TIRANA, March 21 – Albania’s Iso-polyphony, recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage, has been stored in a database and promoted in a website. The database was launched this week in a ceremony bringing together researchers of this spiritual heritage and culture ministry officials. “It is our duty to conserve and digitize this century-old spiritual heritage of the Albanian people and spread it through contemporary methods,” said Culture Minister Aldo Bumci.
Musicologist Vaso Tole said the database would also serve different institutions, specialists of this field, the public etc.
“The introduction of the iso-polyphony in school curricula for the younger generations was an important step for the values of spiritual cultural heritage and cultural diversification. This database will also remain an open page for its further enrichment,” added Tole.
Information and details about Albanian iso-polyphony can now also be found at the www.isopolifonia.com
Last December, a conference was held in the southern Albanian city of Vlora to celebrate Albanian iso-polyphony, exactly five years after it was originally proclaimed a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Researchers stressed the need to further promote the values of this southern Albanian traditional singing and pass it on to younger generations. A documentary was featured and a CD with masterpieces of iso-polyphony promoted in the event which was preceded by a polyphonic festival held from November 25 to 26.
Vasil Tole, an expert on iso-polyphonic music was awarded a Gratitude title by the Vlora municipality.
Originally proclaimed in 2005, folk iso-polyphony was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage.
Derived from Byzantine church music, Albanian Iso-polyphony is a sophisticated form of group singing, performed mostly by men. The rise of cultural tourism and the growing interest of researchers are contributing to the revival of this unique folk tradition.
The term ‘iso’ is related to the ison of Byzantine church music and refers to the drone accompanying polyphonic singing. The drone is performed in two ways: among the Tosks, it is always continuous and sung on the syllable ‘e’, using staggered breathing, while among the Labs, the drone is sometimes sung as a rhythmic tone, performed to the text of the song. Rendered mainly by male singers, the music traditionally accompanies a wide range of social events, such as weddings, funerals, harvest feasts, religious celebrations and festivals such as the well-known Albanian folk festival in Gjirokastra.
Epic songs protection
Speaking of Albania’s application with UNESCO for the protection of the country’s northern epic songs as an endangered cultural heritage currently sung and played by only a dozen of elderly men in northern Albania, Culture Minister Aldo Bumci said Albania had postponed the application until Kosovo is recognized by the UN.
Albania was supposed to submit the file on the epic songs known as the “Eposi i Kreshnikeve” for UNESCO protection by this month.
The Songs of the Frontier Warriors (K쯧롋reshnik촨) are the best-known cycle of northern Albanian epic verse. Still sung by elderly men playing the one stringed “lahuta,” these epic rhapsodies are the literary reflections of legends portraying and glorifying the heroic feats of warriors of the past. The main cycle, that of “Mujo and Halili,” preserves much of the flavour of other heroic cultures such as those mirrored in Homer’s Iliad in Greek, Beowulf in English, El Cid in Spanish, the Chanson de Roland in French, the Nibelungenlied in German and the Russian Byliny, says Albanian studies specialist Robert Elsie.
