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Laver Bariu

laver bariu

About Me

The ancient, polyphonic singing tradition of southern Albania, in which one voice rides above a vocal drone (the ISO), has been preserved through the playing of multi-instrumentalist Laver Bariu . The son of a singer and llaute (Albanian lute) player, Bariu was inspired by the music that he heard his father play each night. Although he initially wanted to play the gajde (bagpipe), his family's inability to afford an instrument led him to build one of his own. Seeing his determination, his father agreed to teach him to play the llaude. Bariu later built his own drum set. Bariu's progress as a musician was setback after Germany invaded Albania in 1939. His hometown was burnt four times -- once by the Italian Fascists and three times by the Nazis. The war, however, had a bright side as well. When a Greek clarinetist moved to Permet to escape the conflict between Italy and Greece, Bariu was recruited to play drums and daf (large tambourine) in a band that played nightly at a local club. His father agreed to play llaute with the group. The experience had a profound effect on Bariu as he became increasingly fascinated by the clarinet. Temporarily moving to Korce, he began playing with clarinetist Vangiel Leskoviku, who taught him many tunes. Returning to Permet, Bariu formed his first band. More than four decades later, he still remained active. Songs From the City of Roses was released in 1996. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide P..rmet(i) "City of Roses"Laver Bariu's Globestyle CD Songs from the City of Roses:P..rmeti is a rather nondescript town, but in many ways the spiritual heart of Albanian communism. It was very deeply involved in the anti- Fascist struggle and as a result was completly burnt down by the Germans in 1943-1944. So all the buildings are modern. Much of the population of the surrounding mountains is of Vlach descent.A British Special Operations Executive liason officer, T.W. Tilman, passing through P..rmet in August 1943, noted the damage the area had suffered in the Balkan Wars of 1911-1912, and other recent conflict:''There was no sign of the war until we reached the town of P..rmet: but of past wars there were many, for in this troubled country there are few places free from scars. The village of Frasher, for example which we passed had been ravaged by the Greeks in 1914 in company with 150 other Albanian villages; and on the highest mountains one would find stone sangards and heaps of spent cartridges fired by the Greeks in their campaign against the Italians. P..rmeti itself had suffered in that campaign, and had recently been burnt again by the Italians as a reprisal for some partisan action."The town is first mentioned in 15th century chronicles, although there must almost certainly have been an ancient settlement on the site. It grew as a small Ottoman administrative and trade centre, and was an early centre of the Albanian nationalist movement in the 19th century. It was also a centre of resistance to Greek irredentism at the end of that century.The nationalist association, Bashkimi (Unity) was formed in P..rmet in 1909. The 6th Partisan Brigade was found here by Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu in 1943. On the 24th of May 1944 the anti-Fascist Congress of Liberation was held, always known in Albania as the Congress of P..rmet, which laid the political foundation for the communist take-over in the autumn of that year.The town is the birthplace of some of the most important patriots of Albania. The Frash..ri brothers played a key role in the renaissance period with their publications and national awakening campaign.One interesting site is the "Rock of the City" which stands between the river and the main city loop highway. If you like hiking and hunting, Dh..mbeli mountain above P..rmet, at a height of 2050 metres, is the perfect place to go. Don't forget to take a dive in the chilly waters of the Vjosa. The river is very beautiful, particularly after heavy rain: a torrent rushing over large boulders.Whereas in other parts of Southern Albania, especially Gjirokast..r, grapes are used to make the ubiquitous and often-superb Raki (Grappa), P..rmet is famous for its raki made from plums, like the Slivovitsa of Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia etc.And whereas in the last days of Gjirokastriote Enver Hoxha the formerly-closed fortress of Gjirokast..r hosted a genuine international Folk Festival, it is now P..rmet which is a centre of musical excellence.From Kim Burton's notes to the Globestyle recording of Laver Bariu"Songs of the City of Roses" :"When one man travels, he's simply alone; when two travel, they quarrel; if three travel, they will sing.""So they say in P..rmet, where in the summer the roses bloom, the blistering white peak of Dhembel climbs high above and the lazily muscled river Vjosa pushes its green way through the gorge below. And music is everywhere in the town. It spills from the doorways, floats through the mountain night. A young composer carefully picks out the ragged path of his inspiration on a recalcitrant and untuned piano; a group of tipsy doctors, birthday celebrants, suddenly hush, sway their heads together and embark on a rich and complex polyphonic song of astonishing delicacy; small children cluster about an old man strumming a battered mandolin, who gravely directs the patterns of their dance; behind the faded shutters of a house in a side street the sounds of clarinet and accordion sway above the beat of a huge tambourine. Two voices enter, entwine. A third takes up a low drone beneath. Time seems to slow, a deep and ancient stillness commands the narrow lanes. A sudden shout breaks the spell. The musicians stop. The clarinet plays a phrase, repeats it. The music resumes."The Master is rehearsing his group. Usta (The Master - compare the Hindu title Ustad) Laver Bariu still lives in P..rmet, where he was born into a family of musicians in 1929. His father, Bari Nurka, was a singer who accompanied himself on the llaute, and the young Laver grew up hearing its rhythms as he lay in bed in the evenings. His musical ambitions started early. At first he wanted to play the gajde, the local form of the bagpipe, but his family was too poor to be able to afford to buy one. The boy decided to make his own."'First of all I went from my home to the butcher's shop, and there I took a piece of offal that was being thrown away. I washed it and dried it in the sun, and blew it up just like a gajde, and made some little reedpipes, and stuck them in. Well, this was my gajde, It smelt very bad but I didn't care. I kept it hidden at home, in secret. My mother said 'what is that dreadful smell?' but she couldn't find it. Then one day my father came home and found me playing, shouted at me...and that was the end of my gajde. But my father could see that I was going to be a musician, so he started to teach me the llaute."'"Although he was learning to play, he still didn't have an instrument of his own, so he continued to experiment. His next home-made instrument was a drum-kit, or xhez (from the English "jazz") as it called in Albania."'I got some wood and bits of metal and made a bass drum and played that with my foot while I banged on the table at the same time, to make sound like a xhez. Then I made a def for myself, which was better, and I used to play all the time at home.'"On Good Friday of 1939 Italy invaded Albania. German troops followed, and the war brought privation and destruction to Permet - the town was burnt four times, once by the Italians, and three times by the Germans - as well as the honour of hosting the first Anti-fascist National Liberation Congress in 1944."To Laver Bariu, by the one of the ironies that war breeds, it brought the start of a musical career."'When the war between Italy and Greece began a Greek clarinetist came to town, and he became our neighbor. He couldn't work because he didn't have any other musicians with him except his brother who was a llautar, but when he heard me practicing in the house he took me to play the jazz and def, and my father to play the llaute, and made a little band. We used to play at weddings and there was a club in town where we used to play every night. I listened to him playing the clarinet every night and I got a little crazy. I told my father 'Buy me a clarinet or I'll drown myself in the river!' He could see I was serious, and so I started to play clarinet a bit.'"By the age of 16 Laver Bariu had become known as a llautar, and it was in this role that he travelled to Korce, the largest town of Toskeria and an important gathering place for itinerant musicians. Here he played with, among others, the influential clarinetist Vangjel Leskoviku, practicing the clarinet when he was able. "I was young, my mind was fresh, I listened to all the pieces I could, learned them by heart and when I returned to Permet I started a proper group with my friends. And I've led a group for 45 years." In those years Laver Bariu has become one of the best known and most respected musicians in the country. To watch him rehearsing his musicians is to watch a musical intelligence of a very high order at work. There is no doubt who is in charge as he takes up the llaute to illustrate a point of harmony or rhythm, or explains the subtle difference between one type of glissando and another. A mistake is greeted with impatient banging on the table and a repeated explanation, only when he is satisfied does the musician merit an approving cry of "Bravo!", or the highest accolade of all, "Brenda!" (Inside!). Let the last word be his: "I've played all over Albania, I've been given prizes and diplomas, they made me an Artist Of Merit, all these things. But I never went to school: I still can't read a note of music. I may not be so young, my children are grown up and I don't need to work. But music is music and I would be ashamed to not play.""The music of Permet stems from the confluence of several different musical currents, for it is the meeting place of Laberia and Toskeria. The Labs and Tosks, inheritors of ancient tribal names, are the two main ethnic sub-groups of southern Albania, and although the music of the Labs is tough and rhythmically powerful, while the Tosks sing more freely and fluidly, both groups share one striking characteristic. Unlike most European folk music their songs are truly polyphonic, with more than one voice sounding simultaneously, each moving independently above a vocal drone called the iso. The style, which is very ancient, is found beyond the borders of Albania in areas where there is, or was once, an Albanian population. It can be heard in northwestern Greece and southwestern Macedonia, where it is sung by the local Greek and Vlach population as well as Albanians, and even further afield, in southern Italy, where the Arb..reshi live, descendants of Albanians that emigrated after the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans in the late fifteenth century.Towards the end of the 19th century small instrumental groups called saze appeared in the towns of Epirus - what is now southern Albania and northwestern Greece. Sometimes accompanying singers and sometimes playing purely instrumental music for dancing or for listening, they had, and have, no rigidly fixed instrumentation, but are typically led by a clarinet. A violin often takes the role of second voice or provides a gently rocking ostinato. Harmonic and rhythmic elements are provided by a llaute, a deep-bellied fretted lute. Variations of this basic pattern range from a rough and ready village band of clarinet, accordion and snare drum to a group like the one on this recording, which has a second clarinettist instead of a violin, and adds an accordion (which is played by Laver Bariu's brother, Lefter Nurka) and a def, a large tambourine.
Although the def is widely used throughout the south of the country and further abroad, the people of P..rmet credit Laver Bariu with introducing it to instrumental groups in the town, where it used to be played exclusively by women. The richness and complexity of the vocal music is echoed by two of the instrumental pieces on this recording. They are kaba, rhapsody, part composed and part improvised musical meditations that draw upon a set of phrases and figures that are combined and recombined to produce a music that at the same time sounds both ancient and freshly minted. Laver Bariu is celebrated as a player of kaba, and so many of the younger generation have followed his lead that it's possible to talk of a "Laver style" which has spread far beyond P..rmet and its immediate area. The melodies are ornamented with swoops, glides and growls of an almost vocal quality, in a manner that suggests a debt to the very widespread custom of singing funeral laments at the deathbed or the graveside. The musicians often refer to kaba as "music with tears" (Pjesa Vajtimi) and tell a story of its origins: 'Once a clarinetist was married to a wife that he loved very much, but the day came when she had to die. As she lay dying she called her husband to her and spoke to him. 'When I am dead,' she told to him, 'do not weep for me, but let your clarinet weep for me instead.' And so when she was, he played a lament for her.' This was the first kaba. ""

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Member Since: 1/14/2007
Band Members: laver bariu-clarinet lefter nurka-firzamonike alban zeqiri-vocal, dajre evgjeni culli- vocal ilir duralliu-back clarinet refan ponoci- drejtor artistic
Influences: Laver Bariu (Nurka) Lindur ne Permet me 2 Maj 1929. Personalitet i shquar i muzik..s popullore shqiptare si muziktar popullor n.. g..rnet.. dhe si k..ng..tar. Themelues dhe drejtues i Sazeve t.. P..rmetit t.. njohura n.. gjith.. Shqip..rin.. dhe jasht.. saj.

Djali i Bariut, k..ng..tarit popullor dhe interpretuesit n.. llahut.., tregoi q.. i vog..l nj.. dhunti natyrale p..r t..u marr.. me veglat muzikore t.. thjeshta t.. cilat i sajonte vet.. nga deg..t e pem..ve apo edhe nga kallami i grurit etj. Pas largimit t.. familjes s.. tij n.. qytetin e Kor....s n.. vitin 1935, Laverit iu krijua mund..sia t.. d..gjonte shum.. muziktar.. t.. shquar popullor.. p..r koh..n, si Islami n.. gajde, e ve..an..risht Feim Gajdexhiu, babai i shokut t.. tij t.. f..mij..ris.., Sk..nderit. Rreth mosh..s 10 vje..are ushtrohej n.. sht..pin.. e tij me llaut..n e t.. jatit, Bariut, dhe luante edhe n.. shum.. vegla popullore, nd..r to edhe n.. fyejt metalike q.. prodhoheshin dhe shiteshin n.. dyqanet e Kor....s. P..r her.. t.. par.. luan n.. g..rnet.. s.. bashku me t.. jatin, i cili e shoq..ronte me llaut.. vallen e ..Dados... Kthehet familjarisht n.. P..rmet n.. fund t.. vitit 1944. Aty takohet me Usta Vangjel Leskovikun, pran.. t.. cilit punoi me llaut.. p..r rreth 1 vit, nd..rkoh.. q.. ushtrohej n.. g..rnet.. n.. m..nyr.. autodidakte. Pas largimit t.. Usta Vangjelit p..r n.. Vlor.., Usta Laveri organizon grupin e tij, me t.. cilin mori pjes.. edhe n.. Festivalin e par.. Folklorik Komb..tar, Tiran.. 1952, n.. t.. cilin ai vler..sohet me ..mimin e par.. si instrumentist popullor. M.. 1954 b..n regjistrimin e k..ng..s s.. par.. me saze, m.. 1957 regjistrohet si saze nga ekspedita shqiptaro-gjermane e pask..taj m.. 1966 regjistron n.. Radio-Tirana ve.. t.. tjerash edhe tri kaba p..rmetare me klarinet.., p..r ta vazhduar pun..n cil..sore me sazet e tij p..r t.. gjith.. koh..n. Ka marr.. pjes.. n.. t.. gjitha festivalet folklorike lokale dhe ato komb..tare.

Gjat.. k..saj periudhe kohore, sazet kan.. p..suar disa riorganizime strukturore t.. cilat kan.. reflektuar para s.. gjithash orientimin artistik t.. krijuesit t.. tyre, Usta Laverit. N.. vitin 1951 ato p..rb..heshin nga nj.. g..rnet.., dy llahuta, dy fisarmonika, p..r t.. ardhur n.. formacionin e tij t.. q..ndruesh..m t.. vitit 1976 (e deri m.. sot), t.. p..rb..r.. nga g..rneta, nj.. llahut.., nj.. fisarmonik.., def dhe violin... Ato jan.. konceptuar edhe si saze klasike, pra q.. vet.. interpretojn.. n.. vegla dhe vet.. k..ndojn.., por dhe si formacion shoq..rues i k..ng..tar..ve t.. tjer.. popullor... Nga kjo pik..pamje ..sht.. shum.. e v..shtir.. q.. t.. dallosh personalitetin e Usta Laverit si interpret (g..rnetar e k..ng..tar) dhe krijues i shum.. stilemave aq t.. njohura sot nga muzika popullore permetare. K..tu p..rfshihen me dhjetra hyrje k..ng..sh, kaba, valle dhe mjaft riinterpretime t.. pjes..ve t.. repertorit t.. vjet..r t.. Sazeve t.. P..rmetit. K..to saze kan.. nj.. veprimtari t.. dendur komb..tare e nd..rkomb..tare, duke u njohur kudo ku kan.. shkuar si ..Bilbilat e P..rmetit... Merit.. kryesore e k..tyre sazeve ..sht.. se formuan edhe nj.. tjet..r identitet t.. k..ng..s popullore t.. Tosk..ris..: k..ng..n popullore p..rmetare. Usta Laveri ka qen.. p..r gjith.. k..t.. periudh.. m..suesi m.. i mir.. i shum.. g..rnetaxhinjve t.. tjer.. popullor.. t.. qytetit t.. P..rmetit, por dhe t.. fshatrave, t.. cil..t kan.. m..suar prej tij abc-n.. e g..rnet..s popullore p..rmetare. Ai mund t.. cil..sohet si i fundit prej Ustallar..ve t.. tradit..s s.. madhe t.. sazeve t.. Shqip..ris.. s.. Jugut. Sazet e Usta Laverit jan.. formacioni m.. i kompletuar i Sazeve t.. Jugut p..r periudh..n nd..rmjet viteve 1950-1990. Nd..r k..ng..tar..t m.. t.. spikatur q.. kan.. k..nduar s.. bashku me sazet e Usta Laverit p..rmendim: n.. vitet ..50 Behije Ro..in, Qemal Pono..in, Aliun (i thirrur Baba..ja) etj.; n.. vitet ..60 Jorgo ..ulli dhe Ilia Nasi, v..llez..rit Sulejman Lame-..Artist i Merituar.. dhe Xhelal Zeqiri, Viron Tanellari; n.. vitet ..70 ..Artisti i Popullit.. Mentor Xhemali, Ylli Zeqiri; n.. vitet ..80 Ardiana Daci, Robert Tralo, Drini Kanani etj; n.. vitet ..90 Vask.. e Dhimit..r Curri, Donika Pecollari, Anastas Naqe, Luljeta Ilia, Evgjeni ..ulli etj. N.. vitin 1977, s.. bashku me ..obanin dhe Mentor Xhemalin, interpretojn.. dhe regjistrojn.. t.. gjitha materialet muzikore t.. filmit ..Gjeneral gramafoni.., me regji t.. Viktor Gjik..s. N.. vitin 1989, Usta Laveri b..het protagonist i filmit dokumentar muzikor t.. kinostudios ..Shqip..ria e Re.., ..K..ng..t e zemr..s.., me regji t.. Todi Bozos. N.. Prill t.. vitit 1994 realizojn.. C.D. me muzik.. popullore, n.. bashk..punim me nj.. shoq..ri angleze dhe C.D-n.. tjet..r e realizojn.. n.. Greqi. Nj.. tjet..r C.D me mbishkrimin ..Laver Bariu dhe valle dasmash.. ..sht.. realizuar n.. Australi n.. vitin 1995 nga ..Fezollari Productions AUSTRALIA... Aktiviteti muzikor i k..tyre sazeve vazhdon ende. Debutimi m.. i fundit i tyre ishte pjesmarrja n.. F.F.K Gjirokast..r 2000. N.. Mars t.. 2001, p..r meritat e tij dekorohet nga presidenti i republik..s me urdh..rin ..Mjesht..r i madh i pun..s... N.. vitin 2001, me vendim t.. K..shillit Bashkiak t.. qytetit t.. P..rmetit, Usta Laveri u shpall ..Qytetar nderi.. i P..rmetit, krahas V..llez..rve Frash..ri, Odhise Paskalit dhe Mentor Xhemalit. Regjistrimet kryesore muzikore i kan.. pran.. Radio-Tiran..s, Televizionit Shqiptar dhe Institutit t.. Kultur..s Popullore.
Sounds Like: P..rmbajtja e CD-ve dhe regjistrimeve t.. tjera:Laver Bariu, ..Songs from the City of Roses..-C.D...Vitori t..u b..ft.. n..na.. 2..37.. ..Sa t.. jem gjall.. t.. dua.. 2..59.. ..Do marr ..iften, do dal p..r gjah.. 3..42.. ..Kaba Laver Bariu.. ..Pogonishte P..rmetare.. 6..50.. ..Gjetheza.. 4..47.. ..Nusja jon.. n.. valle.. 2..58.. ..Moj llokumja me sheqer.. 2..48.. ..Valle e Tiran..s.. 6..26.. ..U bu bu raki e keqe.. 4..02.. ..Kaba Laver Bariu.. ..Valle e Plakave.. 6..53.. ..Tr..ndafili flet.. flet../o borzilok.. 5..05.. ..Gajde p..rmetare.. 4..47.. ..K..ng.. kurbeti-Qaj Maro.. 4.03.. ..Buz..qesh goca.. 3..08.. (Ace Records Ltd-Angli)Laver Bariu, ..The Dirge of P..rmet..- C.D...Kaba.. 7.08.. ..Valle Dropulli.. 4.44.. ..Mora p..rpjet.. ..arshin.... 4.08.. ..Valle ..am..e berat..e.. 3.47.. ..Do marr ..iften.... 3.33.. ..Valle e gajd..s.. 3..58.. ..Vajza e val..ve.. 3..05.. ..Valle e Marik..s.. 3.48.. ..K..nga e Janit.. 4..24.. ..Nuseja n.. valle.. 4..29.. ..K..nga e qeraxhiut.. 4.29.. ..Osman Taka.. 4..29.. ..Valle e Devollit.. 4..01.. (Realizuar pran.. International Organization of Folk Art, Greek Section-Athin..)..Famille Lela de Permet..- polyphonies et instrumentales d..Albanie - C.D. 1. ..Penxheren e zot..ris sate.. (4.56) 2. ......u ngrita me nat.... (4.55) 3. ..Berat..e Kor..ar..e.. (3.57) 4. ..Kaba Myzeqare.. (3.12) 5. ......ke moj tambura q.. s..bie.. (3.23) 6. ..Leskoviqare.. (6.09) 7. ..Mora p..rpjet.. ..arshin.... (3.20) 8. ..Berat..e ..amce.. (3.58) 9. ..Kaba. ..u k..put nj.. k..mb.. mali.. (3.01) 10. ..Kaba. E qar.. e Meremk..s.. (4.31) 11. ..Lab..rishte.. (7.11) (Realizuar pran.. Indigo)Musical excerpts on the compact disc of Jane S.Sugarman1-K..t.. fshatin ton.. do ta b..jm.. qytet. Arvati 1981 2-M.. le xhaden... Gr..n..ari 1983 3-Malorea n.. shtat.. male. Gr..n..ari 1983 4-Ngreu moj Mamudi. Gr..n..ari 1983. 5-Ra vesa, vesojti dhen... Krani 1972. 6-....t.. duhet moj lule t.. q..ronje moll..n. Krani 1972 7-Bien tri dajre. Krani 1972 8-Duall.. dy spahi n.. l..m... Krani 1980 9-Moj e vog..la n.. l..m... Toronto 1985 10-N.. divan t.. lart..r. Nakolec 1980 11- Atje lart ne port.. e madhe. Krani 1972 12- Vjesht.. e tret.. n.. t.. dal... Krani 1972 13- Rr..zonet.. bilbili. Arvati 1982 14- Moj syzez.. e vog..l. Krani 1972 15- Kjo sht..pi e plak..s. Krani 1980 16- Po kjo an.. e lumit. Dolna Bela Crkva 1981 17- Muhabet i shtruar ..hicago 1986 18- Pash.. nj.. ..nd..rr shum.. me ratali. Toronto 1986 19- Kjo Libova shum.. e mir... Toronto 1986 20- Vet..tin n.. fund t.. od..s. Toronto 1986 21- Kur shkojn.. pas nuses dhe kur vijn.. miqt... Krani 1980 22- T.. djel..n q.. me saba. Dolna Bela Crkva 1981 23- Bejte. Chicago 1988 24- N.. at.. mal kur fryn veriu. Kor......Sazet, muzika me saze e Shqip..ris.. s.. Jugut.. materialet muzikore n.. C.D1- ..K..nga e gjethes... Familja e Asllan Leskovikut 2- ..E qar.. e Selim Asllan Leskovikut me g..rnet.... 3- ..Un.. ti ta thash.. me shaka... Valle. Selim Leskoviku 4- ..Kur jec e vetum... Hafize Leskoviku 5- ..Kush t.. ka moj Rusk..... Hafize Leskoviku 6- ..O moj qita lesht.. shum..... Hafize Leskoviku 7- ..E qar.. me g..rnet.., kaba... Medi P..rmeti 8- ..E qara e Asllanit me g..rnet..... Vangjel Leskoviku 9- ..As aman o syr i zi... Ciloja me shok..t 10- ..Mjekr..n si bajame... Ciloja me shok..t 11- ..K..ng.. e Mahmudis..... Demka & Hajro 12- ..Kapiteni Lace... Bilbil Vlora 13- ..Penxheren e zotris sate, valle p..rmetar..e... Bilbil Vlora 14- ..Do marr ..iften..... Sazet e Radios 15- ..Porsi dash manare... Jorgo ..ulli, Ilia Nasi. Sazet e L.Bariut 16- ..Morra rrug..n p..r Janin..... M. Xhemali, Y. Zeqiri. L. Bariu 17- ..Kaba me g..rnet..... Laver Bariu 18- ..Qaj Marro, qaj moj bij..... Sazet e Remzi Lel..s-..obanit 19- ......m.. zu vesa n.. l..ndin..... Eli Fara me sazet e Lulushit-Kor.... 20- ..Kaba me g..rnet..... Lulushi me g..rnet... 21- ..Kur m.. ngjitje shkall..t... Dh. Curi, D. Abedini. ..E.Gjika... 22- ..Epitaf dhe britm....-KABA p..r ansamb..l nga Vasil S.Tole

Record Label: hermesstudio production
Type of Label: Major