By Marsida T. Najdeni
Memorie.al / How much gratitude we should give to this master of Albanian choreographic art, but how little does Albanian society know this great name and why, with his creativity, all Albanians have grown up, without knowing who created these beautiful dances, which today we proudly inherit. I feel lucky that I know the work of Professor Gëzim Kacel personally and from his daughter, who is as much an artist as her father. I know, I am not the right person to dedicate an article to this artist, but the love and gratitude towards him pushes me so much.
To understand Gëzim Kacel, this great creator, this intellectual of sorts, tireless worker, worthy citizen of a capital city, honest citizen of our much-suffering homeland, we must first know the door from which this amber of Albanian art emerged.
The Kaceli family is one of those indigenous Tirana families who sacrificed themselves for their homeland. Ismail Kaceli was a famous fighter during the League of Prizren, he died in the mountains of Malësia, together with his father-in-law, Mehmet Tufina, defending precisely that, Mother Albania. Father Gjergj Fishta, in his masterpiece “The Lullaby of Malësia”, dedicated these lines to the brave man in question:
“Take, Kacel, learn the lute,
And sing us an Albanian song;
Don’t let us miss you, or you’ll leave us alone!
Kaceli took the lute in his hand,
He left the Magyar in his place and stayed,
And, after he had made a deal for it,
Thus began the song of that world”.
Ismail’s son, Osman Kaceli, even fought for the defense of Shkodra, during the Montenegrin attack. Another important figure was Ali Kaceli, Gëzim’s father, who was among the first creators of postcard art in Tirana, with visual views of his native city. Ali’s photographs today are relics of their kind, because they reflect a Tirana almost erased from collective memory thanks to the construction masquerade that was made with this city. Ali, although a much respected figure, would die a victim of exile in Berat. So, as can be seen, art was part of Gëzim Kaceli’s genius.
When we mention the Kacels of Tirana, we cannot fail to mention one of the greatest Albanian painters, Sadik Kaceli, who began his career at the Tirana Drawing School, with excellent results. He would later attend one of the most renowned painting schools in Europe, such as the “Ecole Nationale Supéreure des Beaux Arts” and would be a student of the famous French painter, Henri Matisse. Sadik’s steps were also followed by his son, Buron Kaceli, who is today one of the most renowned painters. A true professor in his field and it could not have been otherwise, with that father as a teacher.
The Kaceli family is also known as one of the first Albanian families for trade, and doing trade is an art in itself. The building they built in 1928-1929, to do modern business, was designed by an Italian architect and is today studied as a heritage building at the Faculty of Architecture in Tirana. And in this regard, we cannot fail to mention the martyr of democracy, the visionary merchant, Jonuz Kaceli, who was barbarically murdered by communist hands, with the so-called; “Soviet Bomb Group”.
THE LIFE OF Gëzim KACELI
So for Gëzim, as you can see, the expression applies; “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. He was born and raised in a family that has Albanian art and culture at its genesis. But let’s get to know Gëzim Kaceli better, but first I ask for your understanding that the life of a diva like Kaceli cannot be described in a newspaper article. He was born on June 7, 1933 and at a very young age, his family would be interned in Berat and then in the remote villages of Tepelena.
It wouldn’t be long before the young Gëzim would stand out for his skills as a dancer. He won the competition organized by the Russian ballet maestro, Georgi Perkun, who was looking for elements to create a professional ballet troupe in Albania. Winning a competition at that time, while being persecuted, clearly shows what talent Gëzim had, so much so that Russia could not do without him. It was a time when the system was trying to create the “new communist man”. However, despite the fact that Gëzim came from a family with a bad biography for the time, he never rose above the nobility of his surname.
With great work to the point of selflessness, he would manage to become a solo dancer. He would show his mastery as a dancer as a soloist in; “Flag of Peace”, “Bakhchisaray Fountain”, “Esmeralda”, “La Traviata”, etc., endless performances. He showed his rare values as a dancer in an extraordinary way thanks to his artistic individuality. Such a technique and perfect elegance in ballet performance, Albania had never seen before. Only at the age of 24, Gëzim Kaceli would be one of the founders of the Folk Songs and Dances Ensemble.
The prominent composer Çesk Zadeja, seeing the talent of the young Kaceli, would entrust him with the creative choreography of the entire Dance Ensemble. From here begins a magical life, and although full of difficulties, but with a love that is almost fairy-tale, for Albanian ethnography. Gëzim spent years in all regions of the country, researching every bit of our artistic heritage as a people. “The Dance of Tropoja”, a gem in the repertoire of traditional dances, was created in such a sublime way, by a Tirana resident. This is worth showing how deeply and meticulously Maestro Kaceli studied all the ethnographic details regardless of the regions.
Then Gëzim Kaceli’s creativity would never end. His premieres continued with “Suita e valleve të Tiranës”, “Dropulli’s Dance”, “Del Devolliçe”, “Del Dyshe e Shupali”, “Trio e Shupali”, “Del Labe”, which confirmed again and again not only Gëzim’s creative choreographic skills but also the high knowledge that he had, about the culture of different areas of Albania. He was an inexhaustible source regarding our artistic folklore. Or as the author of the book “Gëzim Kaceli – Monograph” Mrs. Terezina Vasia would so sweetly express, who summarizes the work of Professor Gëzim Kaceli: “There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a premiere where the whole of Albania dances”.
This talent, these lively motives, the magnificent dedication, would not start with studies in Russia by chance. Russia, this country with the strongest ballet school in the world, was lucky enough to receive a student very experienced in his abilities, but Gëzim was also lucky enough to expand his knowledge, in one of the most famous schools. Thus he studied to be a ballet master and choreographer, at the “Lunacharsky” Institute of Directing and Choreography (GITIS) in Moscow. Thirsting for more in Russia, he would stage the dance of the Great Highlands and that of Shupal. Another great fortune for him was that he was trained by prominent Russian choreographers, such as Rostislav Zakharov, Leonid Lavrovsky, Shatin, etc.
With the collapse of communist Albania with the Soviet Union, Gëzim graduated from the Higher Institute of Arts in Tirana. Upon completing his studies, his creativity would take a dizzying leap, with premieres such as; “Dasma Tiranase”, “Dasma në Malësi”, “Barinjtë e Korabi”, “Valle e Burrave Dibranë”, “Motive të Shëngjergjit”, “Valle e Koxhaxhiu”, “Arbënia Kryezonjë”, the latter remaining one of the first Albanian vocal choreographic poems, and dozens and dozens of countless creations.
And although the communist intrigues of the time would remove him from the Ensemble, which he had established himself; Gëzim never stopped creating, working, and dreaming. Now, as an outsider, he would stage three operettas with his own choreography: “The Bridegroom Was Transferred”, “Carnivals” and “Golden Autumn”. But I cannot fail to mention one of Professor Kacel’s masterpieces, because if I don’t mention it, every Albanian child will be angry with me. It is the ballet “The Kids and the Wolf”, which Gëzim created and staged, in a period when the communist system had made his life very difficult. The fame of this work can be seen in the generations that grew up with it over the years.
Imagine the madness, as a genius in his own kind of art and was cast in the Combine Ensemble and then in the Army Ensemble, but Gëzim, as he was called, never stopped believing in his abilities, and as a slap in the face of the treatment he was receiving, he created another classic gem, “The Legend of the Honine Flower”. Honina was an orphan girl, who served as a simple worker in a wealthy family. Did Gëzim feel as tired as Honina from that system, but fixed like Honina and he knew how to triumph whenever they tried to separate him from his greatest love, art. Wherever they sent him thanks to the biography, which suited the young communist man, he knew how to achieve masterpieces.
The respect of Çesk Zade, Feim Ibrahim, Agim Krajka, Tish Dais, Agron Aliaj and many other artists towards Gëzim is enough to understand that he is a colossus in his art. The great merit of Professor Kacel is also the fact that he knew how to form generations and generations of dancers, of every kind of lyrical or classical form. There are hundreds of artists who owe their Professor to their Professor; however, Gëzim enjoyed the fact that he produced qualitative artists. All Albanians are indebted to the devoted work of Professor Kacel.
Not only us Albanians within the borders, but also our Arbëresh brothers, remember Professor Gëzim with nostalgia. The year 1991 would find him an immigrant in Calabria, where with solemn modesty; he would set about the work of creating the Arbëresh Songs and Dances Ensemble. He worked in the most famous schools in the area, such as “Isabella Sisca” in Cosenza, or “Carmen Biscardi” in Rosano. His untimely death would separate him from this life in 1999, where his lifeless body received the homage of the entire Albanian society, in the lobby of the Opera and Ballet Theater and today rests in his hometown of Tirana.
This March marked 25 years without the master and noble Professor Gëzim Kaceli. This saddens us as much as it gives us strength, because he lives through his artistic heritage and every Albanian is born and grows, with his creativity. He also lives with his son, Renis Kaceli, who followed in his father’s footsteps, graduating from the Tirana Artistic High School for ballet, and since 2009, holds a diploma of merit in ballet from the La Scala Academy in Milan, and is the creator and director of a private ballet school in Italy.
Gëzim also lives with his daughter, Sonila Kaceli, who has completed her studies in ethnomusicology and baroque opera singing at the University of Bologna and also studied as an actress at the Colli Theater School. Eternal memory of a cream of Albanian society! Memorie.al
