Snajja Maltin S01.E04 - Strumenti Tradizzjonali Maltin (MT)

Snajja Maltin is a series of features on endangered crafts in the Maltese islands being produced by the Malta Crafts Foundation in collaboration with Illum ma' Steph, with the aim of generating awareness and enhance the appreciation towards traditional crafts that are regrettably in danger of being lost, in the hope that younger generations might be enticed to revive the craft sustainably, possibly through the inclusion of innovative elements. For the fourth feature, we visited Francesco Sultana at his workshop in Mtarfa, where he spoke to us about the crafting of traditional musical instruments. In particular, Francesco focused on how he creates the instrument known in Maltese as ‘iż-żaqq’ – the local version of the bagpipes. The instrument is made up from two main parts; first, the bag, which the musician fills with air that is then slowly pressed out through to the second part, that is the pipe (in Maltese known as ‘saqqafa’), and in so doing creating the melody.