7/8/2007 - Music of Northern Albania

MUSIC OF NORTHERN ALBANIA

The Ghegs from north of the Shkumbini River are known for a distinctive variety of sung epic poetry. Many of these are about Skanderbeg, a legendary 15th century warrior who led the struggle against the Turks, and the "constant Albanian themes of honour, hospitality, treachery and revenge". These traditions are a form of oral history for the Ghegs, and also "preserve and inculcate moral codes and social values", necessary in a society that, until the early 20th century, relied on blood feuds as its "primary means of law enforcement"[4]. Styles of epics include këngë trimash (songs of bravery), këngë kreshnikësh, ballads and maje krahi (cries)[citation needed]. Major epics include Mujo and Halil and Halil and Hajrije.

The most traditional variety of epic poetry is called Rapsodi Kreshnike (Poems of Heroes). These epic poems are sung, accompanied by a lahuta, a one-stringed fiddle. It is rarely performed in modern Albania, but is found in the northern highlands.

Somewhat further south, around Dibër and Kërçovë in Macedonia, the lahuta is not used, replaced by the çifteli, a two-stringed instrument in which one string is used for the drone and one for the melody. Though men are the traditional performers, except for the Vajze të betuar, women have increasingly been taking part in epic balladry.

Along with the def, çifteli and sharki are used in a style of dance and pastoral songs. Homemade wind instruments are traditionally used by shepherds in northern Albania; these include the zumarë, an unusual kind of clarinet. This shepherds' music is "melancholic and contemplative" in tone. The songs called maje-krahi are another important part of North Albanian folk song; these were originally used by mountaineers to communicate over wide distances, but are now seen as songs. Maje-krahi songs require the full range of the voice and are full of "melismatic nuances and falsetto cries".