Għana (folk music)

Għana (/ˈɑːnə/ AH-nə) is a type of traditional folk music from Malta. Għana has two literal meanings. The first is richness, wealth and prosperity; the second is associated with singing, verse, rhyme and even kantaliena, a type of singing with a slow rhythm. Għana can be broken up into formal and informal practices. The origin of the word is Arabic Ghena or Ghina غنى/غناء which means the same : richness or singing/songs/lyrics, etc.

A singer in this field is locally called għannej (literally 'the singer'). All għana singing consists of "a tight voice type" with "straining of throat muscles and controlled use of diaphragm muscles to produce a loud sound".

Maltese music has been said to reflect influence from the country's history of successive occupations under different colonial powers, including Maghrebi Arabs, and Aragonese. Għana has been called "a synthesis of North African and European music." The improvised singing duels of the spirtu pront style of għana have been compared to the exchanges of poetry found in Zajal, as well as structurally to certain types of lyric songs of the Italian peninsula; such as stornelli and strambotti.

One of the earliest mentions of għana on record is from 1791. A French knight, François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, published a book called Malte par une Voyageur Francais, which included the lyrics of three għanjiet (songs), as transcribed for him by a Maltese librarian, Gioacchino Navarro.