Albanian folk poetry

The traditional Albanian poetry includes folk Albanian poetry and songs that are part of the Albanian culture.

History

In 1830 Vuk Karadžić recorded from Dovica Obadović from Đurakovac near Peć 12 Albanian songs and one riddle.^[1][2][3]

During the Albanian Renaissance (Rilindja) the oral literature, a rich cultural asset, was used in forming the country's identity.^[4] The first collection of Albanian oral literature was that of Austrian consul, and "father of Albanian studies" John Hahn's Albanische Studien.^[4] One of the most notable Albanian epic poem is The Highland Lute written by Albanian Catholic friar Gjergj Fishta.

In the 1905–08 period Nikolla Ivanaj published the Shpnesa e Shqypnisë, being one of the first publishers of the Albanian heroic folk songs.^[5]

Language

Serbian words are common in the folk songs of northern Albania (Gheg Albanian), and are lacking in the south (Tosk Albanian), where Slavic words have taken an Albanianized form.^[6]

Notable songs

Examples of these songs are the following:^[7]

• Albanian Songs of the Frontier Warriors, inclusive of The Cycle of Mujo and Halili, and The Song of Gjergj Elez Alia
• Eufrozina of Janina
• The Ballad of Constantine and Dhoqina
• Fog Hung Heavy O’er the Buna
• Oh, my Beautiful Morea
• At the Plane Tree of Mashkullore
• Cham Folk Songs such as the Song of Çelo Mezani
• Songs of the Battle of Kosovo

References

1. Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine (1987). Posebna izdanja. p. 174. Retrieved 23 February 2013. filolosku studiju o jeziku albanskih narodnih piisama iz okoline Peci koje je Vuk Karadzic zapisao 1830. godine
2. Vladeta Vuković (1988). Život i delo Vuka Karadžića. Akademija nauka i umetnosti Kosova, Odeljenje jezičkih i književnih nauka i umetnosti. p. 103. Retrieved 23 February 2013. Вук ]е, у два маха, 1830. године, сакупио 12 албанских на- родних песама (или фрагмената песама)'и 1 загонетку
3. Dobrašinović, Golub (1970), Сабрана дела Вука Караџића. 18, О Црној Гори. Разни списи (in Serbian), Belgrade: Prosveta, OCLC 491892238
4. Cornis-Pope & Neubauer 2007, p. 336.
5. Neziri, Zeqirja. "RAPSODËT E RUGOVËS DHE TEORIA E EPOSIT". Radio Kosova e lire. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
6. Memoirs of the American Folk-lore Society. 44. American Folk-lore Society. 1954. pp. 146–148.
7. Elsie, Robert. "Oral Literature Oral verse". Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.

Sources

• Cornis-Pope, Marcel; Neubauer, John (2007). History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume III: The making and remaking of literary institutions. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-9235-3.
• Robert Elsie; Janice Mathie-Heck (January 2004). Songs of the Frontier Warriors. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86516-412-3.
• Pyrrhus J. Ruches (1967). Albanian Historical Folksongs 1716-1943. A Survey of Oral Epic Poetry from Southern Albania with Orig. Texts Coll. and Transl. Argonaut.
• Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1989). Srpske i albanske narodne pesme sa Kosova u zapisima Vuka Karadžića. Jedinstvo.

Further reading

• Sivački Ana V. (2013). "Specific initial (introductory) formulas in Albanian (decasyllabic) songs of the frontier warriors". Balcanica. 44: 113–138.