Ta' Verna Folk Band

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The group Ta’ Verna was first established around forty years ago and was part of the Xagħra Kummittiva, a traditional Gozitan dance held in this village during Carnival. After coming across certain difficulties, the group had to disband.

In 2004, George Bonello was approached by some of the former musicians who expressed their desire to re-establish the group, and asked him to join them with his accordion as the leading instrument to take part from the Kummittiva. Therefore the group was again brought together, albeit with a different format, consisting of the accordion, violin, harmonica, friction drum (known as żavżafa), Maltese tambourine (known as tanbur) and guitar.

On February of the same year, Ta' Verna partecipated in our first activity, performing with the group Kummittiva Xagħra. Other than Xagħra, they also played in other villages in Gozo.

Their growing popularity took them further than Gozitan villages to Tuscany in Italy, Austria and the Slovakian city of Nitra, where they placed third from the partecipating foreign groups, through their exposition and promotion of Maltese folk music.

The group also has two female vocalists, [Audrey Marie Bartolo] and [Maria Portelli].

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