Our Man in Tirana

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...

Albanian blogger Elvis Palku had an interesting announcement on his blog yesterday. He has set up an online bookshop making Albanian language books published here available for Albanians everywhere. There is also a dedicated blog with regular news on the project.

The Washington Post has a lengthy article on the phenomenon of sworn virgins . Elvira Dones , an Albanian born author and journalist has recently made a film on this theme. Also looking at women in Albanian society, Nicole Itano reports for Women's eNews on the experience of Roma women . MSNBC carries an FT report on the problems facing small businesses in Albania trying to cope with hours-long power cuts every day. The report quotes the Prime Minister's claims that Albania has reached a 'turning point' and that within four years the country will be exporting electricity. The Economist has a piece on President Topi . The author believes that the President will support measures to limit the term of office for the Chief Prosecutor, thus dealing with the Sollaku issue. In contrast to the Prime Minister's optimism, the Economist reports that 'plans for private investors to build new power plants are way behind schedule.' Forbes carries an AP story on US attemp...

In the Guardian Benji Lanyado reports on his visit to the Albanian Riviera. More from IPS - an article on Gjirokaster , and one on marketing the remnants of Albania's communist past to tourists. The Times reports on artist Saimir Strati's latest project - a mosaic of a horse made from about one million toothpick. This is a follow up to last year's project, a mosaic of Leonardo Da Vinci made from half a million nails. I saw Strati working on the Da Vinci mosaic last year in the Pyramid and he is there working on the toothpick horse at the moment. His website has some good pictures of the nail mosaic.

If Live Earth's line-up of ageing rockers isn't your thing you could always try the opera. Tomorrow and Saturday Verdi's famous opera Aida will be performed at the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Skenderbeg Square. Here's an extract from an earlier performance. Thanks to Adrian for sending this.

The new cinema complex in the Sheraton is up and running. From their very basic website it looks like they have also taken over the small cinema in the Academy of Arts.

There are quite a few concerts coming up in the next few days. There seem to be many more this summer than last. These three are the main ones for the next week. Tomorrow, 30 June, at the Dinamo stadium Schiller is playing with Alban Skenderaj. On 4 July there is a choice between Sean Paul at the Qemal Stafa stadium and Mustafa Sandal at the Dinamo stadium. I had never heard of either of these people so for anyone who is as uninformed as I was before I checked google, Mustafa Sandal is big in Turkey, and Sean Paul is, according to his website, 'the worldwide ambassador of dancehall reggae.'