Kujtim Laro (1947-2004), the man who made history in Albanian film music!

Kujtim Laro (1947-2004)
Prominent composer, especially in the formulation of soundtracks for Kinostudio Movies. He held the title “Merited Artist” and “Naim Frashëri” of the first class. One of the most important figures in Albanian cinematography and music. His music was not just notes. His composition was pain, sea waves, a long iso sung by the men of the south. His colleagues called him Enio Morricone, the greatest composer of all time in the genre of movie soundtracks, inimitable, a genius cut in the middle.

Kujtim was born in the coastal city of Vlora on May 8, 1947, and spent his childhood in this city. His parents were not musicians, but simple people, with a world and a great spirit. The father, a driver, had a lot of faith in the future of Kujtim, while the mother educated her son to love the good and the beautiful.

Then it was Vlora, with its history, traditions and people, with its beauty and wonderful landscape, that provoked and stimulated Kujtim’s first inspirations. At first, perhaps a light hissing on the lips or a simple melody, harmonizing with the waves of the blue sea, with the rustle of olive trees, lemons, oranges, and, then, the participation in the concerts of the children of Vlora, who outlined the path of his creative. The Ionian coast, the polyphonies and elegies of the south, were his inspiration, so his music sounded so sweet, so Albanian. He completed his higher studies at the Higher Institute of Arts, where he graduated in 1970. After that, he would work at the Academy of Arts for years as a lecturer in the composition department.

Laro was also the artistic director of the Army Ensemble. While he was a student, he worked on many pieces of music that would be the first harbingers of his success in the field of musical creativity, such as “Variations for Cello and Orchestra”, “Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra”, “Symphonic Poem “. After being appointed artistic director in the People’s Army (UP), Laro created more than 16 choreographic paintings, among which are: “Labëria”, “Thirteen Nightingales”, “Brother and Sister”, “Stars for Freedom”, “Five Heroes of Vig”. and has also created many songs, chorales, cantatas, arrangements, vocal suites, etc.

Also, compositions in different genres such as, “Ballad for Selam Musai”, “Ballad for Ismail Qemali”, etc.; Four rhapsodes, “Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra”, etc. Although he has studied all genres of music, his favorite ones have been movies soundtracks and songs. His signature is on the soundtracks of about 30 well-known feature films, such as “Bronze  Bust”, “At the Beginning of Summer”, “Poppies on the Wall”, “The Way of Letters”, “Freedom or Death”, “Second November”, “The Militant”, “Decision”, “Stars of the long nights”, “The bride and the curfew”, “Little partisan Velo”, “White papers”, etc.

During his career, he collaborated with the best Albanian directors, such as Viktor Gjika, Dhimitër Anagnosti, Kristaq Mitro, etc. and all feel honored by this collaboration and comforted by the fact that his music will remain alive in their movies.

He started his creativity in this genre with the film “Bronze Bust” and ended it with the soundtrack of the film “Red flowers, black flowers”, shown only a few months ago in the cinemas of the capital and which was called by his colleagues, as “the last swan song”.

Despite the cinematographic quality of the film, the music created by Kujtimi is world-class in terms of sensitivity, color and emotion it conveys.

Participant in song festivals on Radio and Television, from the tenth edition until Kujtim Laro lived, almost all his songs have been awarded with first, second and third prizes. These songs, they have been performed by great singers: Vaçe Zela, Ema Qazimi, Luan Zhegu, Alida Hisku, Adriana Ceka, Pandi Zguro, Myfarete Laze…

Together with the names of the singers, the sounds and music of the songs “Gjurmë Gjaku”, “Buka e duarve tona”, “Ne cdo zemer njehere troket”, “Djepi i trimerise”…

Thus, the Albanian “Moricone”, maestro Kujtim Laro has also been a faithful composer of music festivals in TVSH. Among his first creations was the song “Buka e duarve tona”, a collaboration with the poet Xhevair Spahiu, sung by Alida Isku and Ema Qazimi, which in 1976 won the first prize at the Song Festival on Albanian Radio Television. Other songs followed, such as “Miremengjes”, sung by Irma Libohova, who received second prize, the song “Te kisha pritur” sung by Adriana Ceka, and many others, to reach the wonderful song “Zhgenjim”, sung at the RTSH Song Festival in 1996, by singer Alma Bektashi.

In the 41st festival, he was awarded the trophy of the best composer, while in 2001, he was awarded the “Muse” prize, in the competition of the same name, for classical music.

Even though he was suffering from an incurable disease and had even undergone a stomach operation, he continued to work. There are still unfinished business on the pentagram.

Laro was in the process of working on the Opera “A stormy autumn”, composed by Dhora Leka, during the years of her exile. Kujtim Laro was working on the orchestration of this work, but he did not manage to see it on the TOB stage, where it was scheduled to appear for the November holidays of 2004.

At dawn on Wednesday, July 28, the heart of the composer and “Merited Artist”, Kujtim Laro, stop beating.

He was 57 years old, he had many more years to live, but life is really strange, it waits for you when you least expect it. For the contribution he made to Albanian culture, the composer Laro held the titles “Merited Artist” and “Naim Frashëri” of the first class, however, it is very little for the man who made history in movie music.

HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE FESTIVALS IN TVSH
1970 – Fest. 9th – “Working landscape”
1971 – Fest.10th – “Son of all mothers”
1972 – Fest.11th – “A green branch”
1973 – Fest.12th – “Golden footprints”
1974 – Fest. 13th – “Derdhem gjak e hodhem rrenje”
1975 – Fest. 14th – “Bread of our hands”
1977 – Fest. 16th – “Te rritesh komunist”
1978 – Fest. 17th – “Djepi i trimerise”
1979 – Fest. 18th – “Me gjak shkrove historine”
1980 – Fest. 19th – “People of dawn”
1981 – Fest. 20th – “Flame of oath”
1982 – Fest. 21st – “When hearts beat like a heart”
1987 – Fest. 26th – “Between two stars looks like the moon”
1988 – Fest. 27th – “Ne cdo zemer njehere troket”
1989 – Fest. 28th – “You are my love”
1991 – Fest. 30th – “Bells of hope”

It was published for the first time in Albanian Cinematography, Facebook in May 2016 and was revised in the following years.

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Albanian Cinematography in activity since 2013
Photos: contribution of site administrators. 

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