If you’re thinking of going to the Mdina Festival this weekend, there’s still Sunday 8th to catch it. This clip gives you an idea of what to expect: men in tights, troubadour types, bards, lords with falcons and owls, country dancing girls in flouncy skirts, craft stalls, flag waving, marching men, fighting men and more.
The festival has become more international in the past year or two with the San Marino Sbandieratori and German band ‘Incoraptus’. We particularly liked the animated drummer of Incoraptus – he’s centre back, bouncing around, near the end of this 2.5 minute clip.
Verdict from our family outing today: good fun, great laugh, plenty to watch and don’t miss ‘Incoraptus’.
More Info:
See event details and programme here.
See also our main post on the Festival.
@Noel, you’re right; it did have quite an international programme. And Malta has plenty of animation troupes – take Knights Experience at Montekristo Estates and all the groups which perform for the various conference and incentive gatherings here. I don’t think it matters where the entertainment comes from – it’s nice to have a mix. I see a lot of this in the UK, where twinned towns tend to get over groups from their overseas’ partner towns. No harm. I didn’t go to Mdina this year, but the past two festivals I went to had a lot of local crafts people showing their skills and trades – honey, weaving, pottery etc. That may tip the balance.
I guess in my case, I was just looking for a way of my 8 year-old having a good morning out. I didn’t get to last year’s event – but I did hear the leader from Incoraptus saying they’d been to Malta before. Can the Maltese do re-enactments? Sure, there are plenty of those going on in hotels and ‘private functions.’ Should an Mdina Medieval Festival be ‘exclusively Maltese’? I’m not sure about that. But, as you rightly point out, it wasn’t ‘Maltese culture’ – it was just an excuse for people to enjoy the sun, architecture and grab a beer while the kids got a chance to compete with some really loud noise, for a change. A localised version of the Eurovision, if you like..
I went to Mdina (Malta) and I felt very surprised to see more forigners taking part in our Mdina Malta than the Maltese is it possible that we don’t have skilled people to take part,don’t you think we have our own people to offer this type of the Maltese culture,I felt that I was in an other country not in Malta,it is going to be bouring if we don’t change these coming people next year I nearly recognized all the partecipants that took part last year