Italian Singer Decorated

Twenty years after the famous concert of Al Bano and Romina Power – the first large-scale concert of foreign contemporary singers in the then still communist Albania – the Albanian president, Bamir Topi, decorated Al Bano Carrizi, a renowned Italian singer, adulated in Albania throughout the eighties. The large concert was held on the 19th of September 1989, recalls the press, which gives details of the decoration made on Monday, the 8th of June. The High Order “N쯫 Tereza” was awarded to the Italian singer with the citation “To the distinguished personality of Italian music, who with his art and his talent transmitted to the public the great values of humanism, freedom and a more righteous society, to the precious friend of Albania and the Albanians, his love for whom has become a part of his life” (Shqip, 9.06.2009). Al Bano gave the reply saying that “It was easier for him to sing than to speak especially after hearing the citation [read aloud].” He remembered that “he had heard many speaking of Albania since he was a kid, and later understood that Albania comes before Al Bano”, and confessed to have heard Albanian music and transmissions on “Radio Tirana”. He said he set foot on Albanian soil in 1985, at the request of his father (Koha Jon묠9.06.2009). “My father [who had been a soldier in Albania] at that time had an illness and asked me to take him to Albania before he changed his worldly way. For him and for me coming to Albania was a big emotional event. He showed me directions and asked me to take him to places. Everywhere things were as he had left them.” – remembered the Italian singer.(Tirana Times Staff)