The 80s in Albania were a time when people had almost no access to the outside world. If you look at a map (and I’m no genius), Albania is close enough to pick up TV signals from both Italy and Yugoslavia. But inside the country, borders weren’t just physical, they were cultural and political walls.
Officially, TV bunny satellites weren’t available to the public, but some people managed to get their hands on them anyway. Families would huddle around a fuzzy screen, risking arrest just for a glimpse of music, news, or life beyond the borders, ready to switch it off in a panic if they heard footsteps in the hall.
That’s how tightly the country was sealed off in the 1980s. People knew almost nothing about life beyond their own towns, let alone outside Albania.
Meanwhile, just across the border in Yugoslavia, life seemed more open, but cracks were forming. Ethnic tensions were simmering under the surface. And that’s where music comes in.
One of the biggest forces in Yugoslav rock was Bijelo Dugme, fronted by the charismatic guitarist and songwriter Goran Bregović.
Bregović wrote “Kosovska” as more than just a rock song, it was his attempt to reach across the ethnic and cultural divides that were growing in the Balkans. And the most radical part? The song is sung in Albanian.
That might not sound wild today, but in the 1980s Balkans, it was revolutionary. Albanian wasn’t a language you’d casually hear in Sarajevo or Beograd rock venues. Singing in Albanian was a gesture of solidarity.
I’m grateful that I have access to this music. It’s become one of the most powerful ways for me to learn about the region’s history, the risks people took to create or hear these songs, and the belief that even in times of division, art has its place.
Needless to say, dead or alive dinner party… Bregović is on my guest list.
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If you liked this post, check out my other piece on Yu Rock Misija.
If you’re curious to know more about what life was like, especially in Albania during those years, the author Gazmend Kapllani’s works offer a thoughtful perspective on surviving behind closed borders.
Digital Dugme 