MERHBA This site is dedicated to all things Malta. All I can tell is you is Malta is a very special place. It's where my grandfather Charlie Camilleri is from. I've been there many times and have lots of wonderful friends and family on the island. Working on this site creates a nice diversion from music and I encourage you to come back frequently as I'll be updating a lot! I'm slowly building this site to introduce those interested in Malta to all I can on a more personal level. Scroll down to see lots of interesting bits culminating with an ever-growing links list. I hope to post more video in the near future because Malta has to be seen to be believed! xx, Benna

BENNA / Malta

MALTA VIDEO

If you've never been to Malta but are curious or just want to revisit the island, check out my Malta Video page.

MALTESE CONNECTION

SCROLL DOWN TO BOTTOM OF SECTION FOR THE LATEST!

December 28, 2006: Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Last year at this time I was in Malta for a whirlwind week of visiting with family and was literally zooming all around the island including Gozo. I didn't get to see all cousins due to the time constraints--but I did get to check in with Ian, Mark and Alison of the Beangrowers which was cool because the last time we saw eachother was when I was hosting them in NYC. But that was all last year and this year I'll have to be content with watching the nightly news broadcast which I can watch on demand at di-ve (see Media link below). I can get a feel for what's going on up-to-the-minute and bone up on my Maltese. In the meantime, I've been kept up-to-date on the Beans' latest project which is being mixed even as we speak. Latest news is that the Beans have signed on with Minty Fresh here in the US which means you will definitely be hearing their latest effort real soon and even more exciting is that you will be able to catch them live when they make it over here to go on the road! Then everyone here can realize what the rest of the world already knows--they rock!

November 16, 2006: Spending a lot of time exploring all that I can in order to bring it all together for everyone to see at this site. My favorite features right now are the webcams found at various locations around the island. Scroll down to the new webcam category. The Spinola Bay webcam is solid (never down) and featured at many other websites. The Gozo webcam is a tough one--I've never seen it work--though they do offer webshots as a consolation. The coolest webcam has to be the one in Sliema because of its continuous motion--I saw someone walking their dog at 7:00 AM Malta time--unbelievable! Doesn't always work but when it does, its great!

November 5, 2006: check this out....

October 22, 2006: It never ceases to amaze me what kind of odd connections arise every now and then with the island of Malta. For instance, this week I discovered that the priest who "fondled" Congressman Foley 40 years ago is living in Gozo! I suspected as much when i heard the news report that he was living on a "small european island". I put 2 and 2 together, did some googling and found my answer!

June 30, 2007: Hopefully you are going to be able to make it over to Malta this summer! It is the only place to be as far as I'm concerned! Every weekend is a Festa complete with processions and fireworks! I miss my cousins and friends and can't wait til I can go back again and jump in the sea!!!! But in the mean time at least I can keep in touch with all these wonderful links below and my Malta videos!

September 9 , 2007: Ian from Beangrowers has just posted a couple of gr8 videos to his youtube page. Check out these kids' renditions of White Stripes and Beangrowers songs. They're awesome!!!!



April 12, 2008: Going to Malta in August and can hardly wait! It's been a couple of years and I really miss everyone!

May 10 , 2008: Lots of cool Malta news...Amenabar is shooting his new film "Agora" in Malta for about 15 weeks. They're using lots of maltese crew to re-create Alexandria, Egypt 400 AD or something like that. Big stars, big everything. Good for Malta. See the new links in the Media section below for more production details....Sadly, half the webcams I had linked seem to be down--I'll miss them terribly....Beangrowers have released their new CD "Not in A Million Lovers." Check out their fabulous new video below in the Beangrowers section.

July 9 , 2008: Check out this gr8 podcast interview with Duncan Bone at directorsnotes.com. Bone (fellow Maltese), directed the Beans's new video "Not in a Million Lovers," and gives a complete play-by-play explanation of how this deceptively simple video of digital stills (over 1,000) was pulled off. Truly inspiring!

BENNA THE NAME / How I Got Mine

It's some coincidence that I share my name with a major dairy manufacturer on the island. I was named Benna because my mom had a dream and when she awoke it suddenly came to her. Though she had in mind to name me (if a boy) Benjamin--so this was very convenient!

The name Benna pops up everywhere--in books by Lorrie Moore and Jamaica Kincaid. In the West Indies it's the name for prayer songs. In Italy it's the name for a very useful piece of construction machinery that can pick up almost anything. In Turkey, there's a hotel by the name and in Michigan there's a car dealership. I think you get the idea. You can go farther and deeper into the search engines and find tons of references to "Benna" in the mid-east, Iceland and the US of A.

If you're a Benna or have a Benna-story, email us! We'd luv to hear from you!

WHO ARE THE BEANGROWERS?

The Beangrowers are Alison Galea, Ian Schranz and Mark Sansone--a mighty band of three from Malta. I picked up their first 2 CD's--Beangrowers and 48K--while in Malta back in 2001 and fell instantly in love! They write great rock songs with very imaginative lyrics. Their most recent CD Dance Dance Baby is available at CDBaby. Check out their performance on Austin Fox-TV from a past trip to SXSW; also check out the video for the title song of their soon-to-be-released CD Not In A Million Lovers (Minty Fresh). Visit Beangrowers.net, MySpace and YouTube for more.