“The people need bread, not art” / The famous Albanian artist who was given only 17,000 lekë as a pension by the state

Dash Shehi has shared the story of the great composer Aleksandër Lalo, to show how little artists in Albania are valued by the state.

“Corruption worth millions is happening. Billions are disappearing.

Aleksandër Lalo, who was a friend of mine, used to say a couple of things about art.

Once I asked him, ‘Sandër, are you doing anything?’

He said, ‘No, Dash.’

‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’

He said: music is like fruit, it is eaten after bread. This people needs bread.

He retired. I asked him how much his pension was.

He said: I get 167,000 old lek. He said I had done 167 hours of music.

That comes out to 1,000 lek per hour of music.

It’s almost funny, a composer who created music.

That was a statement that says a lot. That’s why public funds for art need to be increased, and not only that, but the cultural space needs to be expanded.

In schools, education should start so that children learn to love art. They should be interested in art, because they are the future audience of the artist.

They are the consumers who will pay for cinema tickets, theatre tickets, and concert tickets,” he said.

“KORÇA BOOM”