"This 'translation' of absence through song is called këngë kurbeti, migration song. Its drone-based polyphonic form is prominent south of the river Shkumbin—in an area that includes Vlorë and other villages from which thousands of Albanians have left their motherland. These songs, which are part of a shared Mediterranean polyphonic tradition, are unique in their vitality as a life-affirming everyday practice and in their surviving modes of transmission, a fact that was acknowledged prominently when UNESCO proclaimed “Albanian folk-iso polyphony” a “masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity” in 2005. Such songs show the relevance of locally rooted traditional practice—particularly in the age of globalized media networks— in commenting and making sense of the present, continuously transforming an inherited vocal practice. Any such performance is marked by a “sharing of pain” between singers and their audience. The authority of the singer is constituted by the way he or she manages to emotionalize the audience and to transmit mall, a multifaceted emotional state of social, spatial, and sonic nostalgia." from the liner notes/essay The Comfort of Sounds in a World of Absences by Eckehard Pistrick, 2016

The vinyl album "I Have Left You the Mountain" was made on the occasion of the Albanian Pavilion at 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia from May 28 – November 27, 2016. Curated by Simon Battisti, Leah Whitman-Salkin and Åbäke
www.albanianpavilion.com/2016

Ten songs based on texts by

Etel Adnan, Mourid Barghouti, Michel Butor, Claire Fontaine, Yona Friedman, Anri Sala, Michael Taussig, Yanis Varoufakis, Ornela Vorpsi, Finn Williams

Performed by

singers in Himarë, Albania 
with Luljeta Çipa, Valentina Gerdhuqi, Violeta Gerdhuqi Zaharulla, Koka Polite Merkuri, Eglanda Prifti, Vojsava Zenelaj (A1, A5, B4)

singers in Vlorë, Albania 
with Grupi Folk Bilbili: Adriatik Cenko, Viktor Gjoka, Sinan Gjoleka, Vendim Kapaj, Piro Latifi, Dejrim Mustafaraj, Trifon Malaj (A2, B2)

singers in Tirana, Albania
with Dhurim Ballo, Sotir Ballo, Nazo Celaj, Trifon Golemi, Hyso Xhaferraj (A3, B3)

singers in Fier, Albania 
with Petrit Canaj, Llazar Dumi, Kastriot Halihoxha, Nesim Meno, Muharrem Mezani, Guri Rrokaj, Fatmir Tahiraj, Shaban Zeneli (A4, B1, B5)