Zef Deda, “Comrade Xhemal`s Brother-in-law” | The Actor and the Caracter!

ZEF DEDA, “COMRADE XHEMAL`S BROTHER-IN-LAW” | THE ACTOR AND THE CHARACTER!

It came from the pen of master Paulin Selimi, who has a great merit in general for writing humorous materials for Shkodra’s variety show, “Comrade Xhemal`s Brother-in-lawl” is one of the most successful parts for the actor Zef Deda and is undoubtedly a high-level achievement, the height of the Albanian mood in contrast to the limitations and the very closed situation of the time.

It was that time when anyone could feel like a nobody if they didn’t have a relative or friend at the top of the power. Life became easier and he even started to caress all those who were lucky enough to be friends with the cousin of a director, the brother-in-law of a minister and so on, a relationship with a powerful man.

We said above “it was” for this phenomenon of our Albanian society, but it can and is even more pronounced and still exists today in 2000 years in the time of freedom and emancipation of democratic societies… but apparently this does not apply to Albanian society, which finds it difficult to overcome such a phenomenon, regardless of the governing systems.

Even today our society is a witness of such “qualifications”, in a certain sense of a system of equations of the first power but without any variable and ultimately to the detriment of this society.

Terrible!

Just like yesterday, even today you feel like a nobody if you are not related to any MP, politician, party member and it is difficult to lead a normal life without being a member of any party. The fever of “Xhemal Katundari” has even caught a part of Albanian artists, the heads of art institutions who have turned these institutions into employment centers, of party sympathizers and militants (who have replaced the role of political commissars of the ALP- that, or to the secretaries of the mother party, the mother from which Albanian pluralism emerged).

Therefore, this humorous piece is a short comedy that never goes out of fashion, but it has whipped and continues to have the same effect in every government system of this Albanian society. “Comrade Xhemal’s brother-in-law” has become today “Mr. Xhemal’s brother-in-law” thanks to the party he represents and the political class, while “Xhemal” himself, regardless of the evolution of society, remains the same, “katundari” (from the country in dialect, saying it figuratively and without wanting to offend anyone class level)

Now let’s return to our column “Actor and Character” and how “Shoku Xhemal katundari” was born.

It is the year 1985.

Paulin Selimi, the great master and first-hand supplier of humor from Shkodra, has written a comic piece and at the same time biting, touching a wound of our society. Writing such a part and then performing it on stage, it goes without saying that it was not easy at all, even worse when it was ironized and turned into a joke, the intellectual class and the party in power, so it had to be covered somehow, otherwise the consequences would to be destructive and experience has shown that many artists have failed.

It was not for nothing that the secretary of the party of the other leadership district of the Committee in Shkoder, after they had become aware of it, had seen and read the material, without wasting time they started tearing it up, removing parts and finally stopping it completely.

In addition to this, some of the actors like Tano Banushi and Zef Deda who had tried to oppose a little, were called to the office for remarks, maybe something more serious. The latter has undeniable proof that the material was not intended against the Party and the government, but on the contrary coincided with a speech delivered by the leader of the time, Enver Hoxha, to the intellectuals in Korce, written in a work that he held in his hand, and Zef Deda was reading it himself. “…the heads of all those servile who want to use every connection for their own purposes with the members of the bureau and the government…”.

After this, everyone who until a few episodes were ready to condemn the actors in question, changed as if by magic, giving permission to this piece.

What was the most difficult was passed.

Now the roles had to be separated, and the rehearsals started so that everything was ready for broadcast by TVSH in the big celebration of the New Year`s Eve.

The role of Loni, the protagonist in this short comedy, was set to be played by the brilliant comedian Zef Deda, but regardless of his well-known skills everywhere in Albania, the one-time rehearsals turned out to be out of the way that this character should be interpreted, single at the age of 40 and who wanted to choose a woman of interest, (Xhemal katundari became Comrade Xhemal?).

After 15 days of tiring rehearsals, everyone was ready for the interpretation of their roles, except for Zefi, who was still not reaching the right level, even though he had actually asked the director for the role himself.

Zef Deda could not sleep. Many questions were in his head. It was an excellent material and the responsibility for Lon’s interpretation was great, so the embodiment of this character had to be presented realistically so that the material as a whole received 100% of the artistic value and merits as it was written with the master by the unforgettable Paulin Selimi.

Currently contracted and seeing that he was surrounded by the heads of Albanian humor such as Tano Banushi, Zyliha Miloti, Drande Xhaj, Besnik Cinari, etc., almost Zef Deda was made to withdraw from this material because he thought he would not achieve this role, even he was ruining the material and getting ready to release the role….he gets up on his feet, angry, half bewildered and begins to speak in a way that he accidentally creates the portrait of the character that he was looking for.

The director and his colleagues present tell him to continue to keep the same attitude, the same movements and facial expressions, except now to accompany them with the text of the given material.

And Zefi continues: “Modern people have backs. The full ear of corn keeps its head down. If I want, I can walk like this….yes, no, mom doesn’t go at all (they had already replaced the words “yes, no, I can’t do this role at all”).

“Hey Xhemal, Xhemal, curse this two-syllable name that separated me from my sister”!

And here the sketch achieves an unimaginable success. After the New Years party, the actor Zef Deda was “smothered” by hugs and congratulations for the interpretation of the protagonist of the role of Loni, which perhaps had never tired and stressed him like no other role before.

Wherever he goes, he is called “brother-in-law of comrade Xhemal”, a name that will always accompany the great comedian.

Exclusivity on this page – July 2020

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