Roderick "Rigu" Bovingdon (born 28 September 1942) is an Anglo-

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

Australian writer, academic, promoter of Maltese culture, social commentator, translator and musician.

Early life

Roderick Bovingdon was born in Attard,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, on 28 September 1942 to Rebekka Debono and Henry Charles Bovingdon, an Englishman born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The family emigrated from Malta by boat and disembarked on the shores of Woolloomooloo,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 14 January 1959, when he was 16 years old.

Career

In 1968, Roderick Bovingdon founded the first School of Maltese Language outside of Malta. in 1974, he played a key role in the initiation of a popular Maltese song festival in Australia.

National for the Maltese Language

He has written numerous opinion pieces and commentary criticizing the

National Council for the Maltese Language The National Council for the Maltese Language ( mt, Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti) was founded in April 2005 with the enactment of the Maltese Language Act (Att dwar l-Ilsien Malti) (Chap. 470) in the Maltese Parliament. Its work is to regu ...

's prescriptivist stance and dismissive approach to diasporic linguistic norms.

Council for Maltese Living Abroad

In 2012, Tonio Borg, then-

Deputy Prime Minister of Malta The Deputy Prime Minister of Malta ( mt, Viċi Prim Ministru) is the deputy head of government and second-most senior officer in the Government of Malta after the Prime Minister of Malta, being a minister in his own right. Constitutional fun ...

and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta, appointed Roderick Bovingdon to the Board of Experts as the Maltese community expert for Australia as part of the Council for Maltese Living Abroad, a council tasked with "keeping a registry of non-governmental organisations that were founded overseas by Maltese communities," among other initiatives and services for the Maltese diaspora.

Musical career

In 1974, Rigu Bovingdon pioneered Maltese-language pop music outside Malta with the release of ''Bejn il-Ħbieb'' (Between friends), which was recorded in Sydney, Australia. Għana singers Rigu Bovingdon and Joe Galea were featured in ''L’Imnarja, Fête des lumières (Malte),'' a 1983 documentary produced by the

French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

(CNRS).

Personal life

In 1965, he married Iris Pace. They have two sons.

Awards and honours

On 13 October 2012, Bovingdon was named Honorary member of the Maltese Poets Association (in Maltese: Għaqda Poeti Maltin) His 2015 book ''Laurent Ropà: L-Intellettwali Għawdxi-Franċiż'' was considered for the 2016 National Book Prize in the Historiographic Research category. On 13 December 2018, he was awarded the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika (Medal for Service to the Republic).

Discography

* ''L-Aħħar Għana'' (Unknown, Cassette) * ''Maltin u Għawdxin'' (1977, Vinyl)

Publications

* 1982 - ''Jekk'' * 1985 - ''Maltese Literature in Australia'' * 2001 - ''The Maltese Language of Australia - Maltraljan'' * 2009 - ''The Ballad of Truganini : Original Version and Translation from Maltese Il-ballata tat-Truganini'' * 2015 - ''Laurent Ropà: L-Intellettwali Għawdxi-Franċiż'' * 2019 - ''Maltralian : the Maltese ethnolect of Australia''

References

External links

2019 interview on SBS about Aporija mill-Ġdid
(in Maltese)
2020 interview with Joe Axiaq about the development of the Maltese language in Australia
(in Maltese)
JOE GALEA & RIGU AND THE DIPLOMATS - ''Bejn il-Ħbieb'' (1976)
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Bovingdon, Roderick Living people Maltese-language writers from Australia English-language writers from Malta Italian-language writers from Australia Italian-language writers from Malta 20th-century Australian poets 20th-century Maltese poets Australian male poets Maltese male poets Australian academics Linguists from Australia Linguists from Malta Australian musicians Maltese musicians Australian translators Maltese translators Maltese–English translators English–Maltese translators Arabic–Maltese translators French–Maltese translators Greek–Maltese translators Italian–Maltese translators Maltese folk music 1942 births