Dina e Mel | Bërbili (Nightingale): Forgotten Songs of the Arbanasi People from Zadar

Dina e Mel

Dina Bušić voice
Melita Ivković guitar
Miroslav Tadić guitar
Edin Karamazov guitar, saz
Yvette Holzwarth violin

Dina Bušić and Melita Ivković’s ethnomusicological project, called Bërbili (Nightingale), strives to rediscover and revive the almost forgotten songs of the Arbanasi people from Zadar. Dina e Mel, in collaboration with experienced musical artists of shared musical sensibilities, including Edin Karamazov, perform songs in the Arbanasi dialect (Albanian with elements of Italian and Croatian), which is considered one of the most endangered languages in Europe today. At the same time preserving the old and creating something uniquely new, their arrangements of the archaic compositions are painted with the various influences they brought to the project from their own destinies, life-long experience, and personal ethos.

Photo (c) Elmendina Arapi