Drita Albanian Folk Orchestra is an Albanian folk orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It was established in 1982 by Ian Price and presents to the American audience traditional Albanian music. The orchestra uses instruments common in Albanian folk music and may include the Albanian

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, violin, tambourine, Lahutë,

Çifteli The çifteli (çiftelia, qifteli or qyfteli , sq, "doubled" or "double stringed") is a plucked string instrument, with only two strings, played mainly by the Albanians of northern and central Albania, Southern Montenegro, parts of North Macedon ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, pipes and

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

etc. The word, "drita," means "light" in the

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

language, and does have that meaning in the group's name. The orchestra has performed concerts in Los Angeles, San Diego,

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, Chicago and New York City.

Group

* Linda Levin * Letitia Lucca * Sue Rudnicki * Rob Stokes * Joe Carson * Ian Price

References

Official site
{{authority control Albanian-American history American orchestras European-American culture in Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in California