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8th edition of modern music/ This year, artistic innovations in Shkodra and Tirana

2025-07-22 20:05:00, Qyteti im CNA

8th edition of modern music/ This year, artistic innovations in Shkodra and

The 8th edition of the Modern Music Festival will take place for four days between Shkodra and Tirana. Ahead of this festival, the organizers shared the details of this important event. Artistic director Gjon Shllaku and musician Markelian Kapidani emphasized that this edition will be richer in artistic and organizational composition, with a special Big Band formation, which includes well-known names in Albanian music and high-level instrumentalists.

"The festival has some new things, and from a festival one should not expect too many new things, but what is tradition because that is the most important. Tradition is what is often taken for granted and in the idea of something new, unsatisfactory things happen. We have consolidated our ideas that we have had for 8 editions and this year we hope that it will have its greatest potential in evidence. The main potential is the Big Band, it is a formation that functions, although not continuously, it is an important part of our festival and contains high-level instrumentalists. There is a contemporary repertoire, there are singers who, although they are very well known in Shkodra and beyond, have a completely different and artistic potential that is worth them, the time and us as organizers. This year, a new thing is that we have invited artists from the Lombardy area in Italy who have come formed in two groups and a third that we are building with Albanian singers. Another new thing is that the festival has not been reduced within the city of Shkodra, but this year, having good support from the Ministry of Culture, the Shkodra municipality and the Tirana municipality, we have extended the map of this festival to Tirana for one day. Our goal is to reach all Albanian areas, but this year we did not manage to go to Prishtina, which we had as our goal, and we hope to achieve it in the future”, said artistic director Gjon Shllaku.

"The artistic program is diverse. We have a kind of bouquet, genres and styles that bring modern music to Shkodra, both in terms of dancing, entertainment but also in terms of listening through jazz sounds, etc. The festival is important because it brings innovation. Activities that bring innovation to the city are really few. We must be careful and understand that innovation is about things that the city does not have. Things that are new to the general public, such as modern music, jazz music, arrangements, orchestrations that are made today not only with old but also new materials in addition to traditional ones. We continue to work to bring the new European spirit that we often discuss but forget the core that truly has a European spirit that has to do with culture, citizenship, art and good music. We try to support and show these elements through the activities we do. There are some activities such as the jazz festival, the festival "Flowers or Thoughts. From this perspective, I see the modern music festival as an important step in the cultural development of the city of Shkodra," said Markelian Kapidani, Concertmaster.

8th edition of modern music/ This year, artistic innovations in Shkodra and

A novelty this year is a blogger from Italy in the role of the secret wolf who will document this festival as well as ignite the atmosphere.

"What I will do at the festival is document everything that happens, I will conduct interviews with singers and musicians to understand what real music is. Don't forget to follow my podcast that I just started, which is the best in Italy and Albania. I chose the role of the wolf because the wolf is the animal that has raised Italy, considering ancient Rome, and it is that animal that will continue to raise Italy and maintain some kind of connection with our country and Albania," said the blogger.

The Modern Music Festival has the mission of preserving and transmitting the values of modern music to the new generation. It will be held from July 23 to 26 in Shkodra and Tirana and will feature a selected musical repertoire by professional Albanian and foreign artists./CNA