Vaçe Zela, singer, People’s Artist, passed away in Basel, Switzerland. She was born in Lushnja, in 1939. She studied acting at the Higher Institute of Arts (1962). She started working as a singer in the People’s Army Estrada and then in the Tirana Variety Theatre, where she laid the foundations as a performer of light music. In the 1st Song Festival on Radiotelevision (1962) she displayed the qualities of outstanding originality, which put the seal to all her later interpretations. In 1967, she joined the State Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances, in Tirana, where she made a significant contribution to the interpretation of folk music throughout the country. At that time, she was formed as a singer of great proportions. Vaçe Zela stood out for her vocal freedom and richness of expression, her innate and cultivated abilities over years of artistic interpretation, musicality, versatility, and vocal power, as well as her high artistic mastery. She created a broad and rich repertoire in the field of both Albanian and foreign light music, as well as in traditional and processed folk music, representing the highest levels and the most emancipatory spirit of song interpretation. This was especially expressed in songs such as: “Valsi i lumturisë” (“The waltz of happiness”), “Trëndelinë”, “Gjyshes” (“To grandma”), “Mesnatë” (“Midnight”), “Moj e bukura More” (“Oh, my Beautiful Morea”) etc. She has received awards and medals among the highest. She was decorated with the “Honour of the Nation” order. (In the photo: Vaçe Zela)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2984.
Photo: © https://www.teksteshqip.com/vace-zela/biografia
Graphic processing: AHCF
