Thomas Simaku

Albanian Folk Song 'My Beautiful Morea'

Moj e Bukura Moré (My Beautiful Morea) has its origin in Southern Italy, in Calabria, where an Albanian community has lived for more than 500 years, and so has the song! The tenderness of the melodic lines expresses the natural beauty of the distant homeland, which according to legend can be seen from the Calabrian mountain-tops. As in most folk songs, this tune is remarkably short; the melody itself has not been altered, but has been extended, enriched in texture and presented in different ways. The melodic lines serve as a point of departure for the proliferation of a distinct harmonic vocabulary. © TS