Frans Baldacchino l-Budaj

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Frans Baldacchino "il-Budaj" (1943-2006) was one of the leading Maltese traditional folksingers, known as għannejja. Born in Żejtun in 1943, he was known for his harmonius voice and his lyrical wit.

Frans Baldacchino

Featuring in many folk festivals in Malta and Australia his, together with Karmenu Bonnici il-Baħri in the French album Inedit Malte: Ballades et joutes chantées. This album includes the traditional ballad Il-Għarusa tal-Mosta. He also collaborated with Mannie Casha, an għana researcher and musician residing in Australia, towards the release of the album Tila.

In 2001 he wrote the lyrics of the winning song "Tisimgħu Tissaħħar" in the L-Għanja tal-Poplu festival, which he sung with Priscilla Psaila. Through his artistic partecipation in such festivals he was engaging a new audience that had hitherto being maligned to traditional folksinging. Other than being considered as an intellectual within the folksinging community, he was also a naive artist and published a book entitled Imrieżaq ta' Moħħi.

Baldacchino was a regular participant in Etnika's annual projects, including Bumbum in 2003, Il-Ħolma Ġgantija in 2004 and Żażu Klabb in 2005. His funeral mass in Żejtun, attended by the President of Malta Fenech Adami, was not without commotion, climaxing when four folksingers stalled the funeral procession by singing improvised verse in his honour on the church parvis.

Frans Baldacchino's monument in Luqa Briffa Garden, Żejtun.

A full size monument for him, designed by sculptor Anton Agius, was inaugurated in Luqa Briffa Garden in his hometown in 2008.

External links