Robert Bisha made a genius blend of modern music and folklore

The famous pianist Robert Bisha from Albania last night held a concert within the framework of the Ohrid Summer Festival, performing together with the vocal group Iso-polifon Choir.
This exceptionally talented pianist is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist, and on the podium in the church “St. Sophia” he showed his ingenious improvisation of the piano, causing admiration for the audience.

The artist Bisha’s concert was divided into two parts. In the first solo performances, the audience had the opportunity to hear legends.
– The audience had the opportunity to hear legends because they not only draw themes from the tradition, but are also unified in the spirit of the amoderous time. I hope that the compositions themselves have captured the archetype of composing. This project brings with it a typical word, a spirituality that we tried to capture, “said Robert Bisha.

In the second part of the performance in the church “St. Sophia”, the artist performed together with the polyphonic vocal band Iso Poliophon Choir.
– There were elements of jazz, but also of contemporary music, and of course also the processing of folk themes that were in correlation with modern trends. Modern composers in their work always try to create a combination of contemporary music and elements of folk richness. Such a combination was in the second part of the late night concert where there were performances of works accompanied by a piano together with Iso polyphonic choir, clarified pianist Bisha.
The music of Robert Bisha is contemporary, with elements of avant-garde jazz. He played an electric piano, making remixes of original music, implementing the techniques of classical music with contemporary harmony and elements of rich Albanian folklore.



The polyphonic vocal music is still current in Albania, and in 2005 it was declared a masterpiece of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The Albanian “Iso-polifone choir” is the biggest representative of different musical styles in southern Albania. The word “iso” represents the so-called. drone (escort, where a tone or chord repeatedly sounds throughout the composition), which can be singing continuously or rhythmically opposite the rest of the tunes. Such compositions mostly perform male voices of various social events. Traditionally, iso-polyphonic singing from the southern parts of Albania is transmitted “from generation to generation”.