Tefta Tashko (Koço), lyric soprano, People’s Artist, was born in Faiyum, Egypt. She was born in the family of the patriot Athanas Tashko. Her family settled in Korça in 1921. In 1927, she began her singing studies in Montpellier (France) and continued in Paris, at the National Conservatory of Music and Declamation. In the years 1931-1932, she participated in the competitions organized by the Paris Conservatory, from the “Comic Opera”, where she debuted in the role of Butterfly in Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly”. In 1933 she returned to her homeland. She joined the artistic group directed by the pianist Lola (Aleksi) Gjoka and in 1935 she started to debut with this group. She gave very successful concerts in Tirana, Durrës, Korçë, Kavajë, Shkodër, Elbasan, Fier, Vlorë. By the press of the time, they were considered European level and were greeted by the country’s intellectual elite. She participated in the first concert of lyrical artists, organized on the occasion of the country’s liberation (December 1944). As a participant of the group of artists located near the State Dramatic Theatre, she gave a large number of performances in cities and villages of the country. In 1945, at the invitation of the Belgrade Opera and Ballet Theatre, she sang the roles of Rozina and Mimi in the operas “The Barber of Seville” (Rosini) and “Bohema” (Puccini), which according to press reviews, she performed as an artist of high rank. With the opening of the first music school in Albania (1946), Tefta Tashko began to teach canto, which she interrupted due to a severe incurable illness. Together with the participants of the group of artists, Tefta Tashko is the initiator of the art of professional Albanian interpretation. It stood out for the high level of interpretation, both of the classical vocal parts and of elaborated and stylized folk songs, such as “Kroi i fshatit tone“, “Asaman, oh syri i zi“, “Fryn veriu ne mal te thyte” “, “Kur me vjen burri na stani“, “Ç’u gremisa moj lajthatë“, etc. Tefta Tashko had a voice of first-class timbral quality, with a full soprano range, a vocal flexibility that allowed her to realize a rich dynamic and variety of vocal styles. Its subtle interpretative nuances, especially those of folk songs, have left a visible mark on the tradition of Albanian lyrical singing. She passed away in 1947. (In the photo: Tefta Tashko)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2660-2661.
Photo: © https://perpjekjashqiptare.com/in-memoria-tefta-tashko-koco/
Graphic processing: AHCF
