The Albanian tradition of Mirdita: One of the 11 krushqi had to be a singer

Anyone who has seen a couplet hanging in his Mirdita tower, in his distant childhood, has no difficulty understanding that the "Mirdita" Ensemble, before on the stage of the Rrëshen Palace of Culture, or in the Gjirokastra fortress, has was scattered all over the world, from house to house and hearth to hearth, up to the foot of Munella. That's why the expression "home and couple" was heard so much.

The first scene was the ode, especially the wedding scene, where one of the 11 krushks had to be a singer. The man of the fire tower often at family evenings, or at popular celebrations, took the couplet and began to play his fingers and say the words. It didn't matter how well he knew how to do this, the ziftelia, lute or sharkia was part of his living culture.

Otherwise, the mountaineer had the soul of an artist and he showed this essence of his from time to time. That's why the shepherd on the mountain had his flute with him and played pastoral melodies just like in Illyrian, Greek and Roman antiquity. All day long, behind the herds in the pasture, he carved and carved straw tails for work tools, and whistles, hummingbirds, with which he played pastoral melodies.

Our Bjeshke are the first studio for many prominent folk artists, why not also for composers who sit Bjeshke motifs on the pentagram. Mirditori created melodies and music even with cattle chimes, where they also had a copper workshop in Marlaskaj e Kuzhnen, where the chimes that had traveled all the way to Shkumbin have been sounding for many years in the artistic-folkloric arena of the "Mirdita" Ensemble. Thus, the aforementioned Ensemble is not only the song and dance of the tradition, but also the clothing, costumes, rituals, popular games, signs or distinguishing elements, from the princes' helmet to the shepherd's cap, etc. /Part of the foreword by Ndue Dedaj for the Ensemble monograph "Mirdita"/