A binaural recording of the Roma market in Tirana. The sellers are whistling while unloading cloth into a covered area as the crowds sift through the wares. Suleiman sings the song the others are whistling for everyone and improvises percussion. The song is from the north of Albania, near Kukës.

Roma Market in Tirana

10 in the evening, on the top of the hill in Tirana's Artificial Lake Park. Couples hidden under trees, packs of dogs, distant thumping clubs, a nighttime fitness park, crackling corn, the call to prayer, and lots and lots of frogs. Recorded with a directional mic.

Artificial Lake Park

Sung by two brothers, Avni Domi and Xhavit Domi, from Kükes living in a small village on the hilltop above Tirana. The song is from the Ottoman period in Albania and is from the perspective of a young woman who is dying from Tuberculosis. She tells her mother to not bother knitting her warm socks, they won't be any good against her fever. Played on Chifteli and Sharki traditional Albanian lutes. Recorded with a stereo cardoid mic.

Domi Brothers

We were sitting in a cafe in Püke, northern Albania, after speaking with one of the town's instrument makers. As the Adhan began to sound, I walked towards the nearby mosque. The crackling sounds of the recorded voice echo against the hills. In the dirt and grass field next to the mosque, the call ends in a another rhythm of crickets.

Call to Prayer (Adhan) in Püke

Church bells ring out on a foggy morning in the center of Prishtina.

Morning Fog Bells, Prishtina

The Prilepski Zvezdi, the Prilep Stars, play at a circumcision party in the Roma Neighborhood. Toni, a percussionist and one of the band’s leaders along with the Sevim the sampler maestro, told us that they planned to play for about eight hours. Toni is a seasoned pro who regularly plays with Esma Redzepova, as did his father Buzo, who was one of her 47 adopted children and musical protégés.
 The singer introduced the mother of the seven-year old boy for whom they were hosting this “wedding". A circumcision is a major celebratory occasion, so here it’s called a wedding, and demands the services of the best musicians available. The boy’s mother led the opening dance, hooking arms with all the women at the gathering. Slowly they danced, fingers linked and lifted to shoulder height, with sparkling, sequined, gauzy dresses, and coiffed with glittered hairspray curls.


Prilepski Zvezdi

Tangle Pan-Balkan

Kristal play us a little more of their sound in Tirana, Albania.

Kristal Two

Kragujevac

Train from Sofia to Belgrade

Conversations in the Market

Vitsa Panagiri

Vitsa sheep Crossing

Bucharest Selling Spells

Kaba Gaida Sofia

Ikaria

Epirotika Kinisi 2015

A compendium of sounds collected by the Mazi Collective on our journey through the Balkans while researching for participants in Kinisi Festival.

Kinisi is a festival of sound. The festival will bring together folk musicians from the Balkans, electronic and experimental musicians from southeastern and western Europe, and international sound artists.  Kinisi will host performances, jams, the exchange of techniques and ideas, and provide a space for sound artists to create a new work based upon their experience of the festival. Kinisi will be held in a former tomato paste factory overlooking the Aegean Sea on Santorini, Greece in September of 2015.

Kinisi Festival

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