MSF Zagreb International Festival
The pearl of spiritual cultural heritage AFA "Rugova" revealed precious national assets through beauty in the art of movement, dance, song, free art, naturalness, purity and aesthetics.
View from the scene
The pride and nobility of our Alps AFA "Rugova", this undying stone of tradition and this source of inspiration for generations, I represent Kosovo with dignity in the 57th edition of the MSF Zagreb international festival. Appreciating the continuation of the original Albanian folklore since 1966 as the initial participant of this festival and participating five times in a row until 1980, AFA Rugova presented world values of the UNESCO level, revealing to the world community of spiritual heritage the entire opus of this heritage from the ethnoregion. of Rugova. Rites songs, dances, docks, zakin, clothing, among the oldest in the Balkans and Europe, where more than 60 countries from all over the world participate. Once we promoted our state of Kosovo with its cultural values.
We manage to show how the preservation of the cultural tradition of Rugova is done, with a large baggage in all fields as a continuous generator of creators and young talents who are managing to affirm the cultivation of playable cultural heritage as national values which are being forgotten day by day, which is in danger of disappearing in this transition phase.
AFA Rugova revealed the rituals of life and spiritual heritage as ancient as the people who represent it, through beauty in the art of movement, song, dance, free, natural, pure, aesthetic art; unfolded this precious national treasure, in which case this mine of emotions presented the artistic epic full of history, simultaneously presenting the most original symbols and expressions of the creative intuition and imagination of our people.
The first part
The event began with the inauguration of two books about AFA "Rugova" as a guardian of the heritage, docks and customs of this area, as well as a documentary film Chronology of the 75-year-old work of AFA Rugova:
View from the scene
Visare of the spiritual heritage of Peja with district II, AFA "Rugova" - treasure of the Albanian cultural heritage, Peja, 2019 and
Traditional Games of Rugova, Sofra Pejane as an authentic value, Old age in the odes of the upper side of Dukagjin.
The books were published by the Regional Center of Cultural Heritage in Peja, with over 1000 pages, under the support of the director of this center, dr. Shpresa Gjonbalaj, with editor-in-chief, supervisor and press preparer, prof. dr. Zymer (Ujkan) Neziri, this was an extraordinary job, said the leader of this promotion, Dr. Dardan S. Lajqi, large, several years old, of immeasurable value for the heritage of this area, especially of the Rugova Province, where the ancient roots of the Illyrian cultural continuity of language, clothing, songs, dances, rites and myths, lamented Lajqi.
was held in the presence of dozens of prominent personalities from the cultural, political, social and scientific life of the City of Zagreb and Croatia. For the first book of correspondence, the following were presented:
dr. Shpresa Gjonbalaj , Vesel Nikqi, prof,prof Zeqir Mehmetaj,
Presentations of AFA Rugova Artistic program
View from the scene
For five days in a row, AFA Rugova presented its program to the Zagreb public, which was presented in English as follows:
Program of the AFA Rugova
The artistic program is compiled in severalrequests and the duration of 5 min, 8min, 15min 20 min and 31 min.,the content is a typical source that presents the dockets, customs, rites, dances, songs and original clothing of the Rugoves ethnoregion. It presents three local rituals, an orchestral combination with source instruments, a dance, three folk games, three songs and three dances. 1. Exercising – Calling for war represents a well-known ritual of this region that is sung by the mountains, the great men are called small for you against the enemy. 2. Then in the war there is usually victory but also loss, here is the ritual of mourning as the mother mourns the brave and falls for that. 3. The bravery of men in war is passed down from generation to generation through song epic Creshnika with lute, one of the oldest instruments of the entire northern Albanian ethnic group. 4. The rite of prosperity, ushim and the center is presented by a group of girls with song and dance with a pan, which is also a special characteristic of the northern part of Albania. 5. Instrumental dance where the lute leads, under the direction of the leaf accompanied by the lute, fiddle and kite represents the announcement of the arrival of spring in these cold and difficult winters, the melody is full of life and gives courage for the work that awaits.
6. Now the wedding ritual sung and escorted by the girls who prepare the bride for her husband’s departure, accompanied by many beautiful songs for the bride, where she wears kana in her hands with all kinds of figures and motifs, aiming to protect her from evil such as the evil eye, charms, magic, etc., so that it is good to become a bride, to give birth to children as many men as possible for work and war.
7. The youth present their own folk games that cultivate the development of skills for war and defense, but there are also those where the loser must be trained to endure even the worst, so they are hilarious, joyful and perverse, for example, the sting of a bee xauuuuu. 8. Dueling with raccoons represents the training of men for the most skillful use of weapons in war, so there are no winners here. the same is the case with the jatagan duel, the sharp blade that was used for defensive warfare in the past. With point
9. The girls present a more enjoyable game because it is very old and no people in Balkam and Europe have it, so it is about the dance of of bridges and reconciliation that symbolizes finding difficult paths in life, they say to the brave that they should not be stuck but should find choices in difficult moments and then the song that accompanies it represents the joy of overcoming but always sticking up for each other that is how the community makes it possible more easily any protection.
And this is best accompanied in the following point in the fourth dance and the last dance which is called the Rugova dance, all together wherever and whenever without being separated from each other.
Lots of participation of prominent local personalities and representatives from all over the world. proudly presented the spiritual blessings inherited and passed down from generation to generation.
Wherever we went, it was Zagreb, Bane Jelaqiq Square, Europe Square, Savska, Dubrava, Konushqak, Cathedral, Old City, etc., presenting its own program AFA Rugova was brought by many compatriots who work and live in Croatia. Those with emotions, with tears in their eyes, sad for their country, follow the program step by step.
A special honor was given on the occasion of the reception of the Mayor of Zagreb, where Pjemarse countries participate in the Festival in the presence of the accredited ambassadors of these countries; Kosovo is represented by Ms Shpresa Gjonbalaj from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kosovo
Through today's presentations, we will present the values of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Rugova ethnoregion, because this province has continuously given genuine national artistic values to the national culture that united us tonight, that is, we were united by this precious popular treasure, this heritage of the past, the present and the future, this pride of Ours in the flow of weather, pride with the whiteness of our Alps.
They appreciated our commitment to the preservation of these values of the world culture. On this occasion, the mayor was presented with two books of AFA Rugova and the Emblem of the Ensemble
Final night 23.07.2023 AFA Rugova performs with an official 8 min program in front of thousands of Zagreb citizens and the UNESCO monitoring commission.
And we really surprised the attendees with an excellent performance by the members of AFA Rugova. Now it remains for the UNESCO commissioners to evaluate what was most impressive, their conviction that these values are ancient and should be listed within the world cultural heritage, i.e. UNESCO. They knew that we are from Kosovo, the northern Albanian ethnic group that preserves, cultivates and cares for generation to generation, the rare value among the oldest in the Balkans and Europe.
Wedding songs and dances, wedding rites, war rites,
Undoubtedly the oldest song of pan dance
Instead of ending:
AFA "Rugova" with its program proved once again that it has never arranged its artistic activity because its mission was and is to preserve and preserve their genuine nature. The authentic way of all the performances, dancing and singing, as well as the traditional folk costumes, contribute to the original flavor of the ensemble.
This ensemble during its long history has proven to be a rare, unique asset in preserving the traditional, cultural, musical and artistic achievements of our people, old and new. And now it continues to be a great cultural ambassador for our ethnicity at large in bringing these cultural treasures to the attention of the wider world.
The report was compiled by Vesel Nikçi
EN 
SQ