On Saturday 19th March Ġulina Mifsud, or as commonly know by her nickname as iċ-Ċalija, passed away at the age of 97 years old. Ġulina was a well known folk singer (għannejja).
Throughout her lifetime she sang with the best folk singers (għannejja) on the island and found no difficulty in joining in with the għannejja notwithstanding the fact that all of these were male. Ġulina had also toured Australia amongst the Maltese emigrants together with other Maltese għannejja singing the local għana.
Some years ago, Ġulina was also honoured with the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika medal.
Those who know Ġulina remember her as a very cheerful woman and with her beautiful voice she used to sing all forms of għana, but she was most known for singing the old għana pieces known as “Għana tal-Banju” (the cloth washers songs).
Wirt iż-Żejtun 