Documentary traces national anthem history

TIRANA, Oct. 11 – The 100-year old history of the Albanian national anthem has been featured in a documentary directed by veteran Piro Milkani and Petrit Ruka. Shot as part of events commemorating Albania’s 100th anniversary of independence, the documentary features several Albania cities but also Romania, where it was composed by Ciprian Porumbescu.
The 50-minute documentary brings lots of interesting facts about how Albanian migrants in Bucharest brought the national anthem to Albania by learning it by heart.
The National Centre of Cinematography supported the documentary with 2 million lek, surprised about the story about five men travelling from Bucharest to Albania by singing the national anthem aloud.
The Albanian anthem was written by Albanian poet Asdreni. The original title of the hymn was “Betimi mi flamur”, or “Pledge to the Flag”. The hymn was first published as a poem in “Liri e Shqip쳩s뢠(Freedom of Albania), an Albanian newspaper in Sofia, Bulgaria, in its issue of April 21, 1912. Later that year, it appeared in a volume of collected poems by Asdreni, under the title 鯤ra e lot’ (Dreams and Tears), which was published in Bucharest. The official anthem is two verses shorter than the original poem. The music of the anthem was composed by the Romania’s Ciprian Porumbescu.