Drita Albanian Folk Orchestra

The Instruments

Llautë and Çifteli

The primary Drita ensemble includes the Albert-system clarinet, accordion, llautë, and dairë (frame drum), and presents both traditional and popular music from Central Albania, Kosova, and Southern Albania.

The llautë (above left) is an instrument from Southern Albania. Its large sound bowl has been constructed from many staves. It has four courses (double strings) and is tuned in fifths:

C - G - D - A

Drita also plays traditional music of Northern Albania and Kosova with an ensemble of four çiftelia, fyell (end-blown flute) and dairë.

The çifteli (above right) has a pear-shaped sound bowl that is carved out of a single piece of wood. It has two strings tuned in fourths, and is fretted in a diatonic scale with partial flats that produce an Albanian "natural" scale:

do - re - mi (partial flat) - fa - sol - la (partial flat) - ti (flat) - do

Solo çifteli players may use very complex techniques. When played in an ensemble with multiple instruments, the playing technique is more simplified to achieve a unified sound.

Drita Albanian Folk Orchestra uses çiftelia on two selections on its new CD: A e dinë oj hanëm hanëm and Vajza e luleve.

Playing Techniques

The Clarinet

"The clarinets I play have the Albert system, or simple system, of holes and keys. While this system has been replaced by the Boehm system almost everywhere in the world, it is the system normally used for Albanian and Greek folk music. Its advantages are better, faster fingering for the scales used in that music, and a brighter sound. While the fingering is wonderful in many keys, it is also clumsy in others, so to cover more "good" keys, these clarinets are made in many slightly different sizes (C, Bb, A, G). For this recording, I use C and Bb clarinets. For example, I played the clarinet Kaba and Çermenika on the C (a very bright instrument), and E po ç'ke... and Podrishtë on the Bb (more mellow)."

Photo by Nick Dermand

"The Albanian clarinet is played in a style similar to Greek. Since it is almost always used as a lead instrument, it is played in a way to impress and touch the listener, rather than to blend with other instruments. Because of this, it is played with a constant vibrato and usually a strong, dominating tone. Also, because the clarinet mostly replaced more primitive woodwinds, such as the kaval, bagpipe, and zurna, it inherited similar decorations. These are very fast and performed more by the fingers than the mouth (listen to the beginning of the clarinet Kaba). Finally, the style includes playing some partial sharps and flats, and gradual pitch bends (listen to the beginning of Çermenika)."

-Rob Stokes

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