Laureate of "Niketë Dardani", Zeqirja Ballata: Our society needs to cherish the creators in the field of music

In a ceremony organized in the office of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kujtim Gashi was awarded the National Prize for Life’s Work "Niketë Dardani" and other annual prizes for music for 2017.

Minister Kujtim Gashi said that awarding of prizes to the creators in the field of music is done in order to encourage the promotion of values and increase the creativity. The Minister congratulated the laureates for their work and through it the advancement of artistic music and its empowerment.

The Minister stressed that "as a Ministry we are extremely happy to have such working people, who constantly create and as a result the ministry naturally organizes such special moments for awarding the prizes and rewards according to the jury’s evaluation", praising also the work of the jury which has evaluated the works that have competed.

On behalf of the jury, which was composed by Valton Beqiri, Baki Jashari and Dinor Zymberaj, spoke the composer Beqiri. The National Prize for Life’s Work "Nicholas Dardani" was awarded to the composer Zeqirja Ballata and according to the Regulation on the awarding of prizes for music, the prize is accompanied by a financial reward of five thousand Euros.

The prize for the vocal-instrumental and musical-stage works were awarded to the composer Kreshnik Aliçkaj for the work "Beyond War and Peace", in the financial value of four thousand Euros. The award for orchestral-symphonic and concert works was awarded to the composer Dafina Zeqiri for the work "Concert for piano and orchestra" in a value of three thousand Euros. The prize for the chamber work was awarded to the composer Mendi Mengjiqi for the work "String Quartet no. 4 "and was rewarded with two thousand Euros. The prize for choral works was given to the composer Rafet Rudi for the "The sea of open tombs" for guitar and choir and along with the prize also the financial reward in the value of one thousand Euros. Meanwhile, the prize for solo works and duo will not be awarded as there were no competing works of this genre in this category.

The Laureate Ballata thanked Minister Gashi, the MCYS and Jury for evaluation and the award. "I feel very good, with pleasant feelings that we are here together with my youngest colleagues with whom we have worked together for many years", said the composer, stressing that our society needs to cherish the creators in the field of music.

The winners of other prizes considered that the evaluation regarding their works is an institutional acknowledgement and encouragement to work even more in the music creativity.