Difference between revisions of "Joe Grech"
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
=== Singles === | === Singles === | ||
* 1968 Il-Kaċċatur | * 1968: Il-Kaċċatur | ||
* 1968 Ku Klu Ku Klu | * 1968: Ku Klu Ku Klu | ||
* | * Il-Festa Tagħna | ||
* 1969 Mananni Fl-Imnarja | * 1969: Mananni Fl-Imnarja | ||
* 1969 Malta Tagħna | * 1969: Malta Tagħna | ||
* | * Is-Sajjied | ||
* | * Saħħa Malta | ||
* | * Il-Vakanzi | ||
* | * Lizew Tal-Fifra | ||
* 1969 Il-lejl tal-Vitorja | * 1969: Il-lejl tal-Vitorja | ||
* 1971 Marija l-Maltija | * 1971: Marija l-Maltija | ||
* 1971 In-Nassab | * 1971: In-Nassab | ||
* 1972 Welcome To Malta | * 1972: Welcome To Malta | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
Revision as of 16:13, 29 March 2013
Joe Grech (born 9 February 1934) is a popular Maltese singer from Bormla, who has been active in the local music scene since the 1950s.
He started playing the trumpet at a very early age with the Żejtun Band Club, but his real love was singing, even though he featured on stage with the Stage Commandos.
In 1960 he won the Malta Song Festival with his own composition. Eleven years later he represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Dublin with his song Marija l-Maltija. Since it was sung in the Maltese language, this rendered it the first Eurovision song which was sung in a Semitic language. The song was composed by Joe Grech himself, and the lyrics were written by Charles Mifsud. The orchestra of the Eurovision Song Contest was conducted by Maestro Anthony Chircop, the brother of another Maltese tenor and film star Oreste Kirkop of 1956 film The Vagabond King.
Incidentally it was Oreste Kirkop who presented the winning trophy to Joe Grech on the night of that first 1960 Malta Song Festival. The song "Marija l-Maltija" was translated into Swedish and was included in the repertoire of the Swedish singer Lasse Berghagen.
Prior to the 1971 Eurovision entry he had released Il-Kaċċatur, Il-Festa Tagħna and Ku Klu Ku Klu on 78rpm vinyl with the Maltadisk lable in the late Sixties. A former popular singer in Maltese night clubs, Grech also toured the British music circuit with Bayliss Organization. He has also released a long play entitled Saħħa Malta, that was recorded with W & G Records of Melbourne, popular with Maltese emigrants in Australia, Canada and the United States. The song Evviva l-Maltin was written specifically for his audience in Australia and is still popular with the Maltese diaspora.
He is the brother of religious philantropist Dun Victor Grech, the founder of Caritas Malta.
Discography
Albums
- Saħħa Malta
- 1995: Eviva L-Maltin
- 2000: Katarin
Singles
- 1968: Il-Kaċċatur
- 1968: Ku Klu Ku Klu
- Il-Festa Tagħna
- 1969: Mananni Fl-Imnarja
- 1969: Malta Tagħna
- Is-Sajjied
- Saħħa Malta
- Il-Vakanzi
- Lizew Tal-Fifra
- 1969: Il-lejl tal-Vitorja
- 1971: Marija l-Maltija
- 1971: In-Nassab
- 1972: Welcome To Malta