From Uvil Zajmi
Memorie.al / A life, career and fame like in Hollywood movies. A little-told story about the ballerina, from the first day she came to Tirana, when she danced and “love story” with the famous football player of “Dinamo” of the National Team, Stavri Lubonja, that shook the environment of the capital, a passionate love, that to break the taboos of the time and that continues even today, across the ocean. Years have passed and yet, Mediha Velçani-Lubonja, the well-known soloist of the State Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances, has not lost the charm that once “magnetized” anyone who saw her on the streets of the capital, or anywhere in all the scenes of country, where she used to go for shows and concerts. Today, the ballerina who “stunned” the Russian sailors in the “Volga” of the 50s, or who stunned the French in Dijon, lives in the United States of America, and during her stay in Albania, returns to the past… !
A career started differently
She was only 3 years old when her mother died of tuberculosis at a young age, only 32 years old. After her death, even the large Velçani family, with 7 children, including 3 sisters and 4 brothers, had a different course. His father, a former officer of the Zogu Monarchy, remarried, while the children were taken care of by his aunt, and a relative of the family, Mimina Klosi, the teacher with whom he does the first grade in Mallakastër.
But the little girl, Mediha, loved ballet, and would become part of the dance group at the Pioneer House in Berat, under the direction of Ferbent Shehu, the city’s well-known ballet master. She was 13 years old when Pertef Veleshnja, together with a friend of hers, brought her to compete in the Army Ensemble in Tirana that was being created and was looking for dancers. We are in 1951, and the girl from Berat appeared before a committee accompanied by the piano. He danced what he knew and liked it.
In the Ensemble only 8 months…!
In the Ensemble, Medihaja would find a group of 20 people, including the well-known writer and ballet maestro Pipi Naçe, dancer Bert Krasniqi, etc. He started work with a salary of 3,800 ALL per month and together with B. Opingari, Zh. Petushin and B. Krasniqi, will dance the dance “You love me, you don’t love me, me flower ede”. But the newly started career would stop suddenly, as the second brother, Gazmend Velçani (a well-known cardiologist, who is no longer alive), was not enthusiastic, he would even restrain him, as fanaticism was great in those years.
He returns to Berat to continue the 5th, 6th, 7th grade, while she does not separate herself from ballet and the children of the class. In the company of Ferbent Shehu, who brought lipstick from home for tricks, they would dance the “Flower Waltz”.
In Technical College, teacher of Physical Education
Again, his brother, Gazmendi, will be decisive in the life and career of his sister, Mediha. She enrolled at the Technical College of Physical Education in Tirana, in the Athletics branch, which was close to her nature. In the 1953-’55 seasons, together with Mustafa and Flutura Çelkupa, they were among the distinguished students of the teacher Myslym Alla, where she would stand out for her versatile skills in gymnastics and basketball.
Medihaja says that she was initially appointed as a Physical Education teacher in Berat, but she did not want to go there. He would stay in Tirana, where he already had his older brother, Irfan. Thus, without realizing it, the Technician would become a great help to her, in her profession as a ballerina, also the first spark of a dizzying love….!
Anchor in “Variety 101”
It was the 60s. It was an idea of Mihallaq Laurasi, the well-known director, to give another chance to her talent. He invites Medihana to be a moderator in the Tirana Estrada show, “Variety 101”. For a year, he danced and directed at the same time.
In his long career, he keeps memories of two people: Pertef Veleshnjen, who opened and supported him at the beginning in Berat, and then the make-up man in Ensambel. But also Ted Nika, the tailor of this institution, and the one who sewed everything personal. He does not forget the sky blue dress he sewed for an official concert, where Enver Hoxha would be present.
The Dijon Festival in France, the triumph you won’t forget
Although it has danced endlessly on many stages of Europe and further afield, the year 1970, the participation and triumph at the Dijon Festival in France, where the Albanian Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances, achieves an extraordinary success, remains unforgettable even today. In a competition between 45 countries, in this folklore festival, the Ensemble wins the “Golden Necklace”, surprising the world.
This remains among her personal successes, but above all a great Albanian triumph. “Albania has a big party today”, starring Mediha Lubonjen, turned into an anthem in the streets of the French city, where Albanian music was danced and listened to endlessly. Famous national folklore danced, but what are the famous dances of Mediha Lubonja?
Starting from “Albania has a big party today”, by Tish Daisa); “Tropoja” of a dance without music choreographed by Gëzim Kaceli; “Great Highlands” of Panajo Kanac; Shupal Trio, another masterpiece of her archive. Then unforgettable are the four magnificent suites of Panajot Kanaçi, staged in the 60s: They remain amazing even today in terms of strength, the message: “Dance of Dropulli”, “Dance of Tirana”, “Dance of Chestnut” and “Dance of Albania”.
They are monumental! Then she keeps appreciation and remembers with nostalgia her fellow artists during her career, such as: Panajot Kanaçi, Gëzim Kaceli, A. Alija, Skënder Selimi, Besim Zekthi, Engjëll Tershana, Eno Birko, E. Vako, V. Mesiti, Leka Mullisi, Liljana Cingu, V. Belle, Rexhep Celiku, director Mihallaq Luarasi. Sh. Marika, M. Keko, Cesk Zadeja, Tish Daija, etc. Although he retired at the age of 45, he has not left an Albanian town or village without stepping on it. He was never absent from rehearsals and performances, and during the time he performed, no one dubbed him.
“Forbidden dance”…!
Medihaja has a lot to remember from that time. It is enough to close his eyes and images appear which he has never erased from his memory. Like that “forbidden dance” in the famous “Volga” of the Albanian capital overflowing with attendees in the 50s, among them many Russians. He danced with great passion to the sounds of an orchestra. Accompanied by her brother, she entered and after taking off her coat, hung it up, sat down, while a Russian sailor came to her and invited her to dance.
A waltz, then a tango, when everyone has stopped to follow. But, in an instant, a hand stopped the dance. Gazmendi took her to go out, breaking the boy’s checker from the dance. The surprised sailor didn’t react, he even ran to hold his coat, but he couldn’t because the nervous Gazmendi took it from him by force. Desperate, the girl did not speak, but years later, the doctor apologized. This is how Medihaja remembers today that distant event, for which ….he does not blame anyone,… “That was the time…”!
Love, what shocked the Albanian environment…!
It was one of the great, most sensational loves of the time, that of Mediha with Stavri Lubonjës, the famous football player of “Dinamo” and the Albanian National Team, the charming, elegant and favorite son of the girls of Tirana. An acquaintance that started in Berat that continued when they were students at the Technical College of Physical Culture. With a bright smile on her face, she can’t help but remember the first love letters, the secret meetings when she was only 15 years old.
To anyone, it would seem like a rosy story, one of the many, but it was not like that for the time. Both were famous. She is a dancer and he is an athlete. And there would be nothing wrong with such a relationship. Even today they are very fashionable. But in the 50s, sportsmen, and especially football players, did not enjoy a good “name” among girls…!
“Messing” with one was an adventure. Therefore, their love story became famous and they would become the most discussed couple of the capital. Maybe there were those who placed “bets” on the longevity of their relationship, but Medihaja and Stavri would break all the taboos and prejudices of the time. From that time, she keeps a small umbrella that she wears in her costume and that she carried in every dance, as well as a beautiful key with a lighted lantern, that Stavri brought her during the period of great love.
They got married in 1960, in Korça. When they came to Tirana, they would stay for many years in the “Dinamo” Club, on “Kavaja” Street. Only in 1976, the couple was able to get an apartment, which they still have today. Mediha and Stavri Lubonja remains the most accurate match between the artist and the athlete, as the model of marital harmony, a passionate love that accompanies them even today across the Atlantic.
The jump that surprised the Americans…!
Medihaja did not think that America would become an important part of her life. He did not want to go there to live and work, but Stavr’s being an American citizen, from his father, as well as the desire of the children, pushed him to cross the ocean. Although she has been away from the stage for years, the ballerina inside her rises up when she hears beautiful music and grabs it, wherever she is. In “Atlantik City”, where he has been living for years, during one evening, in Boardwolk, filled with tourists, he felt a light breeze, then he heard a sax by a Romanian musician named Mirce, and while he was with his granddaughter two New York friends, left them for a moment and decided to dance with the other tourists. It was an Argentine tango.
Everyone has stopped to look at him. Lots of applause and naturally the question: “You are from Argentina”?! Some young men would give her a bunch of flowers. The same scene would be repeated a year later, at “Houston Beach Bar”, but this time to the sound of the famous Russian song “Ochichornaya”. Even there there would be an audience for her, even a couple remembered her dance in the Boardwolk and would give her a bottle of champagne…!
They didn’t know him…!
Leaving Albania would not be easy for Mediha Velçan. He was going to a place they did not know. But when the plane opened its wheels and was about to land at the New York airport, a voice from the cockpit congratulated her: “Miss Mediha, welcome to America”. This was the first surprise, which would be followed by her attempt to integrate, developing courses to learn the English language. She says that the first years were difficult; they did not know her and did not know her career. In a language lesson, students were asked to prepare a topic about the life of an artist they knew.
Without hesitation, Midiha Lubonja wrote about hers. After they read it, the head of the course, stunned, said: “You seem to be someone, you can write whatever you want, and if you don’t speak English well, you understand what you want to say.” Not with little difficulty she managed to practice her profession, but now in teaching as a ballet instructor. She is disappointed that none of her children inherited her profession, however she is happy to pass on her experience to the new generations, whether they are American or of any nationality.
The brilliance it retains even today
The girl for whom “every screwed head, unscrewed when she passed”, that of the famous “O k’ce moj çike”, a Sofia Loren, or Lazarela, as she was called when she passed through the streets of Tirana, lives from 1994 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Although he has been in America for 28 years, coming to Albania causes another heartbeat. “Every time the wheels of the plane close and when they open, the emotions of a trip, especially those of coming to my country, never manage to fade, they are always with me. When I come, I feel very happy and I look forward to the day of the flight to Tirana”. /Memorie.al
