Hekuran Xhamballi - Kabà & Vàlle d'Albanie
Credits to AmbroseBierce
Hekuran Xhamballi
Kabà & Vàlle d'Albanie
Al Sur ALCD 210, 2000
Hekuran is a very famous Rrom from Korça, and his family also is quite famous for music: all three brothers, Izet, Fiqret and himself are brilliant musicians - two of them play the clarinet and one the accordion. He would perform many concerts abroad, more than 30 times, since Enver (Hoxha)'s times. He participated also in the 4th Rromani World Congress in Warsaw in 1990, together with Demir, who died last year, both of them as representatives of the Rroma from Albania, Hekuran is a Kabuzi (the Kabuzi group came from Turkey and Greece to Korça), but he went around with all kinds of people, with Meckars, with Evgjits and with Albanians, he has assimilated all the varieties of Albanian music. He is presenting in this CD a bunch of melodies : mostly kaba, but also valle, valleshtruar and others which are related to kaba in terms of structure, melancholy or inspiration. The kaba is the basis, the soul of our music. It is so beloved by everybody that everyone says it originates from his own region, he wants to make a monopoly out of it. Most people in Albania maintain it comes from Korça, because there is in this city a neighbourhood called "Kaba", which allegedly gave it its name. Nobody can tell if it is true or not, but all Muslims know of the body of the holy kaba in Mecca, and maybe a pilgrim who came back from there gave this name to his neighbourhood in Korça, so the name by itself does not indicate anything about the kaba, The Evgjits also maintain that the kaba is theirs, and it is true they have produced brilliant kaba. be that as it may, it is not important for us to declare "the kaba belongs to these or those". The kaba lives its own life and in fact it belongs to anybody who understands the music of the soul, and also to all of you who are listening to this CD... I just would like to tell you in short a legend of ours, which is related to the kaba:
"Once upon a time, lived Clarinet, a Rrom of authority, who used to play Romani dances, heavy dances of all kinds and Violin heard him, came to him and both of them got associated for ever. However one day, Clarinet had to go far away to a far-off country beyond the sea to earn money, because there was a terrible famine and both were very poor, they were starving. Violin used to come to the sea-side and weep with a very melancholic melody, heart-rending and harrowing. Clarinet could hear from the other side of the sea and answered with a melancholic melody as well, but which was also showing virility, because the kaba is thick, produced with a thick voice. He would say in replay : "Don't worry, I am coming very soon to you and we will never separate anymore from each other: where Clarinet is, there is also Violin, where Violin is, there is also Clarinet, at weddings, on the move, in happy days, in bitter events, everywhere both of them are together, just like Rroma: when Rroma take to the road, they do not separate, they leave together with their wife, their family. This was the tale."
It is true that Rromani people travel in family, husband and wife, together with the children, in search of better places to live, where they could live normally like buman beings. In the Albanians' tradition, it is rather the husband who would start out by himself, the father alone - like Clarinet at the beginning of the tale; this was called gurbetlik, mergim (exile), But look, the Rroma suffered a lot the bitterness of separation, and now they do not want anymore to leave back any member of the family.
Well, since Clarinet plays alone the kaba, this witness that it is very old, dating back to the time when he was still beyond the sea, before he joined together again for ever with Violin - as they are today.
Hekuran Xhamballi - clarinet
unnamed accompanists on accordeon, violin, bouzouk, percussion
Hekuran Xhamballi
Kabà & Vàlle d'Albanie
Al Sur ALCD 210, 2000
Hekuran is a very famous Rrom from Korça, and his family also is quite famous for music: all three brothers, Izet, Fiqret and himself are brilliant musicians - two of them play the clarinet and one the accordion. He would perform many concerts abroad, more than 30 times, since Enver (Hoxha)'s times. He participated also in the 4th Rromani World Congress in Warsaw in 1990, together with Demir, who died last year, both of them as representatives of the Rroma from Albania, Hekuran is a Kabuzi (the Kabuzi group came from Turkey and Greece to Korça), but he went around with all kinds of people, with Meckars, with Evgjits and with Albanians, he has assimilated all the varieties of Albanian music. He is presenting in this CD a bunch of melodies : mostly kaba, but also valle, valleshtruar and others which are related to kaba in terms of structure, melancholy or inspiration. The kaba is the basis, the soul of our music. It is so beloved by everybody that everyone says it originates from his own region, he wants to make a monopoly out of it. Most people in Albania maintain it comes from Korça, because there is in this city a neighbourhood called "Kaba", which allegedly gave it its name. Nobody can tell if it is true or not, but all Muslims know of the body of the holy kaba in Mecca, and maybe a pilgrim who came back from there gave this name to his neighbourhood in Korça, so the name by itself does not indicate anything about the kaba, The Evgjits also maintain that the kaba is theirs, and it is true they have produced brilliant kaba. be that as it may, it is not important for us to declare "the kaba belongs to these or those". The kaba lives its own life and in fact it belongs to anybody who understands the music of the soul, and also to all of you who are listening to this CD... I just would like to tell you in short a legend of ours, which is related to the kaba:
"Once upon a time, lived Clarinet, a Rrom of authority, who used to play Romani dances, heavy dances of all kinds and Violin heard him, came to him and both of them got associated for ever. However one day, Clarinet had to go far away to a far-off country beyond the sea to earn money, because there was a terrible famine and both were very poor, they were starving. Violin used to come to the sea-side and weep with a very melancholic melody, heart-rending and harrowing. Clarinet could hear from the other side of the sea and answered with a melancholic melody as well, but which was also showing virility, because the kaba is thick, produced with a thick voice. He would say in replay : "Don't worry, I am coming very soon to you and we will never separate anymore from each other: where Clarinet is, there is also Violin, where Violin is, there is also Clarinet, at weddings, on the move, in happy days, in bitter events, everywhere both of them are together, just like Rroma: when Rroma take to the road, they do not separate, they leave together with their wife, their family. This was the tale."
It is true that Rromani people travel in family, husband and wife, together with the children, in search of better places to live, where they could live normally like buman beings. In the Albanians' tradition, it is rather the husband who would start out by himself, the father alone - like Clarinet at the beginning of the tale; this was called gurbetlik, mergim (exile), But look, the Rroma suffered a lot the bitterness of separation, and now they do not want anymore to leave back any member of the family.
Well, since Clarinet plays alone the kaba, this witness that it is very old, dating back to the time when he was still beyond the sea, before he joined together again for ever with Violin - as they are today.
Hekuran Xhamballi - clarinet
unnamed accompanists on accordeon, violin, bouzouk, percussion
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4 Comments:
Thanks. This will be new.
You're most welcome anytime, sudzy.
EXTRAORDINAIRE
the link has vanished...any chance for a reposting?
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