Albanian Polyphony - Examples from Southern Albania

In this period following the collapse of Communism, musical life in Albania was in the midst of
a process of fundamental change, and many of these songs would have been lost. Above all,
the economic conditions were changing, which led many musical groups to break up as
musicians moved abroad to earn a living. Could this be seen as a repetition of the story that is
so vividly sung in the songs we recorded? Some new groups were formed; for the most part it
was only the stars and professional musicians, Eli Farah for example, who had the chance to
continue performing on stage. Fortunately, in 2005, UNESCO recognized Albanian iso
polyphony as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We hope and wish for a fruitful
continuation of this cultural heritage.

Bruno Reuer:

The audio recordings on this CD were made during a research trip through southern Albania
in April 1989. At the time, Albania was in the process of a cautious opening, which also
offered an opening to researchers from the West. This research trip was preceded by a visit
to the Gjirokastër Festival in 1988 one year earlier, to which numerous guests from all over
the world were invited. The festival, held every five years in honor of the former Communist
ruler Enver Hoxha in his birthplace Gjirokastër, featured performances by musicians from all
26 of Albania's provinces, as well as by the Abëresh, the Albanian minority living in Italy. That
year was a particularly large celebration, as it coincided with the budding process of political
reorientation and convergence with the West.

I took part as an observer from the German Music Council, and had the opportunity to make
contact with Beniamin Kruta, a colleague from the Institute of Musicology of the Academy of
Sciences in Tirana (Instituti i Kulturës Popullorë, Akademia e Shkencavë). At his initiative,
the institute subsequently invited me to take part in this research trip in 1989. As an
employee of the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, I was happy to accept the invitation. For me,
the trip to southern Albania held the prospect of gaining new impressions and making sound
recordings that would enrich the collections with examples of music from a country that had
previously been virtually inaccessible. The invitation was also extended to Adelheid Feilcke
Tiemann, a journalist and musicology student in Cologne at the time. We were accompanied
by the translator Ina Verbica. Together with the local contact and musicologist Beniamin
Kruta, the four of us embarked on a tour through southern Albania in a car provided by our
hosts...(more information in the booklet)

Christian Stiegler:

It was a pleasure for me to restore and master the recordings.
We had the original recordings on music casettes