Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/ Published report-information of March 17, 1973 for Enver, Mehmet and Hysni regarding the Tirana Variety, drafted by the senior official of the Central Committee, Enver Halili, who informs about what happened and was said where Among other things, it is written: “Director Bujar Kapexhiu has gone so far as to openly call on artists and members of the Variety to watch Italian television and learn from him the way of staging, forms and interpretation”
The document we are publishing belongs to March 17, 1973, where the senior official of the Central Committee of the ALP, Enver Halili, informs Enver Hoxha about a meeting that took place with the staff of the Professional Variety of Tirana and the basic organization of the party that institution. In that meeting which took place at the same time, with the meeting held by Enver Hoxha in the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, which was preceded by his speech in the III Plenum of the Central Committee of the ALP, as the main axis , both had the same theme:
“Foreign performances and their impact on art, culture, literature and all the life of the country”. And also both of these meetings, were held just a short time after the end of the 11th National Radio and Television Song Festival, which caused, in some way or more likely, that it was also the pretext that they were hit, some writers and artists, led by the so-called: Hostile group, in Art and Culture, led by Fadil Paçrami and Todi Lubonja. As we will see in the report-information in question, the delegate of the Central Committee of the ALP, Enver Halili, (never an instructor in the Central Committee, member of the People’s Assembly, first secretary in several districts and years later, minister and member of the Politburo), described in detail everything that happened in the staff of the Professional Variety of Tirana and the basic organization of the party, of that institution. Not only that, in what happened in their work, but the information extended to the personal and family life of the actors and artists of that institution.
What is noticeable is that the harsh criticism is not spared even towards Vaçe Zela, considered since then, as one of the legends of the Albanian song, or the well-known director, Bujar Kapexhiu, against whom he was attacked due to the fact that he had directed as a conference host of the 11th Radio-Television Song Festival, together with his partner, Edi Luarasi. And all these, treated in detail in the report-information in question of the delegate of the Central Committee, were addressed to Enver Hoxha himself.
And as were the rules of procedure with which the apparatus of the Central Committee functioned, in addition to Enver Hoxha, that report-information was also seen by Hysni Kapo, Mehmet Shehu and Petro Dode, who also put the respective signatures on the document.
I N F O R M A T I O N
“DIRECTOR KAPEXHIU MAKES OPEN CALLS TO WATCH ITALIAN TELEVISION”
- From Estrada there were tendencies, which were also realized to be copied from Italian television? Thus, e.g. in the play “Four Thousand Applause”, which is staged by the director Bujar Kapexhiu, imitations and copies appear, from the title to special numbers, such as the meeting with athletes (boxers, footballers and basketball players), with whom humor is created without any content, etc. There have been imitations and copies in some issues of other shows as well. Bujar Kapexhiu was rightly criticized, who is inclined to copy and calls it something normal and necessary, so much so that he has reached a meeting of the collective, to call on actors and other members of the Variety, to learn from Italian television, from the way it is staged by form and interpretation.
- In some cases, the decor of shows such as Estrada and especially Cirk, has had foreign nuances. Often, the content of the play is not adapted to nonsense paintings and cartoons, and in some cases it is not even understood what the author wanted to present to me. The director and the actors themselves have occasionally used extravagant mini dresses and maxi skirts, cowboy pants and others. Some actors, contrary to the rules, have even transformed the props in order to suit the fashion they want.
- In some cases, especially in the last two or three years, in order to avoid difficulties, intensive work, Estrada and especially the Circus, have fallen behind light topics with shallow content or sometimes without content. Even the difficulties encountered in obtaining materials from the creators, Estrada and especially the directors, were criticized by the actors, because they have often fallen into micro-topics without any treatment in the breadth and depth of the acute problems of all fields that preoccupy the party and society.
“POET ACTORS GESTLY IMITATE ITALIAN ARTISTS”
Some pop actors, wanting to copy an Italian artist in their performances in special roles, have made distortions, gestures and movements, outside the content of the text; this action has caused the content to be ignored, attracting the attention of spectators with gestures and meaningless movements. In their discussions, the friends of the variety criticized a lot of performances and influences of bourgeois and revisionist ideology, in the way of life for the behavior of actors and other members of the collective in the family and society. Some actors and orchestrators have debauchery, in family life, two friends are separated from men, because of their own fault, 2-3 others have quarrels in the family, which endanger family cohabitation. There are also shows of prostitution, especially when the variety troupe is on tour, in other districts; these acts go so far as to fight with outsiders, to damage socialist property intentionally, etc. Even within the collective there are some, quarrels and resentment. Within the collective several times, thefts of socialist property have been ascertained, such as clothes, light bulbs, etc., as well as in front of each other.
The comrades when they spoke tried and to some extent reflected the causes of these shortcomings, of the penetration of the influences of foreign ideology into the bosom of their collective.
SKENDER PLASARI: “WE DO NOT DEEP IN THE LESSONS OF COMRADE ENVER”
Although the grassroots organization has made efforts to deal with these problems, it has often, on the surface, seen negative manifestations and phenomena, has not always made an in-depth analysis of their origins. “Educational work – said in her discussion the actress Hajrie Sojli – has left much to be desired in our team, a little of the lack of seriousness of the grassroots organization and its former secretary, a little of our lack of prey to restrain and prepare, well the form of education, have made them not play the role that belongs to them”. Criticism for the lack of preparation and development of forms of education also came from some communists and other workers. Writer and actor Skënder Plasari said: “We art workers do not go deep enough into the lessons of the party and Comrade Enver, we do not know in their depth the sharp problems of political, ideological, economic and other character, therefore even when we treat them on our stage, we treat them more on the surface. “Few members of our team read, starting from the director to the youngest actor.” Actor Enver Bukri said: “We perform on stage, all kinds of roles with different types, positive and negative, but rarely, to say the least, we study the party materials, in accordance with the role we will play, much less the type that we will present, we are satisfied with what we know from practice. ”It simply came to our notice then. For these weaknesses was criticized the method of work of the director Bujar Kapexhiu who does not cry at all this role, sees himself simply as a technician and not as an educator, as a psychologist, even in his discussion, he among other things called himself simple employer.
Putting personal interest above the general has caused us to fall under foreign influences, said one of the discussants. Often some actors and creators, encouraged in some cases by the leaders of the institution, putting in the foreground the personal interest, morally and materially (success, applause and income) are heavy after the form of presentation, even these not according to aesthetics ours and have set aside, essential, other content.
“ESTRADA STAFF WITH 8-YEARS, ONLY ONE MEDIUM AND 2 HIGHER”
It seems to us that the comrades rightly raised, that one of the causes that has influenced the weaknesses and shortcomings mentioned above is also the low educational and ideo-aesthetic level of the body. Out of 20 actors, 5 are with primary, 12 with eight years old, 1 with secondary and 2 with senior. In the last 10 years, no actor has been appointed with a professional degree, even with a high degree. Regarding the staffing problem, some criticisms were made in the address of the party committee and the executive one, who did not show the proper interest for this institution, it has been over 3 years, that the stage is without a conductor and there is still no perspective to be appointed.
In general, the comrades said in their discussions, the interest on the part of the party and government bodies in the district has been lacking. Comrade Fadil Paçrami did not look at the stage in the same way as the Opera and Popular Theater. When we were 20, he came to the opening ceremony and I do not stay in the show. In general, there was criticism of the leading comrades of the party and the government in the district, with the exception of his wife Katina Starja, who rarely come to the pop shows, as a result of which their help for the progress of work has been very little. They claim that these bodies should stay closer to the stage to open their horizons, with their advice, remarks and proposals. Even for ideopolitical education, without excluding the work that the grassroots organization has to do, maybe they should help closer to this institution.
Almost everyone rose as a problem, a very serious lack of creativity for pop music. Among other things, some writers, humorists who until recently wrote about pop music, have left. There they said that there are several reasons: the opinion of writers, that these are small things and do not give a title, recognition, etc., there is not always a suitable actor to interpret and the parts are in the “sign” to be discussed and criticized , the material reward is small, compared to other creativity etc.
These were some of the problems that arose and were discussed in the grassroots organization and the professional pop collective. A good help for the preparation and development of these meetings, gave the delegate to the regional party committee no. 3 friends, Fiqiri Vogli./Memorie.al
Instructor and K. Q.
(Enver Halili)
