Mikiel Cutajar Is-Superstar

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Mikiel Cutajar Is-Superstar

Mikiel Cutajar Is-Superstar.

also known as Kelinu, is currently one Malta's foremost folksingers. He was born in Żejtun on the 3rd September 1963.

He folk sang publicly for the first time at the age of nine, in the main square of his hometown Żejtun, together with Jesmond Galea Tal-Kalora. His wife is the grand daughter of renowned folksinger Mikiel Abela Il-Bambinu.

Is-Superstar organises various performances in several locations around Malta. These include Ġnien Kottonera in Bormla, Ħal Għaxaq parish square, together with the Santa Marija Band Club and Tarxien parish square, with the Banda tad-Duttrina.

Kelinu is proficient in the three main forms of għana – improvised verse, high pitched and the folk ballad. He has sung with the major folk singers of the older generation such as Ninu Galea Il-Kalora and Żeppi Meli Ta' Sika and his contemporaries, amongst them Frans Baldacchino il-Budaj.

Lining up for the improvised verse model, he regularly groups up with Jesmond Galea Tal-Kalora, his son Ronaldu Cutajar Tas-Superstar, Frans Cachia Il-Budaj Tas-Siġġiewi, Joe Busuttil Il-Bużu and Joe Grech Ta' Raħal Ġdid.


Rare Xandir Malta file footage features Kelinu together with his Mikiel Abela Il-Bambinu, Anġla Mifsud Iċ-Ċalija and Żaren Mangion Il-Folfol, all four hailing from Żejtun.

He also accepted several challenges for singing bouts with Frans Cassar Il-Bloqq, including those at the Birkirkara Band Club and in Qormi.

Cutajar has also written and folk sung several ballads, including two about prize horses Isard du Pont and Invetro de Burgh, one in honour of veteran folksinger Pawlu Seychell Il-Għannej, another entitled It-Tbatija tad-Dinja and one It-Traġedja ta' Ħal Għaxaq, which recalls the fireworks factory explosion in Għaxaq on the 15th February 1970, which left five dead.

Mikiel Cutajar Is-Superstar performing at the Rialto, December 2012.

In December 2012 Cutajar released a folk ballad in memory of former Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff, during a folk singing session held at the Rialto in Bormla and in 2013 a folk ballad in honour of new Labour Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Kelinu is probably the most travelled għannej in history. He visited Australia on five occasions, - the first time when a mere eighteen year old - with improvised verse bouts in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. In Australia he has folk sung with Ġużeppi Camilleri Jimmy Tal-Fjur, Żaren Attard Il-Bukaċċ, Leli Sultana Il-Moni and Ġużeppi Azzopardi Ras Il-Bagħal.

He has also visited Toronto,Canada and Detriot, United States twice, where he folk sung with Karmnu Xuereb In-Namru and another occasion in the United Kingdom on the invite of the Klabb tal-Maltin in London, where he sung with Fredu Abela Iż-Żejtuni.

Cover of folk ballad on former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.

Folk music enthusiasts fondly recollect Kelinu improvised verse bouts with three other folk singing greats, Karmnu Fenech Il-Ħandrolla, Frans Baldacchino il-Budaj and Salvu Galea Tal-Kalora as amongst the most poignant in lyrical content.


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