Albanian songs of advanced warriors

Songs appeared in the South Slavic environment and were transmitted (some researchers say they said they were returning) to Albanians ^[1] . Studies show that all these songs come from the 17th and 18th centuries ^[2] , and were transmitted orally by Albanian bards . Although the plots originated in Slavic Bosnia, these songs are not just a translation from the Serbo-Croatian , as over time they were processed in northern Albania ^[3] .

Research before World War II

The Franciscan priest Stefan Gechovi was the first to start collecting the Albanian Kanun ( customary law ) and fixing it in writing. In addition to this, he also began to collect lyrics from leading warriors Elsie & Mathie-Heck, 2004 , p. xi. Beginning in 1919, the work of Getchovi was continued by the Rev. Bernandine Palai. Both Getchovy and Palai traveled on foot to meet the bards and record their songs. Këngë Kreshnikësh dhe Legenda (“Songs of Advanced Warriors and Legends”) was first published in 1937, after the death of Getchovy and then was included in the book Visaret e Kombit (Treasures of the Nation).

At the same time, in parallel with Albania , Yugoslav scientists became interested in the songs of the illiterate bards Sandzak and Bosnia ^[4] . These studies attracted the attention of Milman Perry , a Homer specialist and scientist at Harvard University , as well as his then assistant, Albert Lord . Perry and Lord spent a year in Bosnia (1934-1935) and recorded 12,500 texts together.

Of the five bards whose songs they recorded, four were Albanians: Ulyanin Salikh, Dzhemal Zogich, Suleiman Makich and Alia Fyulanin. All these singers were from Novi Pazar and Sanjak, and were able to play the same songs in both Albanian and Serbo-Croatian .

In 1937, shortly after Perry's death, the Lord went to Albania, began to study Albanian and traveled throughout the country, collecting the Albanian heroic epic. Go records are now stored in the Milman Perry Collection at Harvard University. The Lord wrote the following about their undertaking ^[5] :

“While in Novi Pazar, Perry recorded several Albanian songs from one of the singers, who sang in both languages. The musical instrument used for accompaniment for these songs is gusle (in Albanian - lahuta ). The stanza in Albanian is shorter than the Serbian ten-syllable verse, and primitive rhymes are most often used. Obviously, studying the exchange of formulas and traditional passages between these two languages ​​could be fruitful: we have a wonderful example of how oral poetry moves from one language group to another, which is next to it. However, in 1935 we did not have enough time to collect a lot of material or learn the Albanian language. Being in Dubrovnik in the summer of 1937, I had the opportunity to study the Albanian language, and in September and October of that year I went to the mountains of northern Albania from Shkoder to Kukes , passing by the cities of God, Aunt , Abat and Tropea , returning back to the more southern route. I collected about a hundred plot compositions, many of them were short, but several were from five hundred to a thousand lines long. We found out that there are some songs that are common to the Serbo-Croatian and Albanian traditions and that a number of Muslim heroes from Yugoslav poetry, such as Mugo, Kholili Hrnjets and Alia Gerzelez , are also known in Albania. Much remains to be clarified in this area before we can say exactly what the relationship between the two traditions really is. ”

Research after World War II

Studies in the field of Albanian literature resumed in Albania in the 1950s after the creation of the Albanian Institute of Science, the forerunner of the Academy of Sciences of Albania ^[6] . The founding of the Center for Albanological Research in 1961 was of particular importance for the further research and publication of folklore works at a satisfactory scientific level. In addition, the foundation of the Albanological Institute ( Alb. Instituti Albanologjik ) in Pristina has also done a significant amount of work in the field of the Albanian epic ^[7] .

The Serbo-Croatian epic seems to have died out since the time of Perry and Lord, since there were no more bards left to perform these songs, while the Albanian epic still lives on. Now there are still a large number of lahutars in Albania, Kosovo , and even in the Albanian regions of Montenegro . It is believed that these people are the last traditional performers of epic songs in Europe.

The songs connected together form a long verse similar to the Finnish Kalevala , compiled and published in 1835 by Elias Lönnrot , and which was compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore ^[8] .

Albanian songs of advanced warriors are considered the work of Gerg Fisht , which was inspired by the work of Lahuta e Malcis .

One of the most famous songs of the cycle is the tale of Alia Gerzelez , a warrior who received nine wounds and who lay sick for nine years in his house. When the news comes to him that Balozh and Qi (The Black Knight) came from the sea and began to kill people, Aliya gets out of bed and kills Balozhakh.

• Albanian mythology
• Alia Gerzelez

• Elsie, Robert; Mathie-Heck, Janice. Songs of the Frontier Warriors . - Wauconda, Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Incorporated, 2004 .-- ISBN 0-86516-412-6 .