Lola Gjoka (1910-1985)
Pianist. “People’s Artist”
Since the beginning of the last century, when the tradition of cultivated Albanian music took its first steps, along with many personalities of the time, the help of the first Albanian instrumentalist, the pianist Lola Gjoka (Aleksi) “People`s Artist”.
Her personality becomes even more valuable not only as the first professional instrumentalist in the history for our national musical culture, but also as the warrior who, amidst the fog of centuries-old backwardness that prevailed in semi-feudal Albania at the beginning of the 20th century, became a symbol of progress and emancipation. for all Albanian women.
The great artist Lola Gjoka, with her talent and activity, inspired and attracted dozens of young people to the path of musical art, especially piano, becoming the guide of the Albanian piano school, together with the pianist Tonin Guraziu “People’s Artist”. 
She was born in Sevastopol, Russia, on May 26, 1910, in a family of Albanian immigrants, originally from the city of Korça. Finished high school in his hometown, where he studied piano and dance in Karallova’s class. She returned to his homeland, in Korçë, in 1932, where together with Jorgjia Truja, Thoma Bezhanin, and Llambi Turtulli, debuted in the first professional concert, in the cinema “Majestik” in Korçë. In the years 1933-1934, she performed a series of concerts as a soloist and concertmaster of the singers Tefta Tashko Koço, Kristaq Antoniu, Marie Kraja, Kristo Koço and Mihal Ciko.
She was awarded a certificate of honor at the piano competition in Vienna, Austria, in 1933, where she stands out for her debut and that same year, she was appointed by Hilë Mosi as a piano and dance teacher at the “Queen Mother” Women’s Institute in Tirana. She finished her higher studies as a concert pianist in Athens with the highest marks. Together with Tefta Tashko Koço, Jorgjie Truja and Marie Kraja, she participates in the Florence Fair as representatives of Albanian art in 1938. Lola Gjoka is one of the first piano teachers of the first Albanian music school, the Artistic High School.
In 1953, she was appointed concertmaster of the lyrical group in the newly created Albanian Philharmonic, where she contributed to the staging of many works of world culture and as an actor/director. After the opening of the Opera House, it played an important artistic role in the wide operatic repertoire of that time. With the opening of the Tirana Conservatory, in 1962 she was appointed piano teacher and concertmaster of the canto specialty classes, not devoting herself to concert activity abroad, such as in Russia, China, Hungary, Cuba, etc.
Received the title of “Honored Artist” for her merits as an artist and artistic activist in 1966 and the title of “People’s Artist” in 1978, for her outstanding activities as a pianist and folk song editor. Pianist Lola Gjoka is one of the multidimensional figures in the history of our musical art, because she has played an important role in the consolidation of the first artistic institutions, working with dedication in parallel also in the formation of new artists. She also helped in the translation of the first two operas, “Rusalka” and “Ivani Susanin”. Wealth and love for vocal music, and in particular for folk songs, has always nourished her creative spirit. With the elegance and temperament that characterized her, she created and performed the Suite for piano and string orchestra for the Concerts of May 1978. But of course, the most precious treasure she left us is the book “50 processed songs”, published after her death.
She died on October 6, 1985 in Tirana. An award for young pianists in Albania is named after her.
The echo of art and her help in the service of the Motherland and culture national, as well as many other reasons, have inspired Prof. Hamide Stringa to undertake the realization of the monograph “A life on the keyboard”, dedicated to the “People’s Artist” Lola Gjoka (Aleksi), a work that is being reprinted for the wide readership as a well-deserved re-evaluation of this outstanding personality of our music.
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Albanian Cinematography since 2013
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