Fitim Caushi
Fitim Caushi is an Albanian historian and expert in the history and origins of Albanian Folk music and iso-polyphonic music.
I was fortunate to have the opportuninity to inverview Fitim in Tirana, Albania in December 2022.
This is a translated transcription of the interview.
Translated by Altin Gjoni
What are the origins of this particular type of polyphonic music?
The problem of the origin and place of polyphony overall (in general) is still not solved currently on a worldwide scale. However, The studies that have been done so far by the professors at the institute of folk (popular) culture, Ramadan Sokoli, Benjamin kruta, spiro shitoni, hysen filja, daja etj, Cezar deja, shpetim kushta, our well-known musicians, present the lab polyphony as an original Albanian polyphony, especially the polyphonic music with 4 voices, because there no other polyphonic in any of the other regions of the Balkans that have 4 voices.
With 2 you have even 3, but there are no other like the Lab one with 4, or the northern one with 3 with these kinds of interpretations.
If we refer to the Iliad from Homer, we see that the crying at mortuary ceremonies has at its core a two-voice polyphony, Andromeda cried for Hector in the 24th song, Briseilda cried for Patrocles, Helena cried for Hector. About all of these cries were said ‘’They cried and after them, all the crowd did”, so essentially the second voice.
You still find this in the mountainous parts of Albania, especially the north, these two voices in mortuary ceremonies. I have been personally in one of those and was astonished by how an old lady cried her in-laws and the other women made a backing vocal with the last syllable of her work and an “oiii’ in the end, characteristic of the second voice. There has not been any formal research on studying this yet, however, they are very old as our mortuary ceremonies have been transmitted in centuries, and through them, they are concentrated, the story, the life, and the events of the community in different generations.
The process of evolution of polyphony then probably evolved in 3 or 4 voice, however, the one we have today is completely Albanian created by the people of that region.
Does this music date back to the time of the Illiad?
The music we have today doesn’t have the events of the Iliad included. The songs consist of reminiscents of different events like for example kidnapping women, revenge for the kidnapping etc; They are not connected directly to the iliad, meaning the origins don’t come from the Iliad but from stories present in our region.
Historically, many of the events are also taken from other regions because there is a tradition. The tradition was that in MC (Mortuary ceremonies) women used to grieve individually. Pocovill, Han, Holland, Hammond and other British researchers say that. The song that was brought out of the MC might not have been remembered, but when they were turned into an elegy it became immortal. The best one resided time and turned in elegy, if the song sung in a MC turned into an elegy it stood for centuries
Many songs are also sung today like the song for the normans. In 1085 the Normans, the son of Robert Guiscard, Bohemond landed in Butrint with his Army. There he lost to the alliance form Alex Comen and the alliance army with the Venetians.
The venetians came from Vagalat, to Kaninice they landed on Skerfica neck (today’s Furlat) There they asked for the leader of the place, Petro Luzhati, who was the Orarhondi (leader) of the time as told in the papers of Alex Comen, the emperor.
The venetians said they were not meant for war, we came for help, I’m in you hands. Here we see a more concrete example of the tale of the Albanian Word (bond of trust) expressed popularly in the tale of Konstantite and Doruntine (look it up) who was a concrete event. The venetians asked help to pass to the encampment of the Mormas in Durres and Valona as all the other paths were blocked by the Byzantine. Petro Zhulati asked them for 5 days, in order to talk to the other elders and come with an agreement, as they were under Byzantine and letting the venetians army in could be seen as treason.
However they said yes to the Venetians and took them to Rober Guisard’s son however when they got back war started between them (Venetians and Petro’s troops and the Byzantine troops ) and the song of the tale is still left as the cries of her Mother in his funeral
Blessed oh son Petro Zhulati
Red horse half mountain tall
With the Byzantines you had an anger
What did you do with all those brave men
With horses like thunder
Clashing Yatagans (“Jataganët Vringellima” – Jatagan is a sword while vringellima is the noise swords makes when clashin)
Read this https://www.radiandradi.com/normanet-e-hekurt-ne-besen-e-petro-zhulatit-nga-fitim-caushi/
This is a modern performance of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvOvCIBBpw
One verse is left from the original in the form of a “tercine,” from the original. However the song has been passed down in generations. The songs of great leader were kept as a guide also there’s a tradition in Laberia and in all Albania, when you go to the graveyard to see the grave of a loved one when you turn back people usually go to the graves of their ther loved ones. This happens even today. When people go to the graveyards they sing the songs and that’s how the song was passed down in generation.
Like researches say, for example Pocovill. Women would go to the graveyard with young girls so that they would sing together and the story would pass on, independently by the other events of life.
Another very interesting event comes from a British traveller, Hius. When hius went to Himara he heard songs of Elegy, he took part in funeral there and in Gjirokaster. Even when he went to Janina (Nowdays part of Greece) he heard the same style of crying the dead – with songs of soroow.
He says “All these 3 cries, these rituals were equal to the cries of Penelope for Ulises.” This is 200 years ago, in the 1800. His book has been published and is now in our national libraries. The many researches done prove that our songs of mourning as ancient. Hammond wrote the book of Epirus, and sais that are songs are as old if older as the ancient Homerian rites. Or Lamberts that says that in ALbania still exists funeral ceremonies similar to the Homerian epos or La Martin that says that “to understand the songs of the Greek Palikars (Braves) you should know Albania culture.”
How does Laberia’s singing differ from other regions?
From the voices, The Lab polyphony has 4 voice (Marres, Kthyes, Hedhes, Iso) The Tosk one has 3 voices (Marres, Kthyes, Iso). The northern polyphony has 2 voice (Marres, Iso.) In melodies, themes, and heroes, in their psychology is very similar, but in the song, it differs from the voices.
The Lab and Tosk polyphonic singing has at its core the pentatonic scale. They have contrasting voices in order to create the harmony and then the rhythm. All this makes what is the Albanian Polyphony with 4 voices. It’s different from other polyphonies from the voices included.
What was wrong with Tole’s UNESCO submission in your view?
That was a diversions that one individual made by manipulating elements that we are still not allowed to look, as the officials don’t release the files for us to look. By exploiting his individuality he registered it in UNCESCO wrongly as ISO-POLYPHONY.
In his two publishings, one of which is in UNESCO, he pointed the origin of ISO-POLYPHONY are from greek sirens!!!!To says that polyphny has it’s origins means that our culture comes from greece and we have fought that claim. All his book have been debunked and put down by the community.
We also have poems that says that the population of Troy is Dardans (which were Illirians). Homer says this. Other researches of Europe say the same. One individual completely put all the Albania science community down (Benjamin Kruda, Ramadan Sokoli, Cezar Deja, Limoz Dizdardi, Pirro Misja, Spirit Shitoni) and all the foreign researches have completed the major research proves that our Polyphony has it’s origins here, in the Albanian people, not in Greece.
That’s why we oppose this because it only serves Greek politic and ignores all the historical facts and researches proven by both Albanian and international community.
Has UNESCO helped?
I’ll first complete my thought. Saying that our culture comes from sirens means that our culture comes form nothing. How can a mythological creature produce a culture?
Mythology is made from, not the opposite. Polyphony and culture are born from human experience, human soul.
We don’t know how that man fell on that trap and who made him do what he did!
Every village in Albania is an archive of out popular culture, of our souls legacy. It includes the historical songs, The historical epik, songs of love, of the crib, song of family, songs of nizam. Every village is an archive.
How can you say that this heritage that was the gjirokaster festival with researches from the whole world came from nothing. Why didn’t he metions our fairies (zana) We have fairies in our mythology in the north. In the south we have voices (zëra).
Zana equals Zëra, it’s a rotianal quality of the language. (Zera) Voices in Laberi and Zana in the north were creations of our people. Why did he transport the research from Albania to Greece when our land is the richest with Polyphony?
In his book he has a map with the area where IS Polyphony is. And he has only put from River Shkumbin in below which coincidentally is identical to Greek Shovisint pretenses on Albania Territory! How did that coincide considering the fact that cultures don’t have strict borders
Culture were exchanged in borders. He cut it into a map and made it a document in UNESCO. This could be changed and call it ALBANIAN POLYPHONY not GREEK ISO POLYPHONY.
Putting it in UNESCO didn’t help! It’s actually destroying the community. The person responsible for this to empower himself is actually getting funds from the ministry to make the Iso-Polyphic festival in Vlora, Dividing the Community.
Polyphony has the ISO included. You don’t put ISO before polyphony. LIke Aleksander Peci said, you don’t say head-human, you say human and imply that the head is there. You can’t change the name like you wish when you have 50 years of researchers.
In the first Albanology conference in 1962 Ramanda Sokoli very well explained Albanian Polyphony. They stepped on 50 years of research.
How do you see the future?
It’s in doubt because the microenvironment that was its source is disappearing. The villages are disappearing, and the kroi (waters, streams) of the villages where people gathered is no more. The dinners are no more, as are the celebrations (gosti) that happened in Laberi that were filled with singing
Songs were sang every night. Now people are leaving and only a few groups are keeping it alive from their passion .The government has to bring arts directors back to find them and bring them in.
I was an arts director for 40 years with Polyphonic group. We have tens of recordings after the 90s to keep it alive. If the government doesn’t keep it alie in small municipalities and in cities than we can’t keep it
Band like Victor are built out of passion. I just spoke to the director of the theater to put Victor’s group in Tirana’s Ensemble . We want to put groups from all the region hopefully Victor’s group if the head of the municipality address.
Zhani Ciko manage to put Albanian polyphony in the national Ensemble of Macedonia. When that assembly has it, we should have it as well on our Ensemble in Tiran as everyone has moved in Tirana now.
In the end I’m very grateful for all the British research, for what you are doing David. For example Lord Byron has talked a lot for the Lab songs. He was surprised and wrote about Polyphonic songs and Albania dances. Even when he was sick one of the Southerners took him to get cured and said to the doctor, if he dies I’ll kill you.
When Byron got cured he wanted to pay him the Southerner but he refused and in said to Byron as Byron wrote this in a letter to his mother
“I want you love me, not pay me”
This was the Albania bond of trust. However many people are not tearing us apart from the inside.