Albert Ganado: Ħajja Mhux tas-Soltu
Autobiography by Albert Ganado
Edited by Austin Sammut and Sergio Grech
Published by Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2020
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Malta’s national anthem Lil din l-art ħelwa has today become part of the routine fixtures of Maltese nationhood, enshrined in the Constitution, accepted effortlessly by all shades of political opinion. The inspirational story of Dr George Borg Olivier’s dogged relentlessness to have the Innu Malti recognised and dignified, against equally obstinate colonialist resistance, was wholly unknown, until recently revealed by Prof. Joseph M. Pirotta in his 2016 book Nation, Pride and Dignity. Borg Olivier and the National Anthem, Malta.
Lord Grenfell, Governor of Malta, who banned the playing of the new national anthem.
But, as it happens, Lil din l-art ħelwa, words by the poet Dun Karm Psaila, music by Robert Samut, first sung in 1922, is only our second national anthem. The story of the first, almost totally overlooked and forgotten, was recently unearthed by Dr Albert Ganado in his article ‘When the Maltese national anthem was barred by closing the Royal Theatre’ (The Sunday T
Much is known and has been written about Malta’s first Governor, Sir Thomas Maitland (1760-1824), who was appointed to these islands in July 1813, and who, two-and-a-half years later, in December 1815, was also appointed Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. This latter appointment necessitated frequent and protracted absences from Malta during which the administration of these islands devolved upon the lieutenant governor, who from 1819 until 1825, was Sir Manley Power (1773-1826).
Hon. Edgar Bonavia, CMG, unknown photographer. Author’s collection
Maitland’s absences varied in length from anywhere between two to four months; however, for the 19 months between February 1820 and September 1821, the government of Malta fell on Power’s shoulders for all but 10 days of that period. Even though Power governed Malta diligently during his master’s absences, he is barely remembered in Malta today; Power garners no mention in either A.V. Laferla’s detailed two-volume Bri