Albania on Music Theory Print

Agim Krajka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agim Krajka (1 May 1937 – 1 March 2021) was an Albanian composer. He was known as one of the greatest masters of music at that time. Biography He was born on 1 May 1937, in the small city of Kavajë, Albania to a family from Debar, present day North Macedonia. Krajka began his musical career at the Pioneer Palace in Tirana sometime in the early 1950s where he learned accordion, the musical instrument for which he was to become famous. He went on to study composition at the State Conservatory in Tirana between 1963 and 1968. Known for his close collaboration with singer Vaçe Zela, he authored two of her most well-known songs, Lemza and Djaloshi dhe Shiu. He also composed music for several films such as “Zonja nga Qyteti”, “Udha e Shkronjave”.. etc. He was awarded Albania’s Merited People’s Artist prize for his long contribution to music. He received the “Honor of the Nation” Decoration. Krajka died on 1 March 2021, aged 83 from COVID-19. References External links * *

Aleksandër Peçi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aleksandër Peçi (born 11 July 1951 in Tirana) is an Albanian composer. Peçi has composed for movie soundtracks, symphonic, ballet, and operatic settings, among many others. Education He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Academia Santa Cecilia, and the University of Arts, Tirana, where he worked with Çesk Zadeja. In Paris, he worked with Ton de Leeuw, Paul Méfano, and Jacques Charpentier. In Amsterdam, Peçi studied with Daan Manneke at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Career Peçi has written over 922 compositions and editions, and 35 CD albums of his music have been published. At the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia, he composed “Etera Tondo”, modeled after Paradis of Dante Alighieri. Then, he worked as the director of the Palace of Culture in Përmet. In 1979, he became the artistic director of the National Ensemble of Popular Songs and Dances. In 1989, Peçi composed the song “Toka E Diellit”, which won the Albanian music contest, Festivali i Këngës. Since 1992, he has taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana. Aleksandër Peçi has participated in the Venice Biennale, the Manchester International Festival, and ISCM World Music Days. His m

Avni Mula

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Avni Mula (4 January 1928 in Gjakova – 29 October 2020 in Tirana) was an Albanian singer and composer. For his contribution to the arts, he received two of the highest awards from the Albanian government: the People’s Artist of Albania decoration and the Honor of the Nation () decoration. Personal life Mula’s family moved from Gjakova, Kosova to Shkodër, Albania, when he was young, and after World War II, he moved to Tirana, Albania. He studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and graduated in 1957 as a lyric singer. He is the father of the soprano Inva Mula. Career Singing Mula was part of the National Troupe of Songs and Dances () and the Troupe of the Army (). In addition, he won many prizes over his career as a composer and singer in the Festivali i Këngës (Albanian Festival of Song), which is held every year in Tirana. Composition Mula composed many songs over the span of his career. Some of the most famous are: * “Nënë Moj Do Pres Gërshetin” (Mother, I’ll cut Off My Braid), which won first prize in the 1976 Festival and was interpreted by Vaçe Zela. * “Këngët e atdheut tim” (Songs of My Country) * “Valsi i Lumturisë” (The Waltz of Happiness). * “Një Djep Në Barrikadë” (A Cradl

Çesk Zadeja

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Çesk Zadeja (born Françesk Zadeja; 8 June 1927 – 15 August 1997) was an Albanian composer, conductor and music educator. He is often described as the “father of Albanian classical music” or “father of Albanian professional music” because of his role in the formation of Albania’s cultivated music tradition after the Second World War. Zadeja studied in Italy and the Soviet Union, worked in radio and military ensembles, and later held leading posts in major Albanian musical institutions. He was associated with the development of the National Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances, the Higher Institute of Arts in Tirana, and the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania. His works include symphonic music, concertos, chamber works, piano music, ballets, vocal music and film scores. Music Zadeja’s music has been described as combining European art-music forms with Albanian folk elements. His Symphony No. 1, written in 1956, is widely cited as the first Albanian symphony. Tirana Times described him as the author of more than 100 works of concert music, including ballets, chamber music, symphonies and songs. Selected works Orchestral and concert works * Symphony No. 1 (1956) * Concerto fo

Dhora Leka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dhora Leka (Korçë, 23 February 1923 - Tirana, 27 December 2006) was an Albanian composer and political prisoner. Biography In 1942 she graduated from the Pedagogical Institute for Women Nëna Mbretëreshë in Tirana. After graduating, she was given a teaching job at a school in the village of Plasë near Korçë, but gave up this job and joined the Albanian resistance. In 1942 she joined the Communist Party of Albania. At that time she took up composing guerrilla songs. Most of the songs sung by Albanian partisans during World War II were compositions by Dhora Leka, including “Kushtrimi” (Call), “Rini-Rini” (Youth-youth) and “March of the 1st Division”. At that time she was promoted to the rank of captain in the National Liberation Army. In 1948 she went to study composition at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. During her studies, she composed The overture with folk motifs for symphony orchestra was performed for the first time by the Moscow radio orchestra, and Cantata for Albania, my homeland performed in Tirana, on the 10th anniversary of the country’s liberation from occupation. After graduating she was appointed professor at the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum in Tirana and wa

Kristo Kono

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kristo Kono (17 July 1907 – 22 January 1991) was an Albanian composer and recipient of the People’s Artist title in 1961, the highest artistic recognition title during the communist era. He was one of the early contributors to Albanian music and opera who spent all his life in their service; one of the symbols of the cultural traditions of his hometown of Korçë, same as other musicians as Tefta Tashko-Koço, Jorgjia Truja, and Kristaq Antoniu; Early life and work Kono was born on 22 January 1907 in Korçë, back then still part of the Ottoman Empire, today’s southeastern Albania. His interest in music showed up at a very early age. He followed the “Vatra” orchestral band in order to learn how to play the clarinet. In the 1920s he would start to compose songs and small instrumental parts. Rise as a composer After World War II, Kono’s artistic creativity intensified. He went deeper in the study of folk songs and patriotic songs. His big jump in fame came with the composition of major choral and instrumental works: instrumental poems and cantata. They were the first of their kind in Albania. The best known were the instrumental poems Borova (Borova) and Labëria (Labëria), and the cantata

Lejla Agolli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lejla Agolli (born 4 October 1950) is an Albanian composer. Early life Agolli was born in Korçë, Albania. Education Agolli studied composition and orchestration in Tiranassa Tish Daijan. Career Agolli was winner of the National Civic Song Festival for the song Ah ky mall sung by Frederik Ndoci. Agolli served for several years as artistic director to The National Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dancing. Works Agolli’s compositions include cantata, symphonies, concertos and chamber music. Selected works include: *Ah ky mall *Fantasy for violin and orchestra *In Memoriam for solo clarinet and string orchestra, dedicated to Mother Teresa * 1976 Lisharsi - Composer. Animation short. References External links * Lejla Agolli at musicalics.com * Lejla Agolli at earsense.org * Women Composers Programmed since 1978 at donneinmusica.org

Lorenc Antoni

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lorenc Antoni (23 September 1909 – 21 October 1991) was an Albanian composer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist. Early years Lorenc Antoni was born on 23 September 1909 in Üsküp (now Skopje), in the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day North Macedonia). Three years later, the region with which we would be associated for the rest of his life came to be first part of the Kingdom of Serbia and later Yugoslavia. He was raised as a Catholic in the Albanian Catholic community of Skopje, and is the cousin of Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa). Since a child, he was active in various musical ensembles of the Albanians. He studied music privately in Skopje and Belgrade. After completing his education at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, he relocated to Ferizaj. Career In 1941 Antoni began teaching music in Ferizaj, Prizren, and Pristina. In 1948 Antoni established in Prizren one of the Josip Slavenski music schools of former Yugoslavia for beginners and intermediate music performers. He led and conducted the choir of the school. He also conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the city of Prizren. In the study of folklore, Antoni wrote a seven-volume work on Albanian folk musi

Palokë Kurti

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Palokë Kurti (1858–1920) was an Albanian composer, performer, and singer. A native of Shkodër, he was a musical amateur who composed the Unity of Albania March (Bashkimi Shqipnis) in 1881. Kurti took his first piano lessons from the Italian musician Giovanni Canale. During his youth he was in contact with the aheng groups from which he learned their way of singing and also how to compose verses in the bejtexhi style. He joined the Shkodra band in 1878 and two years later became its bandmaster. After the Bashkimi Shqipnis March he also composed several marches, polkas and mazurkas in the Mittel-Europa tradition. However the compositions related to national music are the ones that will make him important in the history of the music of Albania. Kurti composed two potpourris on Shkodrane urban popular songs called “The Musical Entertainment of our Forefathers”, the second of which is in F Major. In this potpourri he uses an entirely diatonic modal language and a tonal harmony (unlike in Potpourri 1 which uses non-diatonic modes of the makam type). According to Koço he is doing this on purpose so that the local music was purged of Oriental sounds, but sounded more Western. Kurti compose

Prenk Jakova

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Prenk Jakova (; 27 June 191719 September 1969) was an Albanian composer, musician, and author of Mrika (1958), which is considered the first Albanian opera. External links * * *Full List of works

Rexho Mulliqi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Redžo Mulić (, ; 18 March 1923 – 10 February 1982 ) was a Yugoslavian composer from Montenegro and husband of singer Nexhmije Pagarusha. as well as of the music on the Era dhe Lisi, a 1979 movie. His opus became well-known and was performed throughout the former Yugoslavia. He received numerous awards and state decorations. References

Simon Gjoni

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Simon Gjoni (Shkodër, 1925–1991) was an Albanian conductor, and composer of many popular pieces for piano and orchestra. Life Simon Gjoni was born on October 28, 1925, in the city of Shkodër, Albania. He was educated in a rank and file urban family and graduated from the “Illyricum” High School of the city. Very soon he learned to play guitar, trombone, the piano and devoted himself with enthusiasm and passion to the art of music. In the years of his youth, he composed over 200 original songs, which were immediately sung in the city of Shkodër and were spread all over Albania, such as “Lule Bore” (Snowflower), “Syte e tu si drite” (English: Your Eyes Like Light), “Weaving girl”. Ispecially the song “Lulebore” became really famous in Albania with a continuous success for over 60 years and is the first albanian song to achieve international success after it was performed in Russia, China, Vietnam, Chekoslovakia, Italy, USA etc. He completed his studies over the years 1952–1958 in the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Czechoslovakia). During the years 1956-1958 in the city of Prague, he conducted: Franz Schubert’s Rosamunde, Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Jiří Antonín Benda’s Pygmalion

Thomas Simaku

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Thomas Simaku (born 18 April 1958, in Kavajë) is an Albanian-born British composer. Education Simaku studied composition between the years 1978–1982 at the Academy of Music and Arts of Albania under Tonin Harapi. After graduation he was nominated as Director of Music at the Palace of Culture of Permet, in southern Albania. In 1991 Simaku moved to England to study for a PhD in composition with David Blake at the University of York, which he was awarded in 1996. Prizes and Awards Notable prizes and awards that Simaku has won include: * * 2009: British Composer Award (Instrumental) for Soliloquy V: Flauto Acerbo. * 2013: First Prize in the International Composition Competition for Lutoslawski’s 100th Birthday for Concerto for Orchestra. Performances Simaku’s music has been performed throughout the UK and Europe, as well as in North America, Australia and the Far East. In 1995 his work Epitaph for String Orchestra was selected by the International Jury for the ISCM World Music Days in Germany - the first ever Albanian music to be included in this prestigious festival. Subsequently, Simaku’s works have been selected by the International Jury at the World Music Days of 1999, 2000, 2001,

Tish Daija

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tish Daija (30 January 1926 – 3 October 2003) was an Albanian composer. He composed the first Albanian ballet Halili dhe Hajria (Halili and Hajria) that premiered on 13 January 1963 and has since been shown more than 250 times at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania, a record for the Albanian Theatre. He has also composed Spring (“Pranvera”), an Albanian opera. Tish Daija is an alumnus of the Moscow Conservatory. Football career Daija was also notable as a football player. He was part of Flamurtari before he dedicated himself to music, eventually becoming one of the Albanian Superliga top scorers in the Albanian Superliga in the 1948 national championship with 11 goals, tied to Zihni Gjinali of KS Dinamo Tirana. Filmography Personal life Daija died at Tirana in 2003. References External links * Tish Daija: C’bejnë organet kompetente përpara eksodit të paligjshёm të kulturёѕ?

Tonin Harapi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tonin Harapi (9 June 1926 – 30 July 1992) was an Albanian composer, pianist and teacher. He was one of the major figures of twentieth-century Albanian classical music and was associated with the first generations of professional Albanian composers trained after the Second World War. Harapi was born in Shkodër, a city with a strong musical tradition, and later studied at the Artistic Lyceum of Tirana and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He became a professor of composition at the Conservatory of Tirana, where he trained later Albanian composers. His output included opera, operetta, choral works, orchestral music, chamber music, piano pieces, romances, children’s songs and arrangements of folk songs. Composer Thoma Simaku studied composition under Harapi at the State Conservatory of Music in Tirana. In a 2018 interview, Simaku recalled that Harapi had studied at the Moscow Conservatory and described him as a teacher who allowed students a degree of creative freedom despite the restrictions of the communist period. Compositional work Harapi composed in almost all the main genres cultivated in Albanian classical music during the socialist period. His works included the children'

Vasil Tole

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Vasil S. Tole (born 22 November 1963) is an Albanian composer, ethnomusicologist, and cultural administrator. A proponent of European classical music, his compositions encompass opera, chamber music, orchestral works, symphony and instrumental concerts, and various pieces for small ensembles and solo instruments. He is the author of several books, primarily focusing on Albanian music. Tole has served as a professor at the University of Arts in Tirana since 1994. He also holds multiple leadership roles in cultural institutions, including head of the Department for Cultural Heritage at the Albanian Ministry of Culture, president of the National Music Council, and a member of the International Music Council. Career Tole graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1987 with a degree in composition. From 1987 to 1990, he served as artistic director of the Shtëpia e Kulturës (House of Culture) in his hometown of Përmet. He subsequently joined the Faculty of Music as professor of Albanian Music Folklore and later became professor of composition. During his tenure, he completed his PhD in ethnomusicology with a dissertation titled Structure and Semantics in the Instrumental Folk Music of Souther