Salvu Pace s-Sulari

Salvu Pace Is-Sulari

Salvu Pace Is-Sulari.

was born on the 2nd February 1947. He hails from Tarxien and was considered as one of the għana stalwarts of the mid-Seventies and Eighties.

Maltese have a habit of describing someone quite the opposite of what he is, and he earned the nickname Is-Sulari, literally 'storeys', due to his diminutive size when compared with the more corpulent singers like Pawlu Degabriele Il-Bies and Żeppi Meli Ta' Sika.

As a young ten-year old boy Salvu used to spend time in the fields of Tal-Bajjad, nowadays Santa Luċija, with his shepherd friend tending goats - Tarxien was noted for its goats - and it was here that he practiced his first lines.

He grew up in the folk music environment, tailing his maternal uncle is Leli Azzopardi Il-Bugazz to events all over Malta, but mostly at Lucy Casha's outlet in Il-Belt il-Ġdida, Ġolin Axisa Ta' Kostanza, Fredu Abela Il-Bamboċċu's brother in Żabbar and at Karmena tal-Marsa, where Sunday late afternoon sessions were held as soon as the horseraces were over. This exposed him to Żeppi Meli Ta' Sika, Pawlu Seychell Il-Għannej and Salvu Darmanin Ir-Ruġel. The latter is his favourite folksinger, due to his lyrical content.

Pace's initial foray as a folksinger wasn't remarkable. He was invited to folk sing at Il-Qajjenza in Birżebbuġa at Pawlu Degabriele Il-Bies's shack but stopped half way through due to stage fright. He was encouraged to give it another go, this time in Il-Belt il-Ġdida at the bar run by folk guitarist Fredu Grech Il-Irixx, incidentally also from Tarxien, with three noted folksingers - Żeppi Meli Ta' Sika, Fredu Abela Il-Bamboċċu and Ċikku Degiorgio Tal-Fjuri, and he fared well.

Pace has written four folk ballads, his favourite being one of sixty stanzas about Jesus Christ, which he has sung twice - one on Net Television and another in the residence of Fredu Abela Iż-Żejtuni; a ballad in remembrance of Leli Il-Bugazz and another about a blind girl. His favourite folk ballad is Pawlu Seychell Il-Għannej's story on a young boy mutilated to death by his dogs in Żabbar.

In the 1990s Pace was also organizing folk singing sessions at the Tarxien Boċċi Club, which he ran, having the best folk singers around for two one-hour improvised verse bouts, that used to attract six hundred people. These sessions were usually recorded by Leli Il-Bugazz. Meanwhile, at the crest of his popularity Pace was invited to folk sing regularly in most Gozitan villages, including schools during the summer recess. His most memorable night was when the subject sung about was about a parrot, featuring also Pawlu Seychell Il-Għannej and Ninu Galea Il-Kalora.

Is-Sulari has also visited Sydney and Melbourne twice, through an invitation by Lorry Galea. During the first visit he was joined by Pawlu Seychell Il-Għannejand Fredu Abela Iż-Żejtuni, the second with Mikiel Cutajar Is-Superstar.

After forty years of folk singing, Pace's voice has faltered and he has now retired, even though he still yearns for those folk singing sessions.