Radju Rokku - a hyperacustic odyssey

PROMETJU L-ĦALI

poeżija ta' Alex Vella Gera
qari ta' Mark Vella

mill-antoloġija Ħbula Stirati (2007)

Prometju l-ħali (Alex Vella Gera, qari ta' Mark Vella)

The Current, CBC Radio Canada
18th December 2013

"How much for a Maltese passport? €650,000, please." 

Anna Maria Tremonti interviews Maltese poet and human rights activist Antoine Cassar on the idea to crowdfund a Maltese passport for an asylum seeker, in response to Malta's decision to sell EU citizenship to 'ultra-high net worth individuals'. 

Full programme on http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/12/18/how-much-for-a-maltese-passport-650000-please.

Copyright © CBC 2013

Radio Canada - Crowdfunding for a Maltese passport

The Passport has been set to music in different languages, in different forms.

One version in Italian, by indie band ViziDiForma, is included in their album 'Bitter' (2022).

https://vizidiforma.bandcamp.com/track/passaporto

ViziDiForma - Passaporto - dall'album Bitter

Interpretazzjoni mqanqla, bil-pianáki, fl-Università ta' Yeditepe, Istanbul. It-tieni performance tiegħi bħala "poeta trux" - l-akustika tal-kamra kienet tajba, u rnexxieli nneħħi l-kuffji minn ma' widnejja. U l-ewwel performance pubblika bħala mużiċist (!), bl-abbozz tad-diska "Problem yok" (Thewden xejn). Kont ilni xahar li rġajt qbadt il-kitarra wara eżilju ta' 30 sena.  

Traduzzjoni u ritratt ta' Selahattin Yolgedin.
Ħajr lil Versopolis.

English translation, Night 20:
https://www.versopolis.com/poet/252/antoine-cassar

Lejl 20 bil-Malti u bit-Tork - Istanbul Poetry Festival

Chiave di do diesis minore, C#m

Progressione III - i - VI - VII

17 - Ne me crains pas

Three Greek islands, three short prose poems.

Radju Rokku, Books ε & ζ

https://antoinecassar.net/2025/02/22/ithaki-agistri-samos



Itháki, Agistri, Samos

THIRD KOUKOUVÁGIA OF THE YEAR

Last night I could hear
the third koukouvágia of the year
tenderly hooting somewhere east
of my avlí
This used to mean you’re ready
for another all-nighter
of spontaneous risate, poesia,
and a little of each of
the ancient Greek words for love

This morning the Mavronás triangle
is cobalt warm
almost invisible
if not for one thin blue strip
This used to mean
you’re thinking of me
and more than ready
for me to continue exploring
your southern γεωγραφία
the valleys that lead
to the waves
of foam and salt

You’ve hidden or deleted
the Cour des miracles playlist
No more playground
no more miracles
Do you still listen
to musica italiana
ogni tanto?

All symbols vanishing
all mousikí fading
your γλυκιά φωνή
and your fig-shaded laughter
an exotic memory

One of these days
in the Twanniż dictionary
I’ll find the courage to add
(arch.)
next to the noun
Twannáki

This book is almost done
One chapter left
a building to complete
my dream without a dream
bookshelves that your slender
seductive fingers
may never brush
but once you’re finally published
your book will certainly be there
sta elliniká
and maybe
bil-Malti

The door will remain ajar
at least for the musica italiana
Battiato, Cutugno, Lucio e Lucio 
to slip out and travel east

-- Radju Rokku, Book ζ, Κεφάλαιο Έβδομο - Asteírefti sterna

https://antoinecassar.net/2025/02/28/third-koukouvagia-of-the-year/

Third koukouvágia of the year

Two 'kalimat' haiku, published in the Grassroots issue of Magma magazine. 

Gaza, Sumud

Quelques vers du Passeport, récités par Jean-Christophe Bellevaux vers la fin du programme Voleurs de feu. Ed. Faï Fioc, tr. du maltais par Elizabeth Grech. 

Passeport sur RCF Culture

Passeurs d’hospitalités – Antoine Cassar à Calais
Interview avec Philippe Wannesson, lors d’une tournée des écoles avec le Passeport, 2015

Arte Radio - Passeport - Interview à Calais

La víspera del infinito, 25.11.2017. Presentado por Alejando Alcalde. 

Radio Nacional de España - C’est la vie

Introduction and texts - https://antoinecassar.net/muzajk

4 - Ciao amore ciao

3 - Bateau ivre

9 - Muñeca checa

2 - White Knight Syndrome

13 - Hüzün

15 - Gonbidapena

1 - C'est la vie

11 - A Dunánál

PENELÓPOS

I have more than enough names
and heteronyms
però
if it existed
nidentifika wkoll 
kieku kieku
ma’
Penelópos

Pen
e 
lópos

I prefer pencil
same root anyhow
nicely diminutive
Light lead
dangling letters
taking root
on fresh-smelling
fertile paper

e
u
και

lópos
loppju
opium, anaesthetic
dil-ostra mediċina
dal-ostra litju
to soothe my ears
to soothe my wait
(but alas
not my weight
qaħbeċ ħaximoto)

Ikteb u ħassar
write and erase
Σβήσε και γράφε
erase and write

My fourth winter solstice
in north Itháki
Δεκαέξι to go

Pen-e-lópos
Pencil 
u loppju
With light lead
and not-so-light lithium
sopravviverò
Meanwhile
ενώ
dolcemente 
e sempre senza speranze
aspetterò

Penelópos

Oratorio en langues #2 - Passeport

Choeur multilingue et élèves 'allophones' de Saint-Claude, le Jura, France
Direction de Stéphanie Barbarou

Avec la dernière strophe du poème 'Passeport' chantée en français, brésilien, espagnol, grec, italien, polonais, roumain, et même en maltais (de vache française ;-) ), et quelques extraits du poème ré-écrits par les élèves selon leurs propres expériences de frontières et discrimination.
 
Traductions: Elizabeth Grech, Carmen Herrera, Biagio Lieti, Zuzanna Gawron, Marina Tătărâm

La Fraternelle / Maison du Peuple, Saint-Claude, 18.6.16

www.passaportproject.org

Oratorio en langues #2 - Passeport

"The passport of Malta was once notorious for its ability to be copied and faked. Now, it's for sale.

Poet Antoine Cassar has taken this experience, of small humiliations at checkpoints, and used it to explore issues of migration, belonging, to imagine what it's like to be a refugee, to be excluded, in order to write a longform poem called Passaport.

Written in Maltese, it has been translated into many languages and has also been transformed into performances on stage in Malta, Italy and France.

Cassar spoke to Kate Evans at the recent Ubud Writers and Readers' Festival.

'yours

this passport

for all peoples, and for all landscapes,

take it where you will, there is no need for a stamp or visa,

you can leave or stay as you please, it does not expire (...)'"

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/maltese-poet-antoine-cassar,-passaport/6919118

Books and Arts

Interview about 'Passport' on RN Books & Arts, Bali/Australia, November 2015

Extracts from the Slovenian "Potni list", set to percussion and voiced by actor Tone Gogala.

Broadcast on "Literarni večer" programme, 3. Radia Slovenija – Ars, 4.9.18

Poem adapted by Vera Pejovič and Peter Semolič, from the English version co-adapted from the original Maltese with Albert Gatt.

"Potni list" is published in Slovenia by Sanje:
https://www.sanje.si/potni-list-passaporte-passport-putovnica.html

Potni list, recited by Tone Gogala on Literarni večer, 3. Radia Slovenija

Mir-rehearsal fil-garaxx tal-Marsa, 24.12.17
Ftit jiem qabel it-tnedija ta' Erbgħin Jum (EDE) @ Studio Solipsis

Kitarri: Adolf Formosa, Alex Vella Gera 
Batterija: Mark Abela 
Versi: Antoine Cassar

https://edebooks.eu/erbghin_jum/

Lejl 34 - Ġesù, ma ltqajniex, ma nafekx m'nn Adam

PASSEPORT

adaptation par Compagnie D'Autres Cordes
musique: Franck Vigroux
voix: Jean-Marc Bourg

texte de Antoine Cassar
adaptation française (depuis le maltais) de Elizabeth Grech

enregistré à Sète, 11 avril 2013
pendant la tournée des lycées de l'Hérault
Scène Nationale de Sète
en collaboration avec RESF et La Cimade

http://dautrescordes.com
http://passaportproject.org

Passeport - adaptation par D'Autres Cordes

PASSPORT

Recital at "Migration & Borders" international conference, Univ. of Luxembourg, 26.4.2013

with Giovanni Cognoli (bass guitar) & Andrew Sammut (electric piano)


Passport - with Giovanni Cognoli (bass guitar) & Andrew Sammut (electric piano)

Maltese poet, translator, editor
Author of Passaport, 40 Jum/Days et al.
www.antoinecassar.net

Librarian, publisher @ Bibliothíki Frangískos, Limourata, Itaca
www.bibliofran.org

Antoine Cassar

Pinned to spotlight

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