Skip to main content

Solidarity

Many of you are unable to enjoy the full Tirana power cut experience. Not only does sections of the city descend into darkness - though, mysteriously, there are always a number of random buildings that don't seem to be affected - but there is also the aural experience; the Tirana symphony of rows of generators running at the same time.

When I was out walking a few nights ago, I decided to try to record the sound of one of the many generators on my phone. I managed to convert this to a five second MP3 file. So I am pleased to announce this new Tirana ring tone is available for your use here. Just click on download, enter the given code and hit 'get'. Use it for your ringtone, message tone or any way you want in solidarity with the good people of Albania.

I don't know much about these kind of files, so the quality is not great. If any of you know better how to improve it, feel free to do so and either send it back to me or put it on Wiki Upload and send me the link.

This particular generator is from Franco's cafe on Rr Komuna e Parisit.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If only there was some way to also capture the fragrance of so many generators running at once.

I always appreciate opportunities to show solidarity with the good people of Tirana.
4:28 pm
Anonymous said…
Perhaps if they would gather all of Tirana's generators in one (remote) spot and wire them all up, they would generate enough for the whole city to enjoy continuous electricity. Saves the costs of building a new power plant.
5:59 am
olli said…
hm, maybe there is a gap in the market for a Tirana scratch 'n' sniff card with a variety of distinctive Tirana smells.

Brilliant idea Jeroen. Maybe you should suggest it to Rama and Olldashi and see if they make it into a campaign promise.
8:38 am
Anonymous said…
scratch-n-sniff...might i also suggest "internet cafe"?
3:08 pm
bryan-in-greece said…
Was it the Two Ronnies (Corbett and Barker) who initially mooted the idea of Smellyvison, whereby a TV could emit the smells associated with what the viewer was seeing on the screen? Surely the web and modern technology can indeed reproduce this? If we can blithely buy hugely over-priced inkjet cartridges to print what we see on the web (has anyone worked out quite how much a 19ml black ink cartridge costs per litre??? - It is around EUR1000 a litre...) then surely we can produce and splash out on a "ponkjet cartridge" which will let us *smell* what we are seeing on the web! :-)

Just a thought!!!
1:39 am
Anonymous said…
you albanian, american what........
12:47 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dy Rame Per Tirane

I was watching Top Channel last night, first the news, then Fiks Fare. According to them Tirana's citizens now have a choice not only between Rama and Olldashi, but also between Rama and Rama. A minor right-wing faction, Parti 'Balli Kombetar' , submitted papers to the election authorities registering their candidate, Akile Rama. The people on Fiks Fare got hold of the papers and sent a reporter and camera team to the address listed for Mr A Rama. After much ringing of the bell the gate was reluctantly opened by a middle-aged woman who refused to speak to the reporter and tried to close the gate on her. Back in the studio Saimiri and Doctori - the two presenters of Fiks Fare - revealed that Mr Akile Rama was 73 years old, in hospital, and did not know he was now a candidate for mayor. They also compared two documents - the papers submitted on his behalf, and a genuine document he had signed. The signatures were not even remotely similar. There was an interview with the lea
4 comments
Read more

Guide Turistike

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council , the future is bright for Albania. The Council ranks Albania ninth out of 174 countries for tourism growth over the next ten years. A summary of the Council's report is available, as is the full report complete with many pages of graphs, charts and spreadsheets. This summer I have seen a number of tourists on the streets of Tirana. Some of them may well be Albanian expats, or people of Albanian descent returning home to visit family, but others are genuine 'foreigners'. Judging from their appearance, they are probably best described as 'independent travellers' - the kind of people who are not interested in luxury hotels or crowded beaches. This is a good start, but independent travellers are not the kind of big spenders that the tourist industry likes. In the longer term, if Albania wants to bring in the kind of free-spending tourists who currently holiday in Croatia or Slovenia, there will have to be a huge invest
13 comments
Read more

Big in Albania

Ask me how much I knew about Albania before coming here and my list would be a short one: Enver Hoxha, bunkers and Sir Norman Wisdom. I have no idea when or how I acquired this extensive body of knowledge, but the association of Norman Wisdom with Albania was by far the most interesting part of it. I remember watching Norman Wisdom's old films on British television. My parents were fans of his wholesome, slapstick comedy, but apparently missed the ideological significance of Pitkin's relationship with Mr Grimsdale. Pitkin, the downtrodden and oppressed representative of the workers, triumphed every time over his capitalist oppressor, Mr Grimsdale - and he got the girl. It took a theorist of Hoxha's insight and profundity to discern this deeper political message. It always seemed tremendously unlikely, yet the story of Sir Norman's fame in Albania has been reported in worthy sources like the BBC , the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph . According to the Guardian, when Wi
22 comments
Read more