ALBANIA: WELL KNOWN KOSOVAN FOLK SINGERS 'THE MUSTAFA SISTERS' FACING UP TO LIFE AS REFUGEES IN ALBANIAN TOWN OF KUKES

Record ID: 857118

  • Title: ALBANIA: WELL KNOWN KOSOVAN FOLK SINGERS 'THE MUSTAFA SISTERS' FACING UP TO LIFE AS REFUGEES IN ALBANIAN TOWN OF KUKES
  • Date: 27th April 1999
  • Summary: VARIOUS SAHIDE AND ELHAME MUSTAFA SINGING SONG ABOUT KOSOVO (10 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 12th May 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUKES, ALBANIA
  • City:
  • Country: Albania
  • Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA8ZVWFM95SJTUV9XG6M779MWKL
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A few weeks ago the Mustafa sisters could scarcely walk down a street in Kosovo without being mobbed by fans of their particular brand of Kosovo folk music.Now they are in a cramped apartment in the Albanian border town of Kukes and croon sad songs about the home they were forced to flee along with hundreds of thousands of other refugees from the southern Serbian province.
    Sahide Mustafe and her sister Elhame are among Kosovo's best-known musicians, feted wherever they perform and mobbed by fans even when they go shopping.
    Their talent has earned them music awards, record contracts and a comfortable lifestyle for their family but all that appears in ruins as they face up to life as refugees.
    The Mustafa sisters hail from a village near Prizren, around 30 km (20 miles) north of the Albanian border in an area which for centuries has been a heartland for Kosovo nationalists fighting for an independent homeland.
    They were born to a musical family, their mother was a popular singer in her youth and they swiftly learned how to play the qifteli and other traditional instruments.They were child stars who matured into popular adult performers.
    But for the Serb authorities who rule Kosovo, their music was also seen as an anthem for the nationalism they have been brutally trying to suppress.
    "Things started becoming worse for us.A few weeks ago my sister was stopped by a policeman in her car and then taken to the police station until early in the morning," said Sahide.
    "They wanted me to explain what I was singing," said Elhame."They wanted to know why I was singing about Kosovo."
    On March 11 they were ordered out of their home by Serb police and told to go to Albania.
    Their parents moved to relatives in the countryside, they have had no word of them since but the sisters joined a convoy of thousands of other ethnic Albanians being evicted from their homes and crossed the border on foot on March 28 with no idea what to do next.
    Their fame was their fortune.
    As they tramped towards Kukes, an Albanian women recognised them and introduced herself as "our biggest fan".
    She invited them to her home, and they have stayed with her ever since.
    Sahide said "We have been very welcome by people here but one day we hope to get back to our homes even if they are burnt, its better to go back there."
    Elhame said she works as a nurse at the refugee camp "to help my people have a normal life."
    On Tuesday (April 27) they sat in the living room of her modest apartment, strumming a qifteli, a two-stringed, long-necked guitar-like instrument and practising for performances they fear they may never give again.
    "Land of Kosovo, our homeland, we are your sons and you are our mother," they sang, the words to their most popular hit."Land of Kosovo, you have suffered a lot.
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