Shkurte Fejza

Shkurte Fejza is a Kosovo Albanian folk singer, born on 18 November 1961 in the village of Mushtisht near Suhareka (Therandë). Over a career of five decades she has become one of the best-known voices of Kosovo's folk music, singing traditional and newly written songs about home, family, emigration and weddings.

She went to primary school in Mushtisht, secondary school in Suhareka and continued her studies in Prizren and Pristina. Her voice was first noticed in school programmes, and in May 1975 she won the award for the most successful debutante at the festival "Takimet e Majit" in Prizren. The same year the cultural society "Afërdita" was founded in Mushtisht; she was a member from its first day and became its emblem. In spring 1979 Television of Pristina filmed the society, and with it she gave hundreds of concerts in the towns and villages of Kosovo.

She sang at the Festival of Gjirokastër in 1978 and, much later, at a world folklore festival in the United States in 1994. In 1984, thanks to Qamili i Vogël, she recorded songs for his albums Bukuroshja and Pranvera, released by Jugoton in Zagreb. She also worked as a teacher at the school in Mushtisht.

Her own albums began with Ç'ke Kosovë që po lëshon za (1987) and Gurrë e shkrepa (1988), followed by Oj Kosovë, oj nana ime (1989), Mbahu nëno mos ke frikë (1990), Kam një lot m'pikon si ar (1992), E kam emrin Kosovar (1997), Të dua Kosovë (2002) and Shqiptari të dua (2005), with two records made together with Shyhrete Behluli. She has worked with composers such as Pjetër Gaci, Zef Çoba, Kolë Susa and Edmond Zhulali, and sung lyrics by Ismail Kadare and Dritëro Agolli. Among her best-known songs are "Moj syzeza", "Erdha nga qyteti", "O ky vend i bukur", "Oj Kosovë, oj nana ime" and "Mbahu nëno mos ke frikë".

In 2013 the President of Albania gave her the honorary title "Mjeshtër i Madh" (Great Master). On 8 June 2024 she marked fifty years on stage with the concert "Shkurte Fejza - 50 Vjet Zëri i Kombit" at the Palace of Youth and Sports in Pristina, sung completely live with a harmony orchestra of more than forty musicians and free for everyone. In recent years she has often recorded together with Gresa Behluli, and she shared a medley of folk songs with Remzie Osmani, who grew up in the same village.