Aurel Qirjo

Aurel Qirjo was born in 1964 in Korça, Albania. He has studied music all his life, becoming a violin teacher in Albania, Greece, and the United Kingdom after directing the symphony orchestra at the Academy of Music in Tirana and Korça. He has absorbed the idiomatic styles of southern Albanian and northern Greek music, being highly influenced by Etem Qerimi. He has recorded two CDs of Epirotic music and participated in multiple festivals across Europe. He received the Grand Prize at the Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival in 2009 for his performance of ‘mirologi’ [i.e. laments] on violin. For the last ten years, he has been living and working in London and has performed on BBC Two TV.