Regards

Robert Newman
London

http://www.musicalrevisionism.info/

Thanks for your comment. It is random indeed that you are from Lincoln, NE!

I had no idea such stations existed around the web. I get my fix of Albanian folk typically from YouTube, but also fron this website with a great collection (only audio, no video clips): http://muzika.albasoul.com/

I hope that it was clear from my article how different the ethos of actual Albanian folk music is from the communist abominations. I will try and translate nice songs and upload them to YouTube as I have done with those few samples. I think people like you with an interest or curiosity in Albanian folk would appreciate knowing the lyrics, especially since some of them are quite beautiful.

If you are wondering about the regional origin of Albanian costumes, a good rule of thumb is Men-in-dresses/fustanella=South, Men-in-tight-woolen-pants=North.
For example in the duet of those two highlanders on my Albanian Iso-polyphony post you said you liked, the two men are wearing pants which are unmistakeably from the North.

Also the musical style gives away the origin. Genuine iso-polyphony in a choir of 4 is practiced only in the South. In the North, the stringed musical instrument lahute or cifteli is predominant. Such ‘stringy’ sound would never happen in the South. There they go for this kind of sound instead.

North-South is the major division, but there are many more regional flavors which I am honestly not expert enough to distinguish.

So I hope that was helpful.

I happened upon your Musical Revisionism: A Communist Crime post while searching for some info on Albanian Folkmusic. Your post was quite interesting and helped explain something I’ve been watching — I think.

Now, what would a former Lincoln, NE resident, now in Seattle, be wanting that kind of info for, given my English/German background? (Saw that you spent time in Rising City! I have a friend who lives in Osceola. I know about NE thinking . . . . )

Here’s what led me to your Musical Revisionism post.

I have a TV satellite receiver and dish aimed at the Galaxy 25 satellite. I have it primarily for foreign english language news, eg, Al Jazeera English, PressTV from Tehran; Russia Today; MHz networks (with a bunch of different worldwide newscasts).

Every once in a while I surf through all the unencrypted TV channels. Recently an Albanian music channel showed up.

Info on the channel here:
http://www.globecastwtv.com/EN/02_whats_on_WTV/06_whats_on_WTV.php?orderchannel=channel_G_network

This appears to be the home page for the organization behind the channel:
http://www.rtv21.tv

If you look down on the page, there is a logo and link for 21 Popullore:
http://www.rtv21.tv/site/index.php?id=5,0,0,0,0,13127

This channel features a bunch of what I would call Pop Folkmusic with some sort of traditional clothing. (After reading your post, I wouldn’t know what area the clothing is from or, really, where the folk music is from.) The channel also features some contemporary music. As I type, some hiphip rap-type stuff is on.

Anyways, your post provided some very interesting reading and pointed out something that I had suspected — that music was — and maybe still is — a big deal in Albania. I think your conclusion that music being something the Albanians could do makes perfect sense, given the historical circumstances.

And, your post about Albanian Iso-polyphony got my interest. Very interesting indeed. I liked the sample with two guys.

Anyways, best regards and thanks for the interesting reading.

Thuaju kosovareve te mos eksitohen shume se e kane patur goxha mire nen Titon. Ne te shkretet kendeja, bar kemi ngrene nen thundren e te largqoftit.

Ec e mesoju o zot! Nostalgjia e komunizmit eshte vertet fenomen i neveritshem mes disa Shqiptareve…