Lola (Aleksi) Gjoka, pianist, People’s Artist, passed away in Tirana. She was born in Sevastopol (Russia), in a family of immigrants originating from Korça, in 1910. She completed her general education in her hometown, where she also started playing music. In 1932, she settled in Albania, where she started her career as a pianist and simultaneously attended the Athens Conservatory (1932-1934) for piano. Her artistic activity as a concert performer and accompanying pianist, as a teacher and as a creator and editor of popular songs (she styled about 50 such songs) continued for over 50 years. She became the initiator of professional interpretation in the country. She helped in the training of young artists (pianists, dancers, singers), starting from 1933 as a piano teacher at the Women’s Institute of Tirana and then among the first pedagogues of the “Jordan Misja” Artistic Lyceum and the Tirana Conservatory. With the establishment of the Theater of Opera and Ballet, she developed continuous activities in the field of operatic interpretation, helping to train lyrical singers. As one of the first processors of the popular song, she played a significant role in the formation of the tradition of performing this song. (In the photo: Lola (Aleksi) Gjoka)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 853-854.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Gjoka
Graphic processing: AHCF
