mifsud, Ġorġ Peresso, Natasha Turner, Leslie Vassallo, Karen Vella ٠ Guest Poet: Miro Villar ٠ Short stories by Stephen Cachia, Adrian Grima and Henry Holland ٠ Translations by Norbert Bugeja, Stephen Cachia, Jacqui Zammit
Published by Inizjamed 2002 ٠ Editor: Adrian Grima ٠ Cover design: Adrian Mamo ٠ Painting on the cover: William Azzopardi ٠ ISBN: 99932-620-2-1 Format: 92 pages (A5) ٠ Price Lm1.95
The publication of the book Bliet (u Miti) is an important element in the artistic project “Bliet (u Miti)” that started in April 2002 and is run by Inizjamed. The project aims to revisit the Maltese “imaginary,” the picture that the Maltese have painted of themselves while in the process of “creating” themselves as a nation.
Every major project run by Inizjamed has a publication to go with it: this allows us to “document” our work and to analyse where we are heading. This is particularly important in an organization like ours that is run completely on a voluntary basis, with all the enthusiasm and inconsistencies that both grace and paralyse voluntary work.
The book, which is all in Maltese (except for two poems in Galician), includes short, previously unpublished articles that deal with the topical issue of Malta’s cultural identity and the way that it has been constructed and a number of literary works by some of Malta’s most interesting writers. These include established authors like Victor Fenech, Ġorġ Peresso, Immanuel Mifsud, and Maria Grech Ganado; lesser-known but equally interesting writers like Leslie Vassallo and Henry Holland, and a host of young authors, from Simone Inguanez and Norbert Bugeja, to Stanley Borg and Karen Vella.
One of the more daring works is a short story called “Il-Baqta” by Henry Holland (in picture). Holland published a book of excellent poetry called L-Artist tat-Trapiż which has largely been ignored in 1996; a number of short stories have been published in Maltese by Inizjamed and one appeared in translation in Italy (“I Topi”) in a magazine called Narrasud. “Il-Baqta”, written some eight years ago, tells the story of how two violent men bully their mate known by the nickname “Il-Baqta” (which literally means “curd, curdled milk”) both physically and psychologically. It’s a captivating snapshot of violence and the effects it has on its victims; but it is also a dramatic story of loneliness and disorientation.
Like all of Holland’s works, this is a profoundly serious work that has waited for eight years to be published perhaps because of the obscene, violent language that captures so vividly the violence on which the relationships between the various characters is based.
Our decision to read “Il-Baqta” in public and to publish it in Bliet (u Miti) was based on a profound respect for the extraordinary literary qualities of the story and for the boldness of the language. Before reading it in public during the literary performance held in the maritime city of Birgu on Thursday, 29 August, we asked the audience to judge the piece only after having listened to the all of it. It has been well-received. In an interview with Henry Holland that will be published soon on Babel Med, Henry Holland points out that the publication of “Il-Baqta” with its “vulgar” language, follows that of Ġużè Stagno’s novel Inbid ta’ Kuljum (Minima, 2001), Karl Schembri’s short story collection Taħt il-Kappa tax-Xemx (Minima, 2002) and Alfred Sant’s novel La Bidu La Tmiem (PEG, 2001). Holland’s choice of language, however, is by far the most daring.
This publication also includes an article and poems by Miro Villar (b. 1965), a young literary critic who is one of Galicia’s leading poets. In 1998 Miro Villar won the first edition of the Premio Tivoli Europa Giovani for books of poetry published in Europe by poets under the age of 35. Two of the poems in this volume appear in their original in Galician while the others appear in Maltese translation. The article called “Miti tal-Galizja” (“Galician Myths”) deals with the important presence of myths in Galician culture and with the myths surrounding two places which Villar feels particularly close to: A Costa da Morte (The Coast of Death) and Fisterra (The End or Edge of the Earth); these places and the myths surrounding them feature prominently in his rich poetry.
Many of the works in this collection will be read on Super One Television in a new one-hour programme of jazz, literature and visual arts between 11.00pm and midnight. The programme called “Dizzy” is produced by Claudette Pace.
Adrian Grima
9.02
*Special Thanks to http://www.babelmed.net for allowing me to reproduce this article.
adriangrima.org 