Vjosa
By clicking on a particular number on the map, RIVERINE ENVIRONMENTS takes you on a journey through the multitude of entanglements between the people and their river. It portrays, maps and explains how the people who inhabit the Vjosa Valley experience and live the changes associated with infrastructural and other anthropogenic interventions, as well as the continuities. It describes how they perceive the dynamic nature of the Vjosa and what happens when this dynamic is stabilised and bounded by contemporary infrastructural interventions.
Vjosa, the river song
When I was little
I often fell asleep
to a beautiful song
coming from the river!
The lullaby was already gone by the time
I learned the words
sung on the banks,
sung by its waves!
The river was Vjosa,
In winter and in summer,
the one who lives by her
becomes a singer!
Vjosa – my lovely Vjosa,
the refrain of the song,
her melody,
like a mother’s lullaby!
From the banks of the river,
I went to the cities,
but I took Vjosa
as a treasure in my heart!
The river, so full of songs,
raised me to be a boy
who sings continuously,
like the waves of the Vjosa!
In the centre of my heart
is a beautiful river,
Vjosa – my lovely Vjosa,
the river of my song!
Vjosa, lumi i këngës
Kur isha i vogël,
shpesh më zinte gjumi,
nga një këngë e bukur,
që vinte nga lumi!
Ninull ish-po kurrë,
s’ja mësova fjalët,
se këndonin brigjet,
se këndonin valet!
Lumi ishte Vjosa,
dimër e behar,
kush jeton pranë saj,
bëhet këngëtar!
Vjosa-more Vjosa,
refren’ i një kënge,
melodi e saj,
si një ninull nëne!
Nga brigjet e lumit,
shkova në qytete,
po Vjosën e mora,
si thesar me vete!
Lumi plot me këngë,
më rriti si djalë,
ndaj këndoj pa prerë,
si Vjosa me vale
Rrjedh një lumë i bukur,
m’u në mes të zëmrës,
Vjosa-more Vjosa,
lumi im i këngës!
Grupa Poni
The sounds of the Vjosa echo in numerous traditional iso-polyphonies and other folk songs typical of both the Vjosa Valley and other parts of Albania. “Vjosa lumi i këngës”/”Vjosa the River Song” sings about the lives of the people who live by the river and the meaning of the river in their lives. The song says that the Vjosa flows through the hearts of the people, while the people who live on its banks embody the river.
