by Rita Kalaj Shkurtaj. Translation Petrit Latifi

Nik M. Prëla was the famous 93 year old lute player from Malèsia e Madhe who became a legend with his rhapsodies. During his artistic career he participated in many cultural and artistic events in Malësia e Madhe and beyond. In the book THE GREAT MOUNTAINS THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES, author Sokol P. Lulgjuraj pays special attention to this rhapsody of sound and the newspaper “Ekskluzive” from 2000, which wrote:

“Many musical instruments that our ancestors used have now been almost completely forgotten. At the National Festival in Gjirokastër in 2000, only one elderly lute player took part in the lute”. Taking the lute player Nik M. Prèla as an example, the author quotes:

“The lute rests on the beam,
because the old man died of the weather,
and the grandchildren don’t know how to play it…
Through these verses by the poet Martin Camaj, the author has beautifully expressed the idea that the new, healthy idea emerges on the basis of the old, and not by eliminating it.
The song that comes from the core of the rhapsodist’s soul, grows old and senile in the towers of the highlander..”

To hear Prela’s Lahuta, watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1371236357491990