Koncert Në Vitin 2014
2014
HD video 5.10 mins color/sound, pigment-prints, table.
The project departs from the Albanian film Koncert Në Vitin 1936 (Saimir Kumbaro, 1978), a film that can be understood as formulating a subtle; yet a sharp critique of the Albanian Communist system (from) within the system itself. Inspired by the biography of the soprano Tefta Tashko-Koço (1910–1947), the original film follows two traveling emancipated women—a soprano and a pianist. As a catalyst, the women perform Zare Trëntafile; a well-known love song addressed to a woman. Zare, a feminine coded name, means “dice” in Albanian and is also jargon for someone who is easily played with, or bullied. Additionally, it can be another word for a prostitute. Trëntafile refers to the flower rose. The music is part of the local Urban Lyrics tradition, made popular in the 1930s by Tashko-Koço. By way of photographs, material from Albanian National Film Archive, and a restaged performance in the decayed “mausoleum” Piramida starring the young performer Lepurushja from the human rights organization Aleanca LGBT, the connotations and meaning of the song are investigated. The work raises questions on how existing narratives are being used, how these can be reimagined, and how one creates identification and make them one’s own when nothing else is there.