Professor Ramadan Sokoli’s “Legacy” Regarding the Dance of Osman Taka
Memorie.al /In 1984, when I began working on my diploma thesis titled “The Values of Cham Folk Poetry,” my friend Llazar Siliqi – then Secretary of the League of Writers and Artists – recommended that I meet Ramadan Sokoli. Only two years prior, in 1982, Sokoli had published his book Gjurmime Folklorike (Folklore Research). Thus, I had the fortune of closely knowing this colossus of our spiritual heritage: the eminent Albanologist, folklorist, and musicologist, and the founder of Albanian ethnomusicology, Prof. Ramadan Sokoli, author of over 1,200 scientific works.
Prof. Ramadan Sokoli congratulated me on my choice of topic. He possessed an expansive knowledge of the culture, customs, traditions, and folklore stretching from the southernmost regions of Thesprotia (ancient Chameria) to the northernmost tip of Dardania. He then began to speak with nostalgia about the joint German-Albanian exploratory expedition of 1957, which had come to record, the folk music of the three southern Albanian groups: the Tosks, the Labs, and the Chams.
The Professor held a rare passion and love for the values of our cultural heritage. For minutes on end, he spoke with great reverence about the folklore of the Chameria region, the international expedition’s meetings with the Chams of Fier, Vlora, and Saranda, and the popularization of Cham musical values across Europe and beyond. He viewed polyphonic folk songs such as “Çelo Mezani,” “Tanë, moj Tanë,” and the song of Osman Taka as the most beautiful of the Cham repertoire.
From Ramadan Sokoli, I learned that the Song of Çelo Mezani was planned to be performed at the Gjirokastra National Folklore Festival in 1973, but the political regime censored it. This song was one of the best ways for the Albanian public to better understand the Chameria region and its history. It finally managed to enter the festival only in 1978, performed by the famous group from Rrogozhina, accompanied by violin, clarinet, lute, and tambourine.
I also learned from Professor Sokoli how much effort it had taken him and his colleagues to include the Dance of Osman Taka – one of the most beautiful and masculine dances of Chameria – in the 1973 Festival. It was the first time this legendary dance was performed at a nationwide festival, leaving an entire nation mesmerized, danced magically by the great Taip Madani!
In early September 2006, I met Professor Ramadan Sokoli again; two months after the American Biographical Institute (ABI) included him in the “List of the World’s Most Respected Experts.” He lived alone not far from the capital’s center, near “Rruga e Barrikadave,” on the ground floor – or more accurately, in the basement – of an old Tirana house owned by the well-known Petrela family. Prof. Sokoli, his knees trembling from age and poor health, could barely stand.
Deeply exhausted by a life full of endless suffering and stress, the professor continued to work on his creations, though he felt marginalized and lacked any support from the state authorities of art and culture. He told me he was working on a monograph about Cham musicology and folklore.
He spoke with great emotion about the originality of the Dance of Osman Taka, which, according to him, deserves to be in the golden fund of intangible cultural heritage – not only Albanian but also the global heritage of UNESCO – as one of the most precious treasures of cultural identity, of extraordinary value.
He then began describing the dance as if giving a lecture to his students: “It is danced with great elegance. The start is calm; it follows the orchestra, harmonizing entirely with it. The dance begins with a simple step, making you truly believe that something is about to happen. At the end of the first musical verse, the dancer, moving his head and hand slightly forward, gives the impression that something is about to unfold.
Surprisingly, the narrower the space, the more beautifully this dance is performed – even on top of a table. It is an epic dance, but within this epism, there is a lyricism and fluidity where the entire body dances in organic unity with the soul of the performer and with those playing the instruments. Greeks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, and Yugoslavs also perform this dance, but they all call it the ‘Dance of Osman Taka.’ In fact, the choreographic school of Ioannina even provided the lyrics in Albanian.
The dance has several points of climax. The ultimate peak occurs when you acrobatically turn into a ‘bridge,’ and two or three dancers perform on your stomach. To be able to support two or three dancers with your abdominal muscles as they dance one after another for about a minute and a half – this is where we deal with the historical aspect of the dance. We are not dealing with an ordinary bridge, but with what is called the ‘bridge of generations,’ of history, of struggles, of sacrifices, of blood, and of folk wisdom.”
Prof. Ramadan Sokoli, adopting a hallowed expression as if leaving a final testament, said: “This dance is identity. And identity is the definition of the self; it is self-identification; it is the feeling of belonging that individuals have toward a group that reaffirms itself.”
The Dance of Osman Taka is a magnificent art that never fades – a great cultural asset of the Albanian nation, possessing a rare and beautiful authenticity. It inspires many artists and ordinary people alike as a metaphor for endurance, freedom, and humanism.
It is a monumental choreographic work where time and art express each other brilliantly. Let us hope that the National Council of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the National Center of Traditional Activities will give this unique and epochal work the place it deserves in our cultural heritage. / Memorie.al
