Folklore Instrumental Albanais / Albanian Folk Music / Folklor Instrumentale Shqiptare – Disques Vendémiaire - VDE/PAL 114, recorded by Jean-Pierre Graziani and Yves Letourneur in collaboration with the Albanian Institute of Folk Culture and Radio Tirana, 1981 (LP)
Albania is a small country bordering Montenegro, Kossovo, Macedonia and Greece located some 50 miles (80 km) from the Southern tip of Italy across the Adriatic Sea. Despite a turbulent history – including five centuries of Ottoman rule and a postwar isolationist Communist regime – Albanians have shown great resilience in defending their identity, language, culture and distinctive music, which often had to be nurtured in secluded rural and mountainous areas.
This astonishing showcase of instrumental music features outstanding musicianship on seldom-heard Albanian flutes, lutes, clarinets, bagpipes and drums (all listed and pictured above), traditionally custom-built by the musicians themselves. Highly creative, lofty, and quirkily abstract music from the “Land of Eagles,” as Albania is called by its people.
L'Albanie est un petit pays limitrophe du Monténégro, du Kossovo, de la Macédoine et de la Grèce, à environ 80 kilomètres de la pointe sud de l'Italie située de l’autre côté de la mer Adriatique. Malgré une histoire mouvementée – avec notamment cinq siècles de domination ottomane et un régime communiste isolationniste après-guerre – les Albanais ont toujours vaillamment défendu leur identité, leur langue, leur culture et leur musique, souvent en cachette dans des zones rurales ou montagneuses isolées.
Cet étonnant panorama de la musique instrumentale présente une musicalité exceptionnelle sur des flûtes, luths, clarinettes, cornemuses et tambours albanais rarement entendus (les instruments sont répertoriés et illustrés ci-dessus) et tous traditionnellement fabriqués par les musiciens eux-mêmes. Des musiques imaginatives, nobles, abstraites, voir déroutantes, du « Pays des Aigles ».
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Can you post more rare records with albanian music? North albanian especially.
ReplyDeleteI'll see what I can find for a future post. Take care.
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ReplyDeleteHave you heard the CD/Booklet dedicated to the family Asllan of Leskoviku( south Albania) specially to Selim and his daughter Hafize , historical recordings from the 20/30/40 years of 20 th century recorded on Odeon and Columbia , presenred by the the ethnomusicologist Vasil Tole ? excellent on albanian isopolyphony with saze instrumental.
ReplyDeleteI Haven't, I'm fascinated by Albanian traditional music which is difficult to access, as there are very few vinyl recordings (at least on Discogs). Was there a local production of LPs or cassettes? I will definitely check out the CD, thank you very much. One of these days I'm going to post a nice 7 in Albanian album on the Hungarian Supraphon label.
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