Nijazi Bytyqi

Nijazi Bytyqi was an Albanian singer, songwriter and guitarist from Prizren, Kosovo, and that is why he is on Muzika-Balkan: he was born in Prizren in 1946 and his bands were Prizren bands. He died on 3 March 2018. He sang in Albanian and also in Turkish.

In the 1970s he led Marimangat (Marimanga), a Kosovo rock band, and a second group, Luniaz, later known as Lunijazët, which was founded in Prizren in 1973 and was active until 1977. Its first line-up was Luljeta Çeku, Nijazi Bytyqi and Aziz Basha, and its usual line-up Bytyqi with Aziz and Orliq Basha; Bujar Turtulla also played with them. Bytyqi and Orliq Basha wrote most of the songs, a mix of acoustic, folk and pop.

Lunijazët sang several times at Akordet e Kosovës in Pristina, including the 1977 edition in Gjakova, and at the Rinia '75 youth festival in Subotica, and they played student evenings in Pristina and dances and hotel nights in Prizren. In 1977 Jugoton released the single "Beni unutma" / "Bir sevgilim var" by Nijazi Bytyqi and Lunijazët, two of his own songs in Turkish. Many other songs were recorded but never released on record at the time, among them "Venera", "Një letër ta shkrova", "Flutura", "Tereza" and "Karagözlüm". A collection, Eja e dashur, followed in 1999. He also recorded with Therandosët.

He is remembered for "Eja e dashur", "Venera", "Flutura" and "Një letër ta shkrova". The playlist gathers his recordings with Marimangat, Lunijazët and Therandosët, from "Oh, Barcelona" and "Qetësi" to "Moj Zoge" with Luljeta Çeku.