Gjirokastra Castle Hosts Musical Meetings

TIRANA, June 28 – Folklore and chamber music performances by Albania and foreign musicians were held last weekend for three consecutive evenings in the castle of the southern UNESCO World Heritage site of Gjirokastra. The fifth edition of the annual “Musical meetings of two worlds” festival closed last Sunday with the Tepelena polyphonic group “Bilbilenjte e Progonatit” performing patriotic, historical and love songs. Jeta Starofa and Ermal Mehmeti, two Albanian instrumentalists from Macedonia, also performed on the festival’s closing night.
The festival opened with Italy’s Chamerata dei Laghi and Albanian soprano Eva Golemi. Romania’s Aromani Farseroti and French trio Thais also performed in the three-day festival.
“For three nights the castle of Gjirokastra turned into the regional epicenter of classical and contemporary music based on folklore tradition attracting dozens of art lovers,” said Ilda Mara, the festival’s director.
The traditional festival is held in the 13th century Gjirokastra castle which dominates the town and overlooks the strategically important route along the river valley. It is open to visitors and contains a military museum featuring captured artillery and memorabilia of the Communist resistance against German occupation, as well as a captured United States Air Force plane to commemorate the Communist regime’s struggle against the “imperialist” western powers. The citadel has existed in various forms since before the 12 century. Extensive renovations and a westward addition was added by Ali Pasha of Tepelene after 1812. The government of King Zog expanded the castle prison in 1932. Today it possesses five towers and houses a clock tower, a church, a cistern, the stage of the National Folk Festival, and many other points of interest. The castle’s prison was used extensively by Zog’s government and housed political prisoners during the communist regime.
Both Gjirokastra and the other southern town of Berat are inscribed as UNSECO World Heritage sites as rare examples of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period.