The art of listening, music sounds and poetry nights in heritage sites

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The art of listening, music sounds and poetry nights in heritage sites

© Erdit Asllanaj

1000 candles light up Ismail Kadare's house museum in Gjirokastër with yellow flames reflections bathing the walls, as the sounds of Albanian and Tibetan musical instruments draw the audience into an emotional journey.

While playing the music, the renowned actor Erdit Asllanaj asks birds to show him the way, as birds before humans have flown, sang and returned to their nest.

It symbolises the immigration route of those who left their countries and found the way to come back to their homeland and it's also the personal journey of Asllanaj. When he emigrated for two years, the only thing he brought along was the Longar- an Albanian musical instrument known also as Curla dyjare- made with wood. As a child he used to play it, and while performing he explains this relationship with the instrument, which is at the same time a relationship with his childhood memories and the place of his origin. As it perceives the sense of belonging somewhere, it becomes a connection with the roots despite the distance and the time.

"My performance includes words and sounds, traditional instruments like the Longar and modern ones like the Hang, which I discovered when I was abroad. It started as a personal passion for traditional instruments, and then I understood I could combine different cultures from different countries or regions, in a performance where the instruments despite their origin can be played in other ways, interpreting other verses. In this way they gain other dimensions along with Albanian authors whose works are interpreted during the performance, where they all are connected through balance and harmony", says the actor.

Asllanaj and Europe House have organised a series of poetry and music nights in various cities in Albania, placed in traditional houses or museums, combining a performance with eight percussions and verses of well-known Albanian poets like Naim Frashëri, Fan Noli, etc.

Each event is tailored to the cities visited, presenting a new concept of the performance and developing furthermore the artistic approach.

In Shkoder, at the "Oso Kuka" Museum, the verses of the renowned poet Migjeni dedicated to young people interpreted by Asllanaj came along with a second voice from the audience singing an old love song, while the sounds played with hang and guitar accompanied them.

The combination which brings together a poet from north and a song from south has been the result of a long personal artistic search for him.

"It is experimental. We work and discover new things inspired from traditional music or culture and then we give them another form, such as Migjeni's verses with the song from Laberia in the south. Bringing them together creates a new dimension for both. Now I can say this is the most beautiful project I've worked with because every rehearsal is different. The instruments carry the spirit of the people over the centuries, and word by word and sound by sound they have another life. We have managed to outline music and literature in a new structure, in which the audience is also part of the performance" Asllanaj explains, while one of the instruments producing ocean waves sounds, is in the audience's hands.

He calls the performance the art of listening. It is above all, a personal exploration, searching for balance and harmony, or equilibrium in a world running fast. However, more than just a philosophical concept, this project and the art of listening describe the experience of the audience which is part of the show and also the atmosphere created: that's both relaxing and captivating. The motifs played during the performance, echoes, words, sounds and whispers create the energy felt between an artistic play and a spiritual journey.

Sat in front of the public, with his legs crossed in an Albanian traditional way, Asllanaj who has shown the audience his art of listening, his journey of leaving and returning and the story behind his instruments, closes his performance singing his own verses about a beautiful land that can't be abandoned in the motifs of polyphony, with a low voice, almost a whisper, as a praying song of a mother to her son.