It’s high time to listen to your favourite Christmas songs. It is also time, however, to uncover some of the ones that are overlooked. Here’s a list of alternative Maltese Christmas songs to listen to.
Warning: In this list there are existentialist songs, heartbreak songs, songs of social criticism and even a stoner Christmas song. Christmas loversâ discretion is advised.
âAnother Lonely Christmasâ by Divine Sinners
This lyrically sour take on Christmas is beautifully juxtaposed to its merry tune. It leaves us with a different experience of the season. It also reminds us to engage with some sense of perspective. Maybe not everyoneâs in such a cheery mood, maybe some people are in grief, whilst others are in heartbreak. In the end, the song itself picks you up in its melodic tongue-in-cheek nature.Â
âTinsel Mal-Wires tad-Dawlâ by KarmaÄĄenn (feat. Keith Fenech)
Letâs start by saying that this whole album is worth a listen. This is just the onlyâincidentallyâChristmas song, in the same way that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It is but, you know what I mean.
This beautiful track depicts a mundane Christmas setting set in ÄŠamrun. The title captures this imagery of something which is meant to be decorative (the tinsel) spiraling around a cable. This is not inherently the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but somehow it captures a certain kazin-like Maltese aesthetic.Â
As the characters engage in their everyday life taking photos, getting dressed, and enjoying the smell of the neighborâs cooking, the neverending construction and land development in the country goes on and on without a break.
âChristmas Time (Original Christmas Carol)â by Duħħan
Alternative Christmas songs tend to be slightly cynical by nature since the optimism that comes with classic Christmas songs is sometimes a bit too much when you consider the harsh realities of the world. Nevertheless there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, and whilst âAnother Lonely Christmasâ by Divine Sinners is somewhat one of them, âChristmas Timeâ by Duħħan is definitely the one.
Maybe it is time for this great stoner song to become the hit it was meant to be, especially with the reference to smoking the Christmas tree and getting high in the chorus; weâd have to admit, itâs quite before its time.
âMilied Mingħajr TiĆŒjinâ by Michael AzzopardiÂ
The most recent addition to the Maltese Christmas catalog, this song by singer-songwriter Michael Azzopardi is a beautiful song of yearning. The suggestion is that the persona in the song is grieving the death of some relationship that clearly meant a lot to him.
Although the songâs melody is groovy and enjoyable, and somewhat Christmassy, the lyrics are romantically melancholic, bringing a lovey-dovey mood to Christmas.
âOh Shit Itâs Christmas Timeâ by David Schembri
David Schembriâs song is a short but hard-hitting song about another year being over. Quite existentialist and some would say depressing, it is definitely something everyone relates to, perhaps a feeling that is more prevalent after all the festivities in the beginning of January.
The production of the song disguises it as almost a medieval hymn of Christmas, and although itâs lyrically very far from being one, in the end it expresses the sense of loss with time passing but also emphasizes the that in being aware of this doesnât necessarily mean we have no control on how to live our lives.
All five of these Maltese Christmas songs have made it to our list for a reason. We canât pick our favorite. Can you?
