Grezzju Dalli l-Garawwa

Grezzju Dalli Il-Garawwa

Grezzju Dalli Il-Garawwa

is a folk singer born on the 17th October 1962. He is currently the only folksinger from Gudja, and uses his maternal family's nickname.

He became captivated by għana when he used to attend folk music sessions at Bamboċċu Station in Marsascala, Ta' Ġanna and Menu's Bar in Żejtun and other venues listening to Ninu Galea Il-Kalora, Żeppi Meli Ta' Sika, Ninu Gatt Ir-Rajsu, Salvu Pace Is-Sulari, Leli Azzopardi Il-Bugazz and Salvu Cassar Il-Ħamra.

At the age of twenty he began to folk sing in Żabbar with three local folksingers, Jesmond Gili Il-Lonz, Leli Scicluna Id-Dean Martin and Johnny Caruana Il-Perillu.

This was followed soon after by Dalli's first public appearance as a folk singer, at Mikiel Is-Sefsefin's bar near Tal-Ħlas in Qormi, where he participated in an improvised verse bout with Żeppi Falzon Ix-Xakkaj, Nardu Tal-Gass and Kalċidon Vella Id-Danny.

He warms up for Maltese singer John Laus Tal-Lajżar, appreciating his lively and merry voice and rhyme, and sees in him the Maltese equivalent to Johnny Cash. Laus's folk ballad Tal-Għaġin, a tragic account of a young boy who inadvertently dies due to his mother's pasta cooking lined with poison meant for others to consume, is Dalli's personal favourite.

Grezzju Dalli Il-Garawwa improvising his next quatrain.

Dalli's preferred folksinger is Ninu Galea Il-Kalora for his clear voice and ability to keep to the subject in improvised verse.

Grezzju Dalli is a regular participant during the annual Għanafest folk festival held in the Argotti Botanical Gardens every June.

External Links

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jA4_CRqiRE Event held at Libru Bar, Mosta 2013
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkwQxxqYhws Folk singing at Trust Bar, Żejtun 2013.