Kosovo, Vinicio Capossela performs at the Peja Jazz Festival

Kosovo, Vinicio Capossela performs at the Peja Jazz Festival Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter (and writer) Vinicio Capossela is due to perform on the closing day of the "Peja Jazz Festival" on Tuesday, 8 November ​in Peja, a city in the Western region of Kosovo. The concert, which has been made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Embassy in Pristina and the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana as part of the integrated promotion project "The Italian Way of Life" is scheduled to take place at at 8:00 p.m. at the "Jusuf Gërvalla" Cinema (Hasan Prishtina 73, Peja). Prior to the Kosovo concert and again thanks to the support of the Farnesina, Capossela will be performing in Belgrade (2 November), Shkodra (4 November), Tirana (6 November). To complete what he calls his "Balkangiro" - Balkan Tour, Capossela will be on stage in Skopje (9 November).

"This is an Autumn trip I have been longing for and fantasizing about for many years, twenty-six to be exact, that is the years that have elapsed since I made my first trip to what was then called Yugoslavia. It was like a world that conversed with my childhood, a mirror-world across the Adriatic. A quarter of a century later, it is as if on the opposite shore of the sea that separates Italy from the Balkans the untamed part of my heart continues to beat," Capossela said. "Moreover, playing in Kosovo has a special significance.There are the scars of History that have marked and continue to mark this country, which nevertheless looks ahead and dreams of Europe, where it deserves to be with the richness of its culture that is at a crossroads of multiple traditions. My music is also a bit like that: it resonates with Italian opera, swing, mythological rock, rural traditions, spurious Dionysian Mediterranean, but also a little Balkan 'turbofolk,'" he said.

Victor Herrero (guitars), Andrea Lamacchia (double bass), Giovannangelo De Gennaro (viella and aulophones) and Vincenzo Vasi (theremin, percussion) are the musicians accompanying the Italian artist on this trip.

"We are particularly happy to have Vinicio Capossela in Kosovo and in Peja in particular, for at least two reasons. First because, through his production, he has always shown a special closeness to the Balkans and his style and folk sounds echo many elements of the musical traditions of this region. Secondly, because Kosovo and in a special way the city of Peja have always held strong ties with Italy, a country that since the end of the war has played an active role in the peacekeeping mission holding the KFOR Regional Command. Capossela will find in the people of Kosovo the home-country he pays homage to in his songs: that of the humble, of people who are always resourceful and know how to be generous," said the Ambassador of Italy in Pristina, Antonello De Riu, and the Director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Tirana, Alessandro Ruggera.