In the nineteenth century (1800 - 1899) there was a desire to Malta have its national anthem. In 1850 Anton Vassallo composed a hymn Ghan Lil Malta, which was sung often during the twentieth century on many events.

In 1922 the Colonel Professor Robert Samut composed a short piece of music.  At that time Laferla was the Director of  primary schools, and was thinking to hire someone to compose a short hymn for children in government schools.

Upon hearing Samut's music, Laferla liked it and thought that it was very good for its purpose. He then asked Monsignor Karm Psaila, the national poet, to write some verses to go with the music.

The poems of Dun Karm were known for his patriotic and religious nature. He wrote short verses to Samut's music.They were short verses, however showed two important elements of the spirit of the Maltese.

In December of 1922 the anthem was sung for the first time in government schools. It was sung for the first time in public on 27 December 1922 and 6 January 1923, when two children sung it in a concert at the Manoel Theatre.



After these two representations, someone changed some words from the hymn. This angered Dun Karm, and as a protest wrote an article in the newspaper. Since then nobody altered the original version of these verses.

On 3 February 1923 it was sung again in another concert at the Manoel Theatre, this time by children of a school in Sliema, and with the original verses by Dun Karm. The anthem was played by Band of the Duke of Edinburgh, of Vittoriosa.



The Maltese government recognized the anthem as the official anthem of Malta on 22 February 1941. The Constitution of Independence (1964) confirmed it as the National Anthem of Malta, and now it is one of the symbols of identity of the Maltese people.

An interesting event took place on 25 March 1945, in Gzira before the football match between England and Yugoslavia. At that time Malta was still under the British rule, and the British Governor was present. Before the game, the band performed the anthems of Yugoslavia and England. As the Governor was about to sit down, the Maltese crowd remained standing and began singing the Maltese anthem. Once the  Governor saw this he remained standing until the end of the Anthem.

The Maltese anthem is decribed as a request coming from the heart. The anthem is played daily on the media (radio and television) and at any function attended by the President of Malta, the Prime Minister and other important personalities in the government. Also the anthem is played daily in schools and on important national occasions.

L-Innu Malti

​Maltese Hymn