Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Albanian rugby talents in England

Erjon Dollapi and Olsi Krasniqi are two Albanian rugby players who are successfully playing in England’s rugby championship.

Erion Dollapi (1993) since childhood was very strong and fast. He had tried several sports, but he hadn’t found himself in none of them. But when, as a 15-year-old he proved rugby, he realized that he was born for this sport.

Five years after he started to play rugby, he has managed to become part of the “London Broncos” team in England Super League. There are great expectations about his bright future and he will likely be part of the Nation Team of England for several years.

“I started playing rugby at school, like a 15 year-old. The physical teacher saw me playing rugby and invited me to the school team. Since the first game that I played, I fell in love with this sport. I liked it so much, since I was a teenager”, said Dollapi.

Dollapi made his Super League debut on 1 April 2013 against “Warrington Wolves” at Halliwell Jones Stadium. He came off the bench to score the last try of the game from close range, a game which ended in a 54-20 defeat for the Broncos.

Despite playing rugby league for two years, Dollapi received a call up from the England Under-18 team in October 2009 where he earned one cap.

He is originally from the Highlands of Gjakova (near Tropoja, Albania) but he lives in England since he was 9 years old. At the “London Broncos” team he feels more comfortable, because one of his teammates is an Albanian, Olsi Krasniqi.

The Albanian who amazed Croatia

Mark Marku is a 22 year-old singer who was born in Prizren. We will bring to you his exclusive interview for our page.

Mark Marku has completed the Music High School, violin course in Zagreb. Currently he is attending the first year of the Music Faculty, the Solo singing (canto) class of Professor Merita Juniku.

As a 16 year-old he went to Zagreb to finish the secondary school. For a short time he became involved in many artistic and sports associations, where as he puts it, always trying to represent the Albanian people in the best possible way, with his concerts as a soloist (6 times successively soloist/ violinist with the Orchestra of Zagreb).

Mark also had sports engagements in Zagreb. As he says, “I took part in smaller tournaments as a sportsman. I practiced wrestling for a time in Zagreb and it rarely happened that someone called me by name because for my friends whom I wrestled with I was ‘Albanac’ (The Albanian) and I have been proud of this.”

In 2009 he found himself among 15,000 singers candidate in the television show “”Hrvatska trazi zvijezdu” (“Croatia searches a star”) where after a continual work and after a full commitment, he was ranked third as a super-finalist.

Mark describes the emotions of this show in this way: “In these musical television evenings, through my work I always tried to represent the Albanian people in the best way possible and to show the Croatian people that our country has a great culture and tradition.”

When he was asked how he sees art in Kosovo, Marku said:

“I can freely say that the art and culture in Kosovo have stagnated and the fact that most young people are forced to leave Kosovo to express their work through foreign countries shows that this is an alarming situation because our country is losing its qualitative artists who are going in foreign countries.”

Mark complains that he has never been institutionally supported by the state of Kosovo, and that so far he has failed to represent artistically himself and his country in the best way possible.

Few days ago, Marku has launched in the Albanian televisions the new song titled “Vec me ty” (“Only with you”), a project in which he has devoted a lot of time, work and commitment. “Thanks to my utmost commitment, the song is welcomed by the Albanian audience, wherever they live. Thanks to the hospitality of the public through social networks and television, I am engaged in many musical evenings around the country”, says Marku.

Asked in an exclusive interview for “Kosovo Diaspora” how could the Albanian Diaspora better helps the image of Kosovo, Mark said:

“I think that Albanians living in the Diaspora can help Kosovo’s image only through the work and the education of their children. I think that this is not unachievable, only that we need greater commitment of each individual.”

Video: FOX Business Interview Giorgio Kolaj of Famous Famiglia

Video: FOX Business Interview Giorgio Kolaj of Famous Famiglia

Famous Famiglia co-founder, Giorgio Kolaj, is interviewed by FOX Business channel on June 18, 2009. This video shows the first 10 minutes of the one hour long LIVE television interview. Giorgio and his brothers founded Famous Famiglia pizzeria in New York City in 1986, and today the company has expanded its award-winning brand across the globe.

Dichterstübli: Albanian contemporary lyrics from Kosovo

Shaip Beqiri was born on 25 March 1954 in Gllamnik near Podujeva in Kosovo. He studied Albanian language and literature at the University of Prishtina from 1973 to 1979.

Ever since he finished his studies in literature at the University of Prishtina, he has been working as a poet, publisher and cultural journalist. The bilingual lyric anthology named ‘Hydra des Zorns/ Hidra e millefit’ (Hydra of Wrath) will be released in 2014 through Limmat publishing and is translated by Hans-Joachim Lanksch.

Beqiri is a member of the Swiss Writers Union and the author of five volumes of verse, published between 1976 and 2000, the most recent of which are Prangat e praruara (Golden handcuffs), Tirana 1998; and Eklipsi i gjakut (The Blood Eclipse), Prishtina 2000. His verse has been translated into BCS and German.

Albanian and Kosovar Consulates merge together in Milan

Albanian and Kosovar Consulates merge together in Milan

Starting from July, the Kosovar consulate in Milan will be working form the facilities of the Albanian Consulate.  Consuls Luljeta Çobanaj and Rezart Shkëmbi have requested that the Albanian consulate be placed in a rather bigger and more efficient facility, thus making space for the Kosovar Staff to join in serving its citizens. This way, Albanians from both Kosovo and Albania will have an easier way to fulfill their tasks.

The foreseen office space covers 350 square meters and is intended to work at a capacity of 150  people per day. Mrs. Luljeta Çobanaj explains how this is an initiative to better services for all Albanians: “The consulate in Milano is consisted of three consuls, one technical staff and three passport handling staff, the same facility shall be also used by the Kosovar staff thus increasing the workload. The consulate will truly be of service to all Albanians. At the entrance, we shall have three flags: The Kosovar, Albanian and Italian. “Eja të flasim shqip” will be written at the entrance to greet all our fellow citizens.”

For more info check out their webpage HERE

 

“The World” talks Albanian at the Karlovy Vary festival

The film “Bota” (“The World”), the first co-production between Kosovo and Albania emerged in its premiere at the prestigious Karlovy Vary festival in the Czech Republic.

The film which was directed by and whose scenario was written by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci is presented within the competition “East of the West” at the festival which began on July 4th and will run to July 12th.

“Karlovy Vary International Film Festival” is an A Category festival and the presentation of the film before movie stars, directors and producers from all around the world is a good opportunity to introduce Albanian cinematography but also to promote our country.

Within 100 minutes of the film, through the characters of three youths, a tableau of Albania today is presented. The film, as director explained, focuses on the lives of a small community of politically persecuted people forgotten by time and by ourselves, living at the edge of a marsh.

“The World” is co-funded by the Cinematography Centers of the two countries and is helped by MIBAC (Italian Ministry of Culture), with the support of Eurimages.

The original article was posted at kultplus.com – Click here to read the original article

Albana Arifi shines at the ‘European Open’

The city of Getebourg in Sweden is the host of the European Handball Championship “European Open”. The tournament is based on the Female U18 challenge where Kosovo is playing as an equal member and competitor. Beside the team of Kosovo there are two other competitors who are representing the country. Edona Krasniqi (born in Peja) who currently plays for Austria and Albana Arifi (from Prishtina) who is the key player of the Swedish National Team.

 

The most notable event in the tournament was the game between Sweden and Switzerland. Albana Arifi was receiving great support from the girls of the Kosovar team who came to support Albana.

Check out this video to learn more about Albana:

The original article was posted at dialogplus.ch – Click here to read the original article

Blerta Gashi at “Miss European Tourism” 2014

Bleta Gashi is the Kosovar beauty who carried the Albanian national flag on the stage of the Miss European Tourism 2014 in Romania – a country that has not recognized Kosovo yet. She was the official Kosovo representative in this beauty contest, which started in June 27th and ended on July 6th.

Although Bleta is only 19-years-old  and is just starting out her career, she was chosen to be the First Runner Up for this international beauty contest.

Bleta lives and studies in Switzerland. She worked as a model for three years, and in 2013 she was also a candidate for “Miss Zurich” – where she received “Miss Photogenic”- putting her in the third place. Kosovo may be small in size but our presence has been growing every day  because Kosovars keep grabbing first places in various contests around the world!

A glimpse from Bleta’s photo shoot for “Miss Zurich” in 2013:

kosovoeverywhere

Show the world Kosovo is Everywhere!

The summer of 2014 will be the summer of Kosovo. People related to Kosovo will show the world that their country is everywhere. The idea is simple: go to a certain place in the world and take a picture of yourself with a symbol of Kosovo – like the flag. Post it, and Bamn!

Simply, upload the picture on the Facebook page of Kosovo Diaspora or via TwitterInstagram or Google+ with the hashtag #KosovoEverywhere.

The team of Kosovo Diaspora will collect all the pictures and put them in a special Facebook album to show the world #KosovoEverywhere.

After the summer, a jury team will choose  three best pictures and give prizes of one mini iPad to the winner, Google nexus to the runner-up and an iPod Nano to the number three contestant. But, of course the biggest goal is to show the world we are everywhere.

Check out the album HERE 

The exhibition which will bring Kosovo to Switzerland

The exhibition which will bring Kosovo to Switzerland

The exhibition opened at the Cultural Centre of Kosovo in Zurich presented 25 different artists of different generations, among whom sculptors, photographers, poets and painters were present.

The exhibition opened on the 5th of July and represented a collective exhibition of Albanian artists from Kosovo and other Albanian territories. The curator of this exhibition was the well-known artist from Kosovo, Professor Jetullah Haliti.

There was a satisfactory interest during the first days with a lot of people visiting the exhibition. Besides other artists, there were journalists and writers as well. In the opening ceremony, the chairman of the Association of Albanian Figurative Artists in Switzerland, Nexhmedin Januzi, greeted the artists and congratulated them for this exhibition in Zurich.

In the end, there was a literary presentation where poets recited poems of the present authors which gave the exhibition an added coloration.

The artists who presented their works in this exhibition were: Agim Islamaj, Miradije Ramiqi, Musa Sadiku, Skender Lajqi, Rudina Proda, Nuri Jaupulari, Mehmet Baci, Lekë Rrotani, Idriz Balani, Olti Zejnullahu, Olti Haliti, Reshat Ahmeti, Jetullah Haliti, Hajrush Fazliu, Agim Ramadani and Shkelzen Gashi.

The poets who read their verses were: Sabit Gecaj, Ibrahim Avdyli, Bujar Salihu, Nexhat Maloku, Mimoza Erebara, Gani Qarri, Shukrie Ramadani and Adem Kicaj.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch – Click here to read the original article