Clarinet by Dimitrios Dallas, check out his excellent music on his channel [ Ссылка ], vocals by Kelareh Kabiri, Sumru Ağıryürüyen and Farya Faraji. This is a reworking of an earlier version I had made in 2021. This is a traditional song sung by the Tosk Albanians, one of the two main Albanian ethnic groups and the one that resides in the parts of Southern Albania. This piece of music's pentatonic nature sets its origins firmly in the southern parts of the country, most probably Epirus, a historical and geographical region now shared between Greece and Albania. This style of music is one shared by multiple ethnic groups, namely Greeks, Albanians and Aromanians, resulting in much disputes over accusations of stealing and claims that the style belongs solely to one's own group, as is common in regions of the world with a strong sense of hostile nationalism. I refer the reader to the comment section for proof of that claim.

The music of Epirus is one defined by the region, and much like the music of Thrace, the music is largely the same no matter the ethnicity that resides in it. The same way Bulgarian Thracian music and Greek Thracian music transcend national borders to instead reflect the historical reality of those regions where the two distinct language speakers developed a common musical culture, so does the music of Epirus historically connect both Greeks and Albanians within a connected, singular musical tradition in this region.

Epirotic music is defined by its pentatonic nature, a most peculiar oddity in a region of the world that is almost entirely heptatonic in nature and defined by the usage of very small clustered intervals, as is usually the case in the modal traditions of the region. Whilst most versions available on YouTube are highly modernised, I wanted to bring this one back to a more traditional, 1900's sensibility by focusing on the usage of the clarinet, the main instrument of the genre, played expertly by my colleague Dimitrios Dallas. The chord progression is provided by the laouto, a Greek instrument adopted by Albanians in this region, a double bass gives the bass line, and traditional tambourines provide the percussions.

Harmony is also an important of this region's music. Called the polyphonic song of Epirus or Iso-Polyphony, two concepts that are largely overlapping and interchangeable; Epirotic harmony consists mainly of drone harmonies, and the one most often heard in the rendering of this song is the usage of the "dredhes," voice, called "κλώστη," in Greek, which translated to "spinner," an allusion to the voice that this vocalist "spins" the music from a steady drone of the tonic to the subtonic during moments of melodic cadence; something I consider one of the most basic forms of overall Balkan harmony found in Bulgaria and Serbia too, despite their tradition being distinct from Epirotic harmony.

Lyrics in Albanian:
Me jep nje pik uje moj baluke e prer
Me se te te jap o trendafil me ere

Jarnana jarna ne jarnan moj te keqen e
Jarnana jarna ne jarnan moj te keqen e

O me doren tende moj baluke prer
Dora mu ndodh zen o trendafil me er

Jarnana jarnana ne jarnana moj te keqen e
Jarnana jarnana ne jarnana moj te keqen e

Me se tu ndodh zene moj baluke prere
Me unazen tende trendafil me er

English translation:
Give me water with your hands, oh girl with cut bangs
With what do I give it to you, scented rose?

La la la, may I take all your misfortunes upon me.

With your own hands, oh girl with cut bangs
My hand happens to be busy, scented rose.

What’s making your hand busy, oh girl with cut bangs?
The ring you gave me, scented rose.

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