iftelia and Buzuku From: Enriko Ceko iftelia is one of musical instruments to which the Albanians identified their

heritage and traditional culture. It is one of the ancient musical instruments in the world from whom are descended some of the other musical instruments with strings. The name "ifteli" which explained through the Albanian language shows that we are dealing with an instrument with two cords ift tel. But ifteli name began to be used only when technology made possible the manufacture of metal string, because another old name of this musical instrument is "duter" and / or "dutar", which again explained only by the old Albanian language, which means "two-spun", used the word "spun" because the chords of ancient musical instruments were made with spun hair (knitted) of animals. Except ifteli, in Balkan region are well known other cordial musical instruments, among which an instrument called "Buzuku", which is identified as a part of traditional Greek culture. In fact, all researchers of stringed musical instruments have recognized that the Buzuku musical instruments is a later modification of "tamburja". But tamburja is widely accepted in academic terms a three-stringed musical instrument as a modification of early dutar (ifteli), adding that a wire, while Buzuku, which has been created many centuries after tamburja, in its beginnings as a musical instrument has been with three strings, later couple three strings, while a couple cords were placed later between Century 18, to create a stronger voice and not with the intention to create another instrument. Buzuk indeed, as we know it today with eight wires (four pairs of cord), was created as a variant only between 1958 to 1960 and that because Greek music of those years wanted to have a traditional basis to proceed further with modern music, accepted this fact without any hesitation by Greek academics themselves. Even tamburja, from which buzuk has been originated, is a musical instrument as ifteli that have been created by Albaina ancestors. Tamburja means "to be kept by men" or "to boast" (which are old words of Albanian language) and indeed the ancient musical tamburaja was a male, mostly fighters instrument, who used to sing with tamburja to boast the bravery shown in combat and to be proud to remember the dead in battle. This is as true as in almost all ancient decorations, sculptures, old paintings throughout the Balkans, especially in those of ages 9 Century to 3 century BC, male warriors are presented with three-stringed tamburja in hand, in contrast to the decorations of Balkan women, which in the sculptures and old paintings of this period are presented with a different musical instrument called "pandora", that women used to keep in a decorated box, (Pandoras Box kutia e pandors) because apparently there was one gift that fathers of daughters gifted in cases of marital union ceremonies or after girls arrived an certain age. Meaning of Pandora word is "see in the hand", outside the box, from Albanian language, (e shikoj n dor jasht kutis) and, apparently has to do with women who hold this instrument in hand and play in it, to be seen in public as interesting and attractive, which probably was as a rule or custom of the society of that time to be held by women during various ceremonies, in public, or when the home had visitors. Tamburja with a strong voice was more burdensome than

the pandora, which has a sweet and soft voice, which clearly shows the difference of these instruments, and the role of the women in society, determined at that time. Musical instruments with more strings, which today we know with the label "harp" in the archaic label called "qafi-Harp" and relates to the Albanian words "neck" and "arc" because the original version of this musical instrument depended on the neck and harp The first was actually bow hunters, who later saw that bow hunting may also create sound, arc also held that when walking in the neck. Harp is also known as "Lyra" (free, freedom, which is related to the name of Albanian ancestors too - illyrinas, which used to play as well in lyra), which comes from the star, that today is determined by Western astronomers named Vega, a star which about 14,000 years before was the North Pole, but because of the spatial changes of the past millennia this star does not show the north today. Albanian ancestors have known this star because they have seen it with the naked eye, since it is one of the five brighter stars in the sky, that can bee seen clear enough in good weather before night fall and early in the morning, a star which used to make orientation in time and space to those on earth for a very long time until the discovery of the compass. Albanian ancestors (pellazgs) have called this star with two names, "neservaki" and "Lyra". Neservaki means "tomorrow something is happening" or "he will be leaving tomorrow." This data is recorded on the old Persian and Arabic books, where the star named "alneservaki" and defined as the star that lead the convoy of travelers. Mitologjikisht, ancient peoples of the Balkans (which are generated by pellazgs Albanian ancestors) presented the star with the appearance of an eagle holding the lyre musical tool on its own feet above the earth looking below to the people, because when meneadat (daughters of Dionis god of wineyards) killed Orpheus, the lyra fell into the river and Zeus sent an eagle to keep it, to set it in the sky at precisely at the star Vega, in order that our ancestors to see the lyre again and the star to be able to orientate again Albanian ancestors. As well as the eagle of Zeus the bird with two heads is the symbol of Albanians too (Albanian flag). Lira is also known as musical instruments of David and King Arthur, both people who, according to legend, they have had also very good skills in outdoor orientation. By the Romans this musical instrument has been known as the "tympanum", by the Persians as "zuraja" and Arabs as "asana", explained by the old Albanian word "hold your view on", "voice" and "flay "(the sign)." Thus, the story of signs that something will happen, change the place of stars around the earth and the fall and rise of the lira and the star in the sky by Zeus, the god of gods, is one of the most important Balkan legends, which again can be explained only by the old Albanian language, because Zeus in old Albanian menas "your sound is like mine, or "I have made you as myself which must be connected easily to all religious beliefs precisely with the moment when God created Adam and then Eve. Zeus did Adam as his own image and sound, because the first was the word, in comparison with other living things that had not any articulation ability. When The God took Adam's rib from the body to create Eve, he asked him "a t'dhamb" (?) and / or "a t'dhemb" (?), from which comes the name of the

first man on earth, the name of Adam or Adam (a t dhamb / a tdhemb did I heard you? It hearts you? when the rib was taken). The name Eva comes from "e vuri aty He put her there) according to the old Albanian language words, which describes exactly the religious teachings of all religions with the moment when Adam was asleep and The God put Eva near by him. To return back to our argument of the lira, meneada name, which was dedicated to Dionysus daughters, the explanation is only through the old Albanian language, because them murdered Orpheus, and after that pellazgs Albanian ancestors broke relations with Dionysius, and used not to pray on him as they did before (to have more agricultural and livestock products), and thus the name of Dionysius daughters can be explained, "with us are / is divided" in Albanian me ne a da , words which are fundamental to Albanian language "nothing to do any more with us" because meneadat killed Orpheus, Even in today's language of Bulgarians and Macedonian meneadat are been known as "mimalona" that ultimately explained by the old Albanian language "mbi malet tona above our mountains," because according to mythology meneadat or mimalonat used to stay in mountains in a territory which today is between Macedonia and East of Albania, in Balkan peaks, far from people's eyes, to make their lives it up, that is why they killed Orpheus, who confessed with his songs lives of free but ordinary people, he confessed the history of the world and the life of normal people and not lack of reason and lack of purpose of life loss, ways in which meneadat or mamilonat used to live (Orpheus, in Albanian is "Orfe", "orfe", and can be explained only by old Albanian language which in English means "I will tell", "I will confes"). The name Dionysius himself can be explained by the Albanian language "dy en njsoj" or "two pots alike", which shows large amount of production that will deal in vintage season, but there is also an old legend of Albanian ancestors, that of two brothers who do the same job simultaneously, when it came time for subsistence farming, harvesting production, rain, etc., that "both equally", a very first legend to be told generation after generation to young people that they have to learn how to use carefully the time and seasons of the year to have as much luck. Among the first musical instruments has been one called lahuta, a cordial musical instrument with two parts, one is a cup with tail held vertically and has only a string made of hair of wild animals and the other is an arch with a string held horizontally, then two chords of which used to touch with each other create sounds. The old name of this musical instrument is "prays" lutje in Albanian language, which has to do with the fact that people helpless in the face of various occurrences of everyday life and pray accompanied with this musical instrument (which for this reason is named prays - lute), to have a closer contact with God, which quite prominently in the writings of antiquity in which the inhabitants of the Balkan region depicted in certain moments of praying with songs by musical instruments prays to have more products from the ground and more favorable season of better living conditions. Connection is made even stronger reasons for ceremonial act of pray, when people needed to be washed and cleaned as it will appear before God to hear from him and apparently the name began to be lahut ie: " wash, God, you", - Lahu, Huy, Ti or "wash and purify before sing and prays

to enter into real relations with the God, to be accepted by Him in a communication" Pray is one of the most important moments and elements of continuity in the history of man on the planet, because it sets the stage when human beings began to break away from the many gods in which he believed, and, as such, the pray was established to strengthen the missed and / or weakened connections with only one God (the moment when people began to believe that God was the one and only one) and it looks like they are Albanian ancestors who have thought about this link without which the world will not make any sense, related to become even more meaningful as a process where pray was accompanied with song and musical tool (luta - lahuta) and people should be free from and within the body, taken here into consideration the fact that at that time the body was considered inseparable from the spirit and as such the process of the purification of the body has been seen as a process of purification of the soul during the procedure of trying to communicate with God. Luta or lahuta has been accepted today by all academics in the European level and beyond without any discussion as the oldest and most primitive musical instrument in Europe and today's violin is a worthy successor of her. Even the Croatian version of this musical tool, called "gousle", can be explained only by the old Albanian language and there is a fact that Croats are descendants of that part of the Illyrian tribe of the Dalmatians (Albanians are descendants of Illyrians which has not been assimilated by Slavs and Greeks) assimilated by the Slavs after 9Th Century and the word "gousle" can be explained by finger to pick up the instrument and finishing act of singing with this instrument and with the part of the body where the instrument is supported when used. In all cases the finding of archeology for archaic variants of this instrument, are described with the tail end of the cup ends with a goatskin head, which is as a matter of the fact the symbol of the ancient Illyrians and the symbol of the George Scanderbeg, leader of Albanians against Turk invasion during Middle Age. Luta really is the simplest musical instruments with the cord in the world, but for Albanians it is the most important among all musical instruments and this for two reasons. The first because it is one of the original musical instruments with the cord of human being and the second because of its name which can be explained only by the old Albanian language. Sharkia, another musical instrument with cord, is a modification of ifteli, in which in between centuries 17 to 18 were added two other cord and lasts as instrument, as this allowed the use of metal string, until we know today as sharkia commonly with five strings, but there are also variants with more wires. Sharki in old Albanian means "what the hell you have", - far ke? that plays with this instrument or that this instrument falls. The instrument used in ancient times to accompany the most important events of people's lives, births of children, problems, worries and joys of life, mourning the lost people on various grounds, among them war with nature and with other tribes have been the main occupation. So, "what has likely?", what happened?. The names of these musical instruments are the same in all the Balkan peoples countries and is the undisputed fact that almost all the names of stringed musical instruments of ancient Balkan region can be explained only by Albanian

language. From this phenomenon does not escapes even Buzuk musical instrument, because is the union of two Albanian words "buz lips" and ujk "wolf", which are two key words of old Albanian language. The word lips is derived from the words "make sound" buz bj un z, which still are old Albanian words, while the word "wolf" ujk is connected to one of the wild animals that still today is quite widespread in the Balkan region, which emits a strong and extended voice. And further, in antiquity, before the horse tamed our predecessors, used to produce chords of musical instruments with the hairs of wild animals, and one of the most killed animals which it was the enemy of man was the wolf. Also, even the old version of Buzuku with three couples of cords, it emits a sound similar to the wolf thus revving "does sound like a wolf". It is no coincidence that in paintings of the period of the Greek war for independence (late 18th Century) Arvanites Albanians which still are living in territories between Greece and Albania - who were the soul and heart of the Greek revolution, were presented with their distinctive dress, with swords, long guns atllije, and the tamburja and / or Buzuk in hand. In the Greek language there is no any word with a direct or indirect connection with the words lips (buz) and wolf (ujk), which are certainly two important words of the Albanian language. In the Turkish version of the old instrument of Buzuk with three pairs of cords, name is "dyzen", which again can be explained only with Albanian language, meaning "two voices" dy zra. In the old Turkish language tamburja was called "saze or saz", which again can be explained by the old Albanian language meaning "how much" sa and "voice" z, then "how many sound issues", the word that appears to the music that was played generally in the Balkan towns late 17th century onwards. The word "mandolin", a musical instrument with four pair cords with shorter tail than Buzuku (recent years have produced variants with five pair cords), which again used a lot in Greece, can be explained by the Albanian language, which means "ma nep dollin" let me make a toast, in case of matrimonial ceremonies, etc like this, that has to do with the time when the bride comes inside the room with her husband, when the whole point is congratulating with the toast and singing. Moreover mandolin old name is "mandolli" or "mandoll". In fact, except the fact that the names of these musical instruments can be explained with the old Albanian language, the names of these musical instruments describes above can not be explained even with any word of any other Balkan or European language. Luta, Lyra, iftelia, tamburaja, pandora, sharkia, etc., are the oldest string musical instruments in the Balkans and apparently according to some sources even in Europe, while South Slavs have made strong efforts to address them as their musical instruments, and this not because Slavs doesnt have their specific musical instruments, but because their real goal is appropriating the ballads of the heroes of Albanian ancestors, ballads that actually are the heart of culture and traditions of Balkan and perhaps even the early tradition of pan-European territory, ballads that due to the specific unique qualities and characteristics in global level can not easily be associated with balalaika or accordion. Another reason for this is proximity of those who have used these instruments to the soul

and the God, which shows very strong links of human nature with the creator, that our ancestors apparently have had quite very strong, and this not without any cause, but because of the fact that Albanian ancestors are the earliest in Europe and that the language of Albanian ancestors too, the language of Albanians today, is, as the most famous writer of the Albanian language in the world, Ismail Kadare, say: "the Albanian language is one of the ten oldest languages of the world". Lira, luta, dutari, sharkia, tambura and pandora, along with the mandolln and buzuku are the main musical instruments that were distributed in the Balkan region and beyond over the centuries, instruments that gave life and spirit with dozens of other cord instruments used today in the wider region and the entire European continent, virtual and original instruments of Albanian ancestors, that clearly express their wonderful spirit and explain very well ancientness of Albanians in Eastern Europe and specifically in the Balkans and to throw light on the extent and level of universal primacy of human beings in time and space.

Luta

iftelia

Buzuku