Nexhmije Pagarusha

Nexhmije Pagarusha was an Albanian singer and actress from Kosovo, born on 7 May 1933 in the village of Pagarusha near Malisheva. She sang Albanian folk songs and classical music, opera above all, and in Kosovo she was known as the "Nightingale of Albanian Song" (Bilbili i Këngës Shqipe), the queen of Albanian music and, later, the "Singer of the Century".

After primary school in Malisheva she studied solo singing for three years at a music school in Belgrade, where she also first stood on a stage, and in 1948 she was taken on as a soloist at Radio Pristina. With the ensemble Shota she toured Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Israel. She also gave what was described as the first concert of its kind, singing works by Beethoven, Puccini and Verdi in Albanian translation; it was never recorded.

Her career lasted about 36 years, and experts estimate that she sang more than 150 songs, many of them never documented. The best known is "Baresha" (The Shepherdess), with music by her husband Rexho Mulliqi and words by the poet Rifat Kukaj, a song Wikipedia calls a crown jewel of Albanian music. Among her other well-known songs are "Ani mori nuse", "Kur më del në derë", "Ke selvitë", "Dallëndyshe", "Një lule" and "Zambaku i Prizrenit".

She also acted, in films from Makedonska krvava svadba (1967) to I ikuri (1980), Tre vetë kapërcejnë malin (1981) and Vrasësit bëjnë dasmë natën (1997). In 1984 she ended her singing career with a big concert in Sarajevo. Sixteen years later, in 2000, Ardit Gjebrea persuaded her to return, and she sang "Për ty" on his television show.

In 2005 she sat on the jury of Kënga Magjike, and she later worked as a senior music adviser at Radio Kosova and Radio Blue Sky in Pristina. In November 2012 the President of Albania, Bujar Nishani, awarded her the Honour of the Nation. Nexhmije Pagarusha died on 7 February 2020 in Pristina, at the age of 86.