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Albano Carrisi: Albanians shared cornbread with my father. Impressions from the first trip to Tirana in 1985

2022-06-07 19:06:01Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Albano Carrisi: Albanians shared cornbread with my father. Impressions from the
Albano Carrisi

With a republican hat and a friendly smile, Albano Carrisi says he is ready for his concert at the Tirana Amphitheater. The almost 4-year absence in Albania is long for him as well, but what happened during this time he tells the journalist Anila Dedaj in "Report tv".

The present could not be explained without the past, so he tries to unravel his strong connection with Albania, even through the stories of his father, who told him, among other things, about the cornbread that Albanians shared with him during the war. His 3 trips to the dictatorship are full of feelings, of a kind of liberation that today Albania and Albanians probably find in the desired freedom ...

Peace is the passport to this freedom, so in front of it, he rejects the sympathy of the Albanian politicians of the dictatorship, of today Putin, he stops at the relationship with him in this period of war ... where his attitude is cut, while he shelters a Ukrainian family ...

A series of events, which he narrates with elegance, while he does not hide the desire to visit Albania, the beyond with the mystery of the mountains and the suburbs ...

First of all, thank you for agreeing to conduct this interview for Report tv. I would like to know, how do you feel on your return to Albania?

For me it is always a pleasure, because the root that connects me to this earth, is extremely interesting and above all strong. So from time to time I feel the need to return to this land ... I would even like to visit it beyond what are the beautiful cities of Tirana, Vlora, Gjirokastra ... I would love to visit everything that is found between the mountains, because there, as I guess, is another interesting part of Albania.

In fact, the Albanian public had to wait a little longer for this meeting due to the pandemic, how was this period for you?

The damage caused by this pandemic is so great that it saddens me to remember it. It made me lose a lot of my friends.

What has happened to you personally during this time? Have you created new pieces of music, cultivated lands and dealt with wine that you also have a passion for?

Practically during the pandemic I worked a lot on television, which I have never done before in the past. I am building a new wine company, which is wonderfully beautiful and I am looking forward to resuming filling the wine bottles in the new winery because what we had was very small.

I have gone from 500 thousand bottles to 1 million 700 thousand and I predict that we will reach 5 million bottles, this will be my goal for the future ...

In fact, I have before me an Italian artist, an internationally known artist, but I can also say a little Albanian, since you already have Albanian citizenship ...

I am already a real Albanian. I have even been Albanian since I was born, since my childhood my father always spoke to me and only about Albania. For Albania that, according to him, saved him from the war. As he showed, he was very well in this country, he also made up a series of excuses, he pretended to be sick, just not to fight against the Albanians. And he told me I was in World War II, but I did not kill anyone and this is a passport to the very noble means of civilization, those who know life and not death that others happen to impose.

Not only did he not shoot at any Albanian, but it seems that your father became so fond of Albania that he named you Albano…

Yes it is exactly so. And he said "call him Albano when he is born", and it will be our destiny! And I can say that he was a prophet at this point!

But what was it that left him a mark from the Albanians of Albania to name his son Al Bano?

In my opinion, this is related to the relationship he had with the Albanians. He invented disease by spitting blood, placing hot stones near the fire which he then put on his face to make it look as if he had a fever. And when they measured the temperature it was 42 or 40… Then he acted, he said I'm not well, he'm dying, you do not want to know… And they left him. So later he would tell me that he slept in the houses of Albanians, who treated him well. They gave him cornbread to eat. And so he lived this war in a perfect peace for a people who for war did not want to know ...

If I am not mistaken he invented an illness even to return to Italy where he married the great love of his life, your mother Jolanda.

And they got married, mom got pregnant with me and I'm here to tell the story.

From the first time you came to Albania, in 1985, how has Albania changed in your eyes?

I remember that moment very well because my father had just had a heart attack. He had asked me, as the eldest of the children, that before "I die you should take me to Albania". In Rome at that time was Ambassador Bashkim Dino, that was his name and I asked his permission, if he could help us. And he told me, after 6 months is a group leaving. And I insisted, I told him: Ambassador, my father has just had a heart attack and he asked me that before he dies he wants to visit that area of ​​Albania where he was a conscript ... Then he told me to give him two days. And so it happened. He called me and said “Albano, do you want to leave, from Kakavija there will be a delegation that will accompany you to Gjirokastra. We went to Gjirokastra and then returned. First time. The second time we came to Tirana, in 1987.

But what courage to travel to Albania of the communist regime…

In fact, I was treated well, but I saw the Albania of that time in what conditions it lived. I remember those Chinese trucks full of people. I remember the mountains full of black goats and many donkeys ... A very poor Albania ... where it felt like there was a regime that was imposed and created pressure, in the normal spiral of freedom ...

Did you meet any Albanian politicians at that time? What impression did they leave on you?

Do you know, when there is a political current where they have to exercise the kind of political action that is imposed they are all the same, they turn into an army, then history will take its course. I never know when, but it will happen ...

If you think about the great power of communism in Russia, it also fell ... And so on, fascism, Nazism, always fall because the people will always need a kind of independence that is oxygen for the mind and for society. It is called freedom. A healthy freedom helps a people to create a perfect harmony with the environment, with politics, with religion. A healthy freedom is always an extraordinary medicine for any people.

"Liberta", just like the song you sang in 1989 in Albania. You are the first western singer who gets the courage to hold a concert beyond the framework of socialism in the Albanian communist regime ...

I remember something very strange. Because the first evening I sang at the Palace of Congresses. And there was a part of the audience applauding, while another part seemed to be annoying, getting up ... And I was wondering: What the hell is going on here. Because I knew nothing ...

The next night, in the stadium, there was a total explosion ... I remember that the Security came to me and said: If there is an incident today, know that the fault will be yours alone. And I said to them: So you are probably not asking me to stop singing ... And they said to me: No, no, you did not understand well what we mean ...

They prevented you from being free while singing "Liberta" ...

Jo! Only when I went down in the middle of the audience to sing "O sole mio", which is an extraordinary moment ... Here I was told those words that I had to be careful not to let anything happen. And I told them, "I'm here to sing, not to create chaos ..."

Unfortunately, even today we have to talk about dictators, wars, such as the one in Ukraine ...

It is a tragedy, it is a great tragedy ... where we can use that expression "there is a big cat playing with a mouse" ...

But in fact you have refused to sing in Russia?

Yes, yes ..... I even have to say it. I have been a big fan of Putin. When I could not speak, I did not care and I spoke because I felt the need to express my thoughts freely. And if they had told me "look that Putin will probably attack Ukraine", I would have said: Wrong! But I was actually wrong!

I sang 5 times for Putin, he had great sympathy and love for Italy, but also desire for the West. The problem is that NATO has invaded lands that needed to be respected a little more ... As Khrushchev and Kennedy did in their time. When Khrushchev took the missiles to Cuba, because Fidel Castro's communism had won. Then Kennedy says: Dear Khrushchev, you are the father of this Third World War, will you take all the responsibility knowing what happened in the second? So, are you really going to start World War III? Khrushchev realized the danger and the ships that were in the center of the Atlantic turned back and led the rockets from where they had departed. And this time what happened did not happen last time ...

Is it true that you have taken home a Ukrainian family?

Yes, it's normal for me ...

Can you tell us something more about that?

They called me and told me, many Ukrainians are coming ... and they asked me do you want to welcome them? And I told them of course, 4 people ... I took them home and I remember the evening when that lady came with her child and two other boys. The child's gaze was as if they had given him two strong fists in his eyes, tired, with black circles in his eyes .... These are scenes that man will never face! Never! I remember the lady who just saw me said: You are Albano the singer, and it seemed as if the complexion on your face turned. They are in my house now, they are fine, and it's a big emotion ...

In fact, you have also sheltered Albanians ... If I am not mistaken, among them is Aksinja Xhoja, art daughter (daughter of the actor Nikolin Xhoja), friend of your family and teacher of your children at the piano ...

Yes indeed she is an extraordinary pianist .. They lived with me for a long time and then together with her husband decided to settle in Brindisi, but the friendship remains

What do Albanians across the Adriatic look like today, compared to the repression you encountered in the beginning?

A real evolution has taken place ... Previously they only watched one TV channel and had to live only in a way that was assigned to them, while now, where of course television also plays its role as a teacher ... the brain is mobile, some impulses are sometimes enough that can help you improve yourself if you are open to taking these steps towards yourself but also towards others

Next year you turn 80, you have reached the artistic peaks, what else remains to be dreamed in the artistic sphere ... I believe that the song will continue ...

I want to do a big concert in Verona, in the Arena of Verona ... And I will definitely sing ... As long as I have life and desire I will continue ...


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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