The music of Albania is associated with the country of Albania and Albanian communities. Music has a long tradition in the country and is known for its regional diversity, from the Ghegs in the North to the Tosks in the South. It is an integral part of the national identity, strongly influenced by the country's long and turbulent history, which forced Albanians to protect their culture from their overlords by living in rural and remote mountains.
Music of Kosovo is music that originates from Kosovo, a country in the Balkans. Kosovo's population is mainly Kosovo Albanians, also known as Kosovars, and there are various minority ethnic groups as well. Kosovan music is closely related to that of neighbouring Albania, as well as to that of countries in the former Yugoslavia.
The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music. It, along with the nearby music scene in Newport, has brought a number of musicians to perform or begin their careers in South Wales.
Festivali i Këngës, also referred to as simply FiK or Fest, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, the festival has determined the country's representative to the Eurovision Song Contest since 2004.
The International Festival of Young Musicians – DAM Festival Pristina is one of the most prominent cultural events taking place in the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina. Founded in 2006, DAM Festival is an annual music festival which gathers young and talented national and international musicians from all over the world. This festival works on enriching the Kosovar cultural scene with the collision of the traditional and the contemporary. DAM Fest was founded by back then art student, now well known TV producer, musician, journalist and manager of Kosovo's Philharmonic Orchestra, Dardan Selimaj.
40 BunarFest is an annual non traditional festival of alternative sport held in Prizren, a city in southern Kosovo, and it is organized by Shoqni e Sportistve t'kfillt . It features rafting through the Lumbardhi river using tractor-tire inner tubes. The year 2008 saw the fourth edition of the festival with nearly 70 participants in the race, during the day of festival various DJ-s performed in the center of Prizren. The festival also publishes a comic book every year when it's held, subject of the book changes every year and it includes various persona from the old urban legends of Prizren.
DokuFest is an international documentary and short film festival held in the Kosovo city of Prizren, held annually during early August. It was founded in 2002 by a group of friends. It has since grown into a cultural event that attracts international and regional artists and audiences. Films are screened throughout the eight-day festival and accompanied by programs, activities, and workshops.
Troja is a Kosovar heavy metal band which consists of Bujar Berisha (vocals), Florent Bajrami (guitar), Violand Shabani (drums) and Agron Ejupi (bass). The band was originally formed by Ismajl (Mak) Beqaj and Tomorr (Toma) Arifi (vocals) in 1990 in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia. The same year Florent Bajrami (guitar) and Visar Blaku (drums) joined the band. Florent Bajrami remains the only original member of the band.
Albanian rock describes music in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and other Albanian-inhabited areas closely related to western rock. It has a wide variety of subgenres like pop rock, alternative rock, hard rock and metal.
Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. The festival, founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen, has been hosted in the city of Utrecht since 2007.
Classical music in Kosovo refers to the art music cultivated in Kosovo. The roots of classical music in Kosovo are found in the 1940s and include the time period from the times when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia to this day. It can be said that there is a tradition of classical music in Kosovo, however, compared to other Balkan countries and especially European countries this tradition is younger. Classical music in Kosovo reaches back about 70 years. Even though in a short period of time, this music has evolved, passing through generations of composers and artists. In his book Albanian: Zhvillimi i stileve në veprat e kompozitorëve shqiptarë të Kosovës, Engjëll Berisha comments:
"The diversity of styles in Albanian music [of Kosovo], its national patterns with sound idea-aesthetic foundations are a characteristic of the European musical reality, so many many works are of interest abroad, too, because during this relatively short period Albanian classical music in Kosovo has compensated for the delay in its development."
The Cinematography in Kosovo in the Albanian language began its activities after the foundation of Kosovafilm, which produced short films, documentaries, cartoons and later feature films. Since 2008, the central authority for cinematography in Kosovo has been Kosova’s Cinematography Center (KCC) though there are numerous independent film companies active in Kosovo. Before Kosovafilm, there were no fully Kosovan films.
Top Fest was an Albanian music competition organised by Top Channel. It began airing in 2004 with its last edition being in 2015. The event was annually held in Tirana, Albania. The songs were usually performed in Albanian with artists from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and other Albanian-speaking territories. From its 7th edition (2010), the participants performed their entries 100% live.
Events and festivals in Gjakova are highly valued if not great in number. The historical city of Gjakova, Kosovo, especially the Old Bazaar (Çarshia), is the hub of many outdoor and indoor festivals, cultural events and street parades, and is a main attraction for tourists. Many events only take place once, while others are organised regularly on an annual basis by festival societies. Some of the events are organised by the city and others by private companies.
This is a list of some of the major festivals and events held in Kosovo's capital city Pristina, which are common occurrences throughout the year in the city.
Peć is a city located at the western part of the Kosovo. Numerous cultural activities and events are organized each year in the city.
The culture of Prizren consists of a rare blend of the various identities which make up Kosovo. Prizren is a community where different cultures and civilizations have come together, contributing to the city's cultural development over the centuries.
As the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina is the heart of the cultural and artistic development of all Albanians that live in Kosovo. The department of cultural affairs is just one of the segments that arranges the cultural events, which make Pristina one of the cities with the most emphasized cultural and artistic traditions.
Music composition and composers in Pristina refers to music composition and composers who have left their mark in Pristina. The importance of Kosovan Folklore on the different genres, their development and their popularity. As referring to genres as a categorization would not cover all compositions and composers in a fair way, a highlight of every composers work and different genres is provided because of the different genres a composers work has included throughout the years.
The Sunny Hill Festival is an annual international music festival in Pristina, Kosovo, organised by Dua Lipa and her father Dukagjin Lipa. Though intended to take place annually since 2018, the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
