Pristina, November 4, 2022
Complete speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, at the opening of the second edition of the “Prishtina Music Conference”:
After the resumption of the Berlin Process, I came here from the airport, to this second edition of the Prishtina Music Conference. There was no way it could happen otherwise, because politics is also art, but for that maybe in another conference.
Dear present,
very respected Kushtrim Dushi and Diellza Gosalci,
dear artists and art lovers,
Elina Duni and Ilir Bajri in particular,
ladies and gentleman,
The kind of organization like this today is necessary for music, as an art but also as an industry, and for the development of the networking of our scene with the world.
I am very glad that this initiative of yours, of great value for our country, has gathered professionals from all fields, not only from our country, but also from other countries, who have honored us with their participation. but also with the contribution to good music in our country.
Music, like almost all other arts, also faces the market and its own role in society. In addition to this, there is also a quality music audience, and the artist is on the edge, where he or she must survive with his or her work, but also not betray his or her art. So it should be somehow possible to survive without betraying.
Often times we have mass art as it is called and what they do defines the culture, or otherwise as it is known, the trend. While art is rather a kind of rarity, like beauty, culture is more common, that which is repeated, that which becomes a state, but historically the role of the artist has been to make the breakthrough in the middle of the culture to produce the new .
So the artist is conceived and born with a certain culture, but also a kind of conflict with that culture from which he is born.
The artist is not a conformist, and music in particular is a movement. Not only because it sets us in motion but also because it determines the current. Currents of sensation, sensitivity, experience and even thought. Because music is not only something you experience, but also something you have to think about. It goes along with changes and social efforts, so all social and political transformations have their music. Or it is a music that has made those transformations as we know them afterwards.
Today we see singers who, for example, are wearing the uniform to defend their country, Ukraine, or even the song “Baraye”, which has already become an anthem for the protection of women’s rights, against the regime in Iran.
So the artist is also at the forefront of the changes that society needs and are not just his or her inner expression.
Kosovo’s music, among other things, has a great diplomatic power. We encounter this everywhere when we meet others, because there is no one who listens to music today and does not know Dua Lipa and Rita Ora, Bebe Rexha and Action Bronson, Ramë Lahaj, Elina Duni, Ilir Bajri, Shkelzen Doli, and I can go on counting too long, but we will not stand here in talking, for we are all together to follow those who follow after me in this very pleasant evening.
The German theorist Theodor Adorno of the Frankfurt School has an interesting concept on what he calls the pollution of the mind. So it is not only the pollution of water, air, and land, but it is also the pollution of the mind. With the development of technology, the melodic line is determined by “artificial intelligence” more and more, and today we have no imagination for the reality that will follow in just a few years in this respect.
Tunes and rhymes that are repeated creating the new concept “catchy”, so that it is fixed in the mind, and less and less patience, to listen let’s say a minute of melodic line, for example “Wish you were here” by Pink Floyd’s. Of course, times have changed, but values must be preserved. But I don’t believe that neither nostalgia nor melancholy provides a solution. Nostalgia and melancholy are of course always human companions, but they are not the solution.
Dear present,
regular membership in the great circles is the next step where all our creativity can be connected to the world. Thus, Kosovo is already a leader of the music scene in the region and a contributor to the music industry in the world.
The government is engaged and is fulfilling the missing sectors, including the establishment and operationalization of the Kosovo Opera, who are holding their next concert tonight, and that soon we will also make their home, the Opera House.
Kosovo is on the verge of the biggest legal reform in culture. In this second edition of the Prishtina Music Conference, I wish to inform you that with the measures that will be taken with the new legislation, culture will move to a new developmental stage. Of course it will lead us, but when it leads we have to follow it, and by following it we have to help it.
To conclude, the Government of Kosovo from the beginning of the mandate has supported the biggest music events, such as the Sunny Hill Festival, the many different annual music festivals, the Ramë Lahaj International Opera Festival and others.
Just like last year, this year and in the coming years, we will continue to support initiatives that bring value and well-being to the people of Kosovo. So with as little pollution of the mind as possible, and with as much good life as possible, which of course is not only material, but also intellectual, spiritual and emotional.
I thank you very much for your attention and I am very eager to become a listener to the discussion that follows.
Thank you very much
Last modified: November 7, 2022