Simaku and the Order of the Audience

The past month in the Albanian universe has been saturated with nostalgia and contemplations of ethnic pride, legacy, and representation. As we process the aftermath of what was arguably the first musically accomplished national festival in recent memory, it’s imperative to examine the broader landscape of the Albanian audience, especially in light of recent revelations regarding the lifestyle of beloved music icons. Since the thoughts on my favorite Post-Immigrant Pop duo can marinade for future issues, we must address a more perpetual matter. The recent discovery of beloved star Parashqevi Simaku living unhoused in Manhattan sparked various reactions - genuine concern for her health, deliberations about her cultural legacy, and inevitably, opportunistic agenda-pushing, limelight-seeking, half-baked articles by journalists that think visiting New York on a tourist visa with a camera operator qualifies them as diaspora experts. Through this cascade of reactions and commentary, familiar patterns that I had previously dismissed as personal biases re-emerged: Albanian journalists display an extraordinary sense of entitlement, and more critically, the Albanian audience diminishes and belittles performers in a unique way.

Despite the possibility of excellent journalism, most Albanian outlets prioritize shock-value over integrity. I am baffled at the outrageous demand for interviewees to adopt perfect literary Albanian, as asked of Simaku in the early 2000s. This linguistic tall order is presumptuous and disrespectful - no one owes such ‘code-switching’ accommodation to anyone, especially during the time they are exercising their professional duties. I ‘perceive’ all the journalists making fun of immigrants as having the same rhyming first name and voice. The more complex issue lies in how Albanian audiences interact with performers. While international audiences - be they intoxicated lads in the UK or culturally myopic New Yorkers - present their own challenges, they generally maintain a baseline respect for the performer’s craft and time. In contrast, the Albanian audience operates on a distorted economic model of enjoyment - performers are expected to show gratitude merely for the opportunity to perform, creating an inverted power dynamic that they cannot possibly break even from. The standard entertainment contract is straightforward: patrons pay for entertainment, receive it, and the transaction concludes. Performers may offer free promotional content to drive engagement, but the audience’s investment remains their personal choice: to promote, support financially, or disengage.In the Albanian context, however, the audience’s attention creates perceived entitlements. Their emotional investment is viewed as equal to financial support, placing the artist in perpetual debt to the public sentiment. Performers often find themselves responsible for managing the audience’s feelings and sense of pride. This parasocial dynamic limits the freedom to make good art.

In a society where emotional expression was long suppressed, the mere act of expressing feelings has become a form of currency. This creates a dynamic where entertainers are expected to subsist on emotional currency alone. When feelings compete with entertainment economics, it generates a cognitive dissonance that feeds our cynical tendencies, resulting in a landscape populated by affluent people we cannot stand and beloved artists that starve - a fundamental misalignment. This arrangement mirrors a toxic relationship where emotional currency is expected to sustain material needs. The intoxicating love, admiration and infringement of privacy is expected to sufficiently sustain someone already scarred by them. As we consider mental well-being in our cultural sphere, let’s agree that it is not healthy to use the cause of your illness to pay for its remedy. To end on a happier note, I’ve finally found an Albanian I may get to understand: Parashqevi Simaku. If a twenty something failed part-time comedian and engineering researcher can find understanding through an eternal diva and legendary performer like Simaku, maybe there is some hope of figuring each-other out. One down, about 8.5 mln to go. Baby steps.

This blog post explores the absurd hypocrisy of Albania’s art scene.