Vallja e shotës or Shota (for short)
Everybody who has seen shows by the professional ensembles from former Yugoslavia will recognize this dance and the tune to it, presented as “Shota”, a dance from the Albanian people from the so-called autonomous province of Kosovo, part of the Serbian republic at that time.
Ensembles like Tanec from Macedonia and Kolo from Serbia presented this dance in a choreography in their shows, which was copied also by many amateur groups within and outside former Yugoslavia. The choreography comes from the professional ensemble “Shota” from Prishtina.
It is an idyllic dance for a girl and a boy, showing their interest in each other. At first the girl is teasing the boy, then the boy shows as though he is not interested in her, but in the end the boy receives the scarf of the girl, showing her love for him and sometimes the girl receives the scarf of the boy in return.
The proper Albanian name of this dance is Vallja e shotës, meaning the dance of the duck. Shota in Kosovo dialect is the name for the wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos). It might be clear, considering the movements and the lyrics to the song that it’s all about the mating ritual of the wild duck, flapping wings, etcetera.
These are the lyrics and translation:
SHOTA
Hajde shote marshalla flutoro me krah(x2),
Luje luje shtatin eh ta fala sahatin eh(x2),
Hajde shote nga Malesia fer fer fer pot ban shamia(x2),
Luje luje doren oh, ta fala kunoren oh(x2),
Luje luje gishtin oh se ma dogje shpirtin oh(x2).
Translation :
Come on shote “marshallah” fly with the wings(x2),
Move, move your body, I give you the watch (x2),
Come on shote from the highland your handkerchief is waving (x2),
Move, move your hand oh, I give you the crown (x2)
Move, move your finger oh you burned my soul (x2).
Or a variant:
Hajde shoto mashalla fluturo me krah
luj shoto luj diten ta paguaj
Si po e dridh belin shohin keta sy
si po digjet trupi o vetem per Ty..
sonte do te dehesh jo nga merzia
as nga rakiapo buzet e mia ..
Translation:
Come on shoto (you're) wonderful, stretch your arms out and fly
dance shoto dance, I'll pay for the day
how you’re shaking your waste, my eyes are watching
how the body is burning up, only for you
tonight you'll get drunk, not from misery
not from the brandy, but from my lips
as mentioned by Ramazan Bogdani:
Hajde, shot-o, mashalla,
Fluturo me krah, (fly with the wings)
Luj, shot-o, luj, (play(dance), shot-o play (dance))
Ditën tya paquj! ( I will pay you the day)
Hajde, shot-o, nëpër ara. (in the field)
Dimi te kuqe, lule t’bardha (Trousers red, white flower)
Hajde, shot-o, nëpër therra. ( in the thorns)
Dimi te kuqe, lule t’verdha (trousers red, yellow flowers)
Luj, shot-o, luj,
Ditën ta paguj.
As the dance and tune became more popular also the historical background of the dance and tune changed, due to the lack of knowledge about the origin.
The dance and tune “Shota” is often related to the Kosovar female freedom fighter Shota Galicës, wife of the freedom fighter Azem Betem Galicës. For Kosovo and Albania she has a status as one of the people who fought for independence of the Albanians in the year 1919 and onwards and was declared a "People's Heroin" by the Albanian government after WWII. Despite the rules of the Kanun, she dressed up as a man and fought alongside her husband in the struggle against the Turkish and Serbians. There are stories about the monstrosities she would have accomplished on Serbian and Turkish people, in particular the story of having burned alive Serbian children, although the rule was not to engage on unarmed civilians of whatever nationality.
“Shota” was also a nickname for her, as her real name was Qerime Radisheva (1895 – 1927)
Due to this declaration the lyrics in the socialist people’s Republic of Albania changed by adding a line to relate Shota to the freedom fight of Skenderbeu in the 15th century against the Turkish invasion in Albania. This is the line and translation :
1.*[Shota e Azemit, Besa e Skenderit oh(x2)],
1. * [Shota of Azem, the oath of Skender (x2)],
Of course the idyllic setting of the dance has nothing to do with freedom fighting, but the story goes on. Among the Serbians in Kosovo and in the region of Vranje, the Shota dance is well-known and presented in wedding parties, despite the proposed connection to Shota Galicës. Regarding this it is not strange to find Serbian and Macedonian versions of the song and music, like the ones presented by the Roma singer Esma Redzepova and Milena Markovic (Sote, mori Sote; Diskos NDK 4567).
There is no relationship between the freedom fighter Shota Galicës, although some people within Albania and Kosovo think it actually is related, based on political issues. Foreigners also might have got the impression as they might have mixed up the name Shota Galicës with the dance Shota, not aware of the actual name in Albanian Vallja e shotës.
As presented by ensembles like Tanec and Kolo the dance is often classified by outsiders as a “çoçek” style dance, which it is not.
“Çoçek” dances are typical Roma dances, while “shota” is a typical Albanian dance. This assumption of being a “çoçek” dance is just based on the solo dancing and the movements. Both solo dancing and the movements are common for the northern Albanian and Kosovar dances, and have nothing in common with the Roma çoçek dances. The characteristic of the northern Albanian and Kosovar dances is often solo dancing with intricate movements of arms and hands. Without knowledge of the common dances from these regions the closest comparison might be with the Roma çoçek dances from neighboring countries, which became part of the traditional spectrum in these regions, due to the influence of Roma musicians replacing the local traditional musicians.
Isn’t çoçek danced in the Albanian regions? Yes, Albanian people also dance çoçek as their neighbors do when Roma musicians play to dance. But it is not the same as the Shota dance or tune.
Prof. Ramazan H. Bogdani on his “expedition” in Kosovo as published in his book “Vallëzimi popullor Shqiptar : Lirika”, 1997, describes several variations to the dance “Vallja e shotës” (page 318 etc). The first one is the regular well-known one boy-one girl version on which the Ensemble Shota based its choreography. The second one is a group dance with a group of 6 girls, the third one a couple dance for two men, the fourth one a version of two girls dancing together. The observations by Ramazan Bogdani date back to 1972, 1979 and 1980 in the villages of Kosavë, Shajne, Radavc and Isniq. In those years the dance was already popular within former Yugoslavia, so it is not sure that these variations show the original form of the dance or an adapted version from the popular choreography by Shota.
The whole setting of the dance is quite common to Albanian dances for couples, men and women dancing together without holding each other, but moving around each other as individual dancers.
The question is whether the choreography from the Shota ensemble found its way into the villages or the origin of the dance comes from the villages. A difficult question to answer, looking at the publications about this dance, or rather the lack of proper information.
Some people suppose that the choreography was a sample to show the relationship between man and woman from the socialist point of view, contrary to the gender separation based on Muslim faith in Kosovo. Would a choreographer go beyond the traditional material in order to fulfill this message by creating an non-traditional dance in an ensemble which main purpose was to show the traditions of their region? How would the dancers have reacted to such a non-traditional behavior? It seems obvious that this is not the case and that the dance is a traditional one, coming forth from the cultural heritage of the Kosovar people.
The professional ensemble Shota came forth from the amateur group Shota established in 1948 and became a professional one in 1964. The name of the ensemble was taken from the dance Vallja e shotës, Shota for short and was not related to Shota Galicës. Another amateur ensemble from Drenas in Kosovo is named clearly “Shote Galica”, established in 1968. If the name of the ensemble Shota would have had any connection with the freedom fighter Shota Galicës it would never have been approved by the Yugoslavian government to become a professional ensemble, subsided by that same government. If the name “Shota” is indeed related to Shota Galicës the management of the ensemble perfectly hid this relation, which everybody involved would deny…
Now the ensemble has a brand new building of their own in Prishtina with offices, rehearsal room, fully equipped to meet the standards of a professional ensemble.
The dance and tune will continue to exist, despite political or historical issues.
