Some Values of the First Folklore Work with Scientific Criteria (“Songs and Cries from the Scorched Town”, of Mitrush Kuteli, Pogradec, 1944)

Abstract

Mitrush Kuteli’s composition consists of many areas of activity. He is not only known as a prose writer with stories and novels, as a researcher (critic), translator, journalist and publicist, an activist for national cause with newspapers and magazines “Bota letrare” (the World of Literature), “Shqipëria e re” (New Albania) etc., as one of the founders of the Writers’ League of Albania, as leader of the Albanian students in Romania, folklorist and poet, but also as a prominent economist. As a folklorist he published “Songs and cries from the scorched town", “Places of exodus in folk songs” (study), “Albanian folk proverbs” (Romanian), a collection of 140 folk songs, “Ancient Albanian Tales”, “Xinxifilua” and other tales, a text on folklore for high schools of Tirana, etc.Our analytical target is Mitrush Kuteli’s work “Songs and cries from the scorched town” published in 1944, is a collection of oral songs collected in the region of Pogradec. The songs of the book in question are equipped with appropriate biographical notes of the subjects from whom the songs were recorded. This work is considered as the first folklore work with scientific criteria. We need to emphasis that the work has been forgotten not because of the lack of values, but because of the communist political ideology in Albania.We will concentrate on the XIX circle of the work named cries, it is noteworthy that the term “cries” (brithma) was used for the first time to describe children’s songs in Albanian folklore by Kuteli. The songs are on the last pages of the book (p. 127-148) with a total of 70 cries.

Keywords: Mmitrush Kuteli, folklore subjects, scientific criteria, cries, collectors, researchers, folklorists, subjects

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/72-06

Publication date:October 31^st 2020