Music of Albania
Brass bands and čoček, Bulgarian women's choirs and asymmetrical dance metres, Bosnian sevdalinka, Albanian iso-polyphony, Serbian gusle epics.
Sung and searched in Albanian. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.
Roots and traditions
Folk music
Albanian folk music has a deep history and can be separated into three major stylistic groups: the northern Ghegs, southern Labs and Tosks and with other important urban music areas around Shkodër and Tirana. It reflects the cultural and political history of the Albanian people and geographic position in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. The northern and southern traditions are contrasted by the rugged and heroic tone of the north and the relaxed, gentle and exceptionally beautiful form of the south. These disparate styles are unified by the intensity that both performers and listeners bring to their music as a medium for patriotic expression and as a vehicle carrying the narrative of oral history, as well as certain characteristics like the use of metres such as 3/8, 5/8 and 10/8. Albanian folk songs can be divided into major groups, the heroic epics of the north and the sweetly melodic lullabies, love songs, wedding music, work songs and other kinds of song.
Popular music
Popular music
The development of groups of instrumentalists played a significant role for the establishment of urban music in Albania. In the cities of northern Albania these instrumentalist groups were referred to as ahengje (meaning roughly 'to party' or 'partying') in Shkodër and as orkestrina ('little orchestras') in Tirana, Durrës, Kavajë and Elbasan; while in all cities of southern Albania they were referred to as saze (another term for 'little orchestras'). Conglomerates of solists or groups of instrumentalists were referred to as taifa, which were created in order to facilitate the professional rights and existence of the musicians. With the growth of the cities their music began to develop peculiar features that were inclined to be accepted by the bulk of Albanians. The popullore ('popular') songs covered repertories which incorporated urban songs, as well as Romani songs, and sometimes also complex folk music. It has been suggested that before the second half of the 20th century "the entire musical life of Albania was determined by folk music".
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