With regular references to Keith Holmes and his mandolin in various Malta 2000 reports, it seemed appropriate to report on our return to the origins of his great interest in the instrument.

Like the ‘Hole in the Wall’ and others, The ‘Nappa Bar’ was a popular haunt for many of our parents.  Although very small they provided very local hospitality and lifelong friendships which have endured through subsequent generations. The great attraction of the Nappa Bar, was a small group of unassuming but extremely talented musicians -  Carmello, Gianni, Giuseppe, Cecil and Jean-Marie - who would have been astonished to think that their music would still be alive and loved after nearly forty years and being re-recorded long after most of them had gone. Although our musical tastes in the 60s were largely influenced by Radio Luxembourg, the Sliema Café Juke Box and Saturday night at the Pembroke Youth Club, some of us were also captivated by the very mellow Mediterranean sounds played by and for those Nappa Bar regulars.

Keith Holmes says: “My interest in the mandolin all started with a dearly loved but scratchy copy of a tape ‘recorded live’ one evening in the Nappa Bar in the early 60's, and acquired by my parents. There were also rather vague teenage recollections of being there in the Nappa Bar and later, of playing guitar to accompany a mandolin player in a nearby pub, the Dhow Bar. I have since discovered that the mandolin player was Carmello, the musician on the original family tape.  What a discovery!  Since Malta the tape has regularly provided cheerful 'wallpaper music' for social occasions in my family home and made me keen to get and learn to play the mandolin.

At Duns,  Tim and I discovered our common interest in the Nappa Bar and its music and later Tim provided additional, clearer recordings from an old reel to reel tape recorded by Viv's father in M'tarfa!  The recorded 'session' was made at Viv's parents home following an introduction to 'The Boys' by Tim's family and their close friend Salvu Falzon, Nappa Bar regulars.  The new tunes and new arrangements enhanced our wistful recollection of the times and the ambience of some 36 years earlier.  We were compelled to combine the two collections and they have since been committed to CD.
The 'Malta 2000' trip provided the ideal opportunity for us to seek out the place itself.  A tiny narrow street-corner bar just up from St Julian's Bay behind Egmont Close. It was even tinier in those days - now it has doubled its seating area but has no other music than from an old transistor radio.  One or two of the locals recalled ‘the boys’ and their music and in a frame behind the bar among all sorts of other precious objects, are three black and white photos of the musicians and their friends all those years ago.
A worn old mandolin on the wall provides another nostalgic memento of those times.

And now at last my chance to play mandolin there at the Nappa Bar - Ahhhh!"

Keith and I had arranged to return to the Nappa Bar on a ‘free’ night to re-create those teenage experiences. Like the proverbial Pied Piper,  Keith drew a large collection of friends from the group who joined us at the Nappa and sang along, sharing in our experience until the early hours - probably rather later into the evening than the local residents might have preferred!  What a treat!  For many of us, Keith and his mandolin will always provide those vivid musical reflections of the ambience that is Malta and the fabulous reunion in 2000.

In fact we also discovered that the Tal Handaq Reunion has a surprising number of talented ‘performers’ and during our visit to the school on Saturday 16 September it was clear that many had not forgotten their lines as they took to the stage.  We were treated to excerpts from numerous RN School Tal Handaq productions and in addition to a musical group we surely have the makings of an amateur dramatic society!!