Illyrian "Albania" Ancient Music 

associated with the country of Albania and Albanian communities. Music has a long tradition in the country and is known for its regional diversity, from the Ghegs in the North to the Tosks in the South. It is an integral part of the national identity, strongly influenced by the country's long and turbulent history, which forced Albanians to protect their culture from their overlords by living in rural and remote mountains.

Diverse Albanian folk music includes monophonic and polyphonic styles, responses, choral, instrumental and vocal music. Each region has a unique musical tradition that reflects its history, language and culture.^[1] Polyphonic singing and song forms are primarily found in South Albania, while in the North they are predominantly monophonic. Albanian iso-polyphony has been declared an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival, held every five years in Gjirokastër, is an important venue exhibiting traditional Albanian music.

Albanian music extends to ancient Illyria and Greece, with influences from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empire. It is evident in archeological findings such as arenas, odeons, theatre buildings and amphitheatres, all over Albania. The remains of temples, libraries, sculptures and paintings of ancient dancers, singers and musical instruments, have been found in territories inhabited by the ancient Illyrians and ancient Greeks.

Church singing was performed throughout early Middle Ages in Albania by choirs or soloists in ecclesiastical centers such as Berat, Durrës and Shkodër.^[ The Middle Ages in Albania included choral music and traditional music. Shën Jan Kukuzeli, a singer, composer and musical innovator of Albanian origin, is one of the earliest known musicians.

Internationally renowned contemporary musicians of Albanian origin from Albania and Albanian diaspora include Action Bronson, Arilena Ara, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, Era Istrefi, Dafina Zeqiri, Eleni Foureira, G4SHI, Ermal Meta, Enca, Elhaida Dani, Noizy and Rita Ora. In the field of classical music, several Albanian sopranos and tenors have gained international recognition including Inva Mula, Marie Kraja, Saimir Pirgu and Ermonela Jaho.

Albania is a regular contestant on the Eurovision Song Contest. The country's most successful result was in 2012 with Rona Nishliu, finishing 5th place. Its first entry in 2004 by Anjeza Shahini remains its second most successful result, finishing in 7th place.

Folk music

Dialects of the Albanian language.

Albanian folk music has a deep history and can be separated into three major stylistic groups such as the northern Ghegs, southern Labs and Tosks and with other important urban music areas around Shkodër and Tirana. It reflect the cultural and political history of the Albanian people and geographic position in Southern Europe and Mediterranean Sea.

The northern and southern traditions are contrasted by the rugged and heroic tone of the north and the relaxed, gentle and exceptionally beautiful form of the south. These disparate styles are unified by the intensity that both performers and listeners give to their music as a medium for patriotic expression and as a vehicle carrying the narrative of oral history, as well as certain characteristics like the use of rhythms such as 3/8, 5/8 and 10/8.

Albanian folk songs can be divided into major groups, the heroic epics of the north and the sweetly melodic lullabies, love songs, wedding music, work songs and other kinds of song. The music of various festivals and holidays is also an important part of Albanian folk song, especially those that celebrate Lazarus Day, which inaugurates the springtime. Lullabies and laments are very important kinds of Albanian folk song, and are generally performed by solo women.

Northern Albania

An lahuta player wearing traditional Albanian clothing.

The Ghegs from North of the Shkumbini River are known for a distinctive variety of sung epic poetry. The music of the north is particularly monophonic. Many of these are about the struggles of the Albanian people and history, the constant Albanian themes of honour, hospitality, treachery and revenge but also Skanderbeg, a legendary 15th century warrior who led the struggle against the Ottomans. These traditions are a form of oral history for the Ghegs and also preserve and inculcate moral codes and social values, necessary in a society that, until the early 20th century, relied on blood feuds as its primary means of law enforcement.

The most traditional variety of epic poetry is the Albanian Songs of the Frontier Warriors. These epic poems are sung, accompanied by a lahuta. It is rarely performed in modern Albania, but is found in the northern highlands within the Dukagjin highlands and Malësia. Other styles of epics also include the Këngë trimash or kreshnikësh (English: Songs of brave men or frontier warriors), ballads and maje krahis (cries). Major epics include Mujo and Halil and Halil and Hajrije.

Somewhat further south, around Dibër and Kërçovë in Macedonia, the lahuta is not used, replaced by the çifteli, a two-stringed instrument in which one string is used for the drone and one for the melody. Though men are the traditional performers (exception made for the sworn virgins), women have increasingly been taking part in epic balladry.

Along with the def, çifteli and sharki are used in a style of dance and pastoral songs. Homemade wind instruments are traditionally used by shepherds in northern Albania; these include the zumarë, an unusual kind of clarinet. This shepherds' music is "melancholic and contemplative" in tone. The songs called maje-krahi are another important part of North Albanian folk song; these were originally used by mountaineers to communicate over wide distances, but are now seen as songs. Maje-krahi songs require the full range of the voice and are full of "melismatic nuances and falsetto cries".

Southern Albania

Further information: Albanian iso-polyphony

Folk group from Southern Albania

Southern Albanian music is soft and gentle, and polyphonic in nature with similarities with Greek music on polyphonic song of Epirus. Vlorë in the southwest has perhaps the most unusual vocal traditions in the area, with four distinct parts (taker, thrower, turner and drone) that combine to create a complex and emotionally cathartic melody. Author Kim Burton has described the melodies as "decorated with falsetto and vibrato, sometimes interrupted by wild and mournful cries". This polyphonic vocal music is full of power that "stems from the tension between the immense emotional weight it carries, rooted in centuries of pride, poverty and oppression, and the strictly formal, almost ritualistic nature of its structure".

South Albania is also known for funeral laments with a chorus and one to two soloists with overlapping, mournful voices. There is a prominent folk love song tradition in the south, in which performers use free rhythm and consonant harmonies, elaborated with ornamentation and melisma.

The Tosk people are known for ensembles consisting of violins, clarinets, lahutë (a kind of lute) and def. Eli Fara, a popular émigré performer, is from Korçë, but the city of Përmet is the center for southern musical innovation, producing artists like Remzi Lela and Laver Bariu. Lela is of special note, having founded a musical dynasty that continues with his descendants playing a part in most of the major music institutions in Tirana.

Southern instrumental music includes the sedate kaba, an ensemble-driven by a clarinet or violin alongside accordions and llautës. The kaba is an improvised and melancholic style with melodies that Kim Burton describes as "both fresh and ancient", "ornamented with swoops, glides and growls of an almost vocal quality", exemplifying the "combination of passion with restraint that is the hallmark of Albanian culture."

Illyrian "Albanians" emperors formalized Christianity - "Constantine I and Justinian I "

Constantine was very generous toward the Church, although his gifts, in general, derived from looting pagan temples

Aurelio Constantini (Constantine I)

 Known as Constantine the Great, was born on February 27, 274 and died on May 22, 337. Constantine was one of the most important figures of the Roman empire that reshaped it, and created the formalization of Christianity. It is considered sacred, like the Apostles of Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.

Constantine (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) was one of many Illyrians who managed to be emperors of Rome. He ruled 31 years (306- 337). His birth name was Flavius Valerius Constantinus. Was the boy was Constantinus Chlorus, Illyrian commander. In 305 his father was co emperor.

Constantine was the first Roman emperor who supported and tolerated Christianity in his empire. Many legends were created around his name. He systematically eliminated other Caesars and destroyed Diocletian tetrarch. Voltaire has defined his character in one sentence: "The main objective of Constantine was to be a God".

Undoubtedly, he deserves the title Constantine "the Great" for the reforms made in army, in the monetary system, as well as in the integrity of his administration. This was also an expression of his boundless ambition. It is an undeniable fact that he has left lasting traces in history. The transfer of the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople and the adoption of the Christian religion, he radically changed the face of the empire.

(Constantine  I)

Constantine was proclaimed August of West, in York, in the year 306, after the death of his father, one of four tetrarch. Constantine was held captive by Gallery, Western Empire Caesar in order to prevent him to inherit his father's function. But the young man managed to escape and foiled all attempts of the prosecution, killing all horses of imperial troops following him on the way. Constantine exercised power in Britain and Gaul, but to govern the whole empire, he had to defeat two powerful rivals. In 312, Constantine marched on Rome to overthrow the tyran Maksenc. In the Milvian Bridge, he defeated a much larger army in numbers, sent to defend the city. The swollen river tore down the bridge, killing thousands of people, among whom the Maksenc himself.

According to legend, Constantine turned to Christianity, because saw a vision in the sky, and commissioned him entrusting the fate of his army to Christian god. He pointed as the emblem on the shields of his soldiers the cross that he say in the sky, with the motto: "With this sign you will win." But, however, he celebrated the victory by traditional Roman way, with a triumphal arch. Once Constantine felt (after a 9-year waiting) that he had the necessary forces to move to the attack, he broke his alliance with Licinius, who ruled the other half of the empire. He once defeated Licinius at Adrianople, then eventually drove him from Byzantine at the Battle of Krizopolisi.

Two spectacular changes undertaken by Constantine was the construction of the "New Rome", Constantinople, and his embrace of Christianity. Shifting the center of gravity of the empire in the East, begun by Diocletian, but the city of Byzantium, chosen by Constantine, was much more strategic than the Nikomedisa, Diocletian capital. It is thought that the transfer of the capital of the empire in Byzantium was motivated by a sense of guilt, as well as strategic reasons. In fact, Rome was the city where Constantine (according widespread noise) had killed his wife, Fausta, and his son, Chrisp. Whatever the reason for the choice of Constantinople, the city was built quickly and was inaugurated with great pomposity in 330.

Justinian I

While the Western Roman Empire had disappeared under the onslaught of the barbarians, in Constantinople Justinain I throne shone, sung so beautifully by Dante Alighieri in the masterpiece "The Divine Comedy".

The acts of this empire are great and immortal. The largest work is the codification of Roman Prerogative. A job that was supported by a committee composed by 17 jurists, headed by Triboniani. They reviewed 2000 books and over 3 million written texts and were compiled "Corpus Juris", that is the foundation of modern jurisprudence.

In this gigantic work, Justinian, under the influence of Christianity changed and softened many old points, as the father power, and improved the situation of women and proclaimed the equality of all citizens before the law.

Justinian gave incentives on trade, art and literature. He built the famous Agia Sofia, for which was worked six years in a row.

The great Russian historian Vasiliev, in his monumental work, "The History of Byzantium" says the first and second Justinian who reigned in 518-568, were Illyrians and Albanians.

Justinian was born in Sabbatius Petrus Tauresium in the province of Dardania, in 483 AD.

During the reign of Justin (518-527), Justinian was a close friend of the emperor. Justinian showed ambition and initially worked as an officer and was a friend of the emperor. Thanks to this friendship and his skills he became emperor on April 1, 527, although there is no conclusive evidence of this.

During the reign of Justinian, Byzantine empire reaches its highpoint in all spheres of life. Thanks to him the Byzantine empire stretched from Armenia at the banks of Danube in Spain and Africa.

Arilena Ara "Albania singer "

Arilena Ara

Arilena Ara
Also known as	Arilena
Born	17 July 1998 (age 19) Shkodër, Albania
Genres	Pop, R&B, dance
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Elite Productions
Associated acts	Tuna, Darko Dimitrov

Arilena Ara (born 17 July 1998) known by her artistic name Arilena is an Albanian singer. She is the winner of season 2of the Albanian X Factor.

Career

Arilena Ara was born in Shkodër. She first participated in Gjeniu i Vogël ("Little Genius"), a talent-singing contest for children and placed third in the competition.

After her father's death, she took part in season 2 of Albanian X Factor broadcast from 28 October 2012 to 31 March 2013 on TV Klan. She auditioned in Tiranaperforming an acoustic version of Ana Johnsson's "We Are". She was mentored by judge Altuna Sejdiu in the "Girls" category. In the final, she sang Mary J Blige's "No More Drama" and Rihanna's "Man Down" and "S&M" as a duet with her coach Tuna winning the season. Recently she participated in a TV Show called "Dance With Me" 2. Her partner was Labi (an Albanian journalist from Kosovo best known for "Një kafe me Labin" or "A cup of coffee with Labi"). On 26 February 2014 she released her first video single 

"Aeroplan", becoming a chart topping hit in Albania. After her success with "Aeroplan" which had 2 million views within 12 hours, her new hit "Business Class" had 1 million views in its first 9 hours. She later released her third song titled "Vegim" dedicated to the passing of her father. In 2016 she released another song, Nëntori, which gained some popularity outside Albania as well (e.g. being included on radio rotation in Romania, Russia). It topped the Romanian Airplay 100 in August 2017.

(Kosovo) " Dardania "10 Year of independence day "

Daradania  independence

Republic of Kosovo
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Kosovo

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence was adopted on 17 February 2008 by the Assembly of Kosovo. In a meeting attended by 109 of the total 120 members,^[1] the assembly unanimously declared Kosovo to be independent from Serbia.while all 11 representatives of the Serb minority boycotted the proceedings. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.

The legality of the declaration has been disputed. Serbia sought international validation and support for its stance that the declaration was illegal, and in October 2008 requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. The Court determined that the declaration did not violate international law.

As a result of the ICJ decision, a joint Serbia-EU resolution was passed in the United Nations General Assembly which called for an EU-facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia to "promote cooperation, achieve progress on the path to the European Union and improve the lives of the people."^[ The dialogue resulted in the 2013 Brussels deal between Serbia and Kosovo which abolished all of the Republic of Serbia's institutions in Kosovo. Dejan Pavićević is the official representative of Serbia to Kosovo. Valdet Sadiku is the official representative of Kosovo to Serbia.

Background

The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija took shape in 1945 as the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija (1945–1963) within Socialist Yugoslavia, as an autonomous region within People's Republic of Serbia. Initially a ceremonial entity, more power was devolved to Kosovan authorities with each constitutional reform. In 1968 it became the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo and in 1974 new constitution enabled the province to function at every administrative level independently of its host republic within Yugoslavia. Increasing ethnic tension throughout Yugoslavia in the late 1980s amid rising nationalism among its nations eventually led to a decentralised state: this facilitated Serbian President Slobodan Milošević in effectively terminating the privileges awarded to the Kosovar assembly in 1974. The move attracted criticism from the leaderships of the other Yugoslav republics but no higher authority was in place to reverse the measure. In response to the action, the Kosovo Assembly voted on 2 July 1990 to declare Kosovo an independent state, and this received recognition from Albania. A state of emergency and harsh security rules were subsequently imposed against Kosovo's Albanians following mass protests. The Albanians established a "parallel state" to provide education and social services while boycotting or being excluded from Yugoslav institutions.

Kosovo from 1946 to 1992 (Source: CIA)

Kosovo remained largely quiet through the Yugoslav wars. The severity of the Yugoslav government in Kosovo was internationally criticised. In 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began attacking federal security forces. The conflict escalated until Kosovo was on the verge of all-out war by the end of 1998. In January 1999, NATOwarned that it would intervene militarily against Yugoslavia if it did not agree to the introduction of an international peacekeeping force and the establishment of local government in Kosovo. Subsequent peace talks failed and from 24 March to 11 June 1999, NATO carried out an extensive bombing campaign against FR Yugoslavia including targets in Kosovo itself. The war ended with Milošević agreeing to allow peacekeepers into Kosovo and withdrawing all security forces so as to transfer governance to the United Nations.

Build-up

A NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entered the province following the Kosovo War, tasked with providing security to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Before and during the handover of power, an estimated 100,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians, mostly Romani, fled the province for fear of reprisals. In the case of the non-Albanians, the Romani in particular were regarded by many Albanians as having assisted federal forces during the war. Many left along with the withdrawing security forces, expressing fears that they would be targeted by returning Albanian refugees and KLA fighters who blamed them for wartime acts of violence. Thousands more were driven out by intimidation, attacks and a wave of crime after the war.

Large numbers of refugees from Kosovo still live in temporary camps and shelters in Serbia proper. In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro reported hosting 277,000 internally displaced people (the vast majority being Serbs and Roma from Kosovo), which included 201,641 persons displaced from Kosovo into Serbia proper, 29,451 displaced from Kosovo into Montenegro, and about 46,000 displaced within Kosovo itself, including 16,000 returning refugees unable to inhabit their original homes. Some sources put the figure far lower. In 2004 the European Stability Initiative estimated the number of displaced people as being only 65,000, with 130,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo, though this would leave a significant proportion of the pre-1999 ethnic Serb population unaccounted-for. The largest concentration of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo is in the north of the province above the Ibar river, but an estimated two-thirds (75,000) of the Serbian population in Kosovo continue to live in the Albanian-dominated south of the province.^]

On 17 March 2004, serious unrest in Kosovo led to 19 deaths, and the destruction of thirty-five Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in the province, as Albanians started pogroms against the Serbs. Several thousand more Kosovo Serbs have left their homes to seek refuge in Serbia proper or in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo.

Since the end of the war, Kosovo has been a major source and destination country in the trafficking of women, women forced into prostitution and sexual slavery. The growth in the sex trade industry was fuelled by NATO forces in Kosovo.

A "Young Europeans" billboard in Pristina

International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo, as envisaged under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of 1999. Serbia's continued sovereignty over Kosovo was recognised internationally. The vast majority of the province's population sought independence.

Declaration of 2008–present

Countries recognizing Kosovo by the end of 2008

The 2008 declaration was a product of failed negotiations concerning the adoption of the Ahtisaari plan, which broke down in the fall of 2007. The plan, prepared by the UN Special Envoy and former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, stipulated a sort of supervised independence for Kosovo, without expressly using the word "independence" among its proposals. Under the plan, Kosovo would gain self-governance under the supervision of the European Union, and become obligated to expressly protect its minorities' rights by means of a constitution and a representative government. Kosovo would be accorded its own national symbols such as a flag and a coat of arms, and be obligated to carry out border demarcation on the Kosovo-Republic of Macedonia border. The Albanian negotiators supported the Ahtisaari plan essentially in whole, and the plan gained the backing of the European Union and of the United States. However, Serbia and Russia rejected it outright, and no progress was possible on the United Nations front.

Faced with no progress on negotiations in sight, the Kosovars decided to unilaterally proclaim the Republic of Kosovo, obligating themselves in the process to follow the Ahtisaari plan's provisions in full. As of mid-April 2008, this has largely been the case, with the new Republic adopting a constitution written by local and international scholars protecting minority rights and providing for a representative government with guaranteed ethnic representation, which law is to take effect on 15 June 2008. It also adopted some of its national symbols already, including the flag and coat of arms, while work continues on defining the anthem. It has also engaged, albeit with a delay, in the border demarcation talks with Macedonia, initially insisting on being recognised first, but dropping this condition later on.

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence elicited mixed reaction internationally and a polarised one domestically, the latter along the division of Kosovo Serbs vs. the Kosovo Albanians. Accordingly, effective control in Kosovo has also fractured along these lines.

After 13 years of international oversight, Kosovo's authorities formally obtained full unsupervised control of the region (less only North Kosovo) on 10 September 2012 when Western Powers terminated their oversight. The International Steering Group, in its final meeting with the authorities in Pristina, declared that the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, known as the Ahtisaari plan after its Finnish UN creator, had been substantially implemented.^[16] Nonetheless, as of November 2015, United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo still functions, albeit at a greatly reduced capacity.

Political background

After the end of the Kosovo War in 1999, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 to provide a framework for Kosovo's interim status. It placed Kosovo under transitional UN administration, demanded a withdrawal of Serbian security forces from Kosovo and envisioned an eventual UN-facilitated political process to resolve the status of Kosovo.

Ethnic composition of Kosovo as of 2005

In February 2007, Martti Ahtisaari delivered a draft status settlement proposal to leaders in Belgrade and Pristina, the basis for a draft UN Security Council Resolution which proposed 'supervised independence' for the province. By early July 2007 a draft resolution, backed by the United States and the European Union members of the Security Council, had been rewritten four times to try to accommodate Russian concerns that such a resolution would undermine the principle of state sovereignty. However, it had still not found agreement. Russia, which holds a veto in the Security Council as one of five permanent members, stated that it would not support any resolution which was not acceptable to both Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians. While most observers had, at the beginning of the talks, anticipated independence as the most likely outcome, others suggested that a rapid resolution might not be preferable.

The talks finally broke down, late 2007 with the two sides remaining far apart, with the minimum demands of each side being more than the other was willing to accept.

At the turn of 2008, the media started reporting that the Kosovo Albanians were determined to proclaim independence. This came at the time when the ten-year anniversary of the Kosovo War was looming (with the five-year anniversary being marked by violent unrest); the U.S. President George W. Bush was in his last year in power and not able to seek re-election; and two nations which had previously seceded from Yugoslavia were in important political positions (Slovenia presiding over the EU and Croatia an elected member of the UN Security Council). The proclamation was widely reported to have been postponed until after the Serbian presidential election, 2008, held on 20 January and 3 February, given that Kosovo was an important topic of the election campaign.