Spiro J. Shetuni

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[[|thumb| Spiro J. Shetunii (born 1949) ]] Spiro J. Shetuni (born 1949) is a professor and academic librarian at Winthrop University, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States. An Albanian-American scholar, pedagogue, ethnomusicologist, and musicologist of Arumanian nationality, he is an expert on Albanian traditional music.

He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the field of music., and is the author of academic books, studies, and articles on Albanian traditional and professional music.

• collections: i) Ballads and Boundaries: Narrative Singing in an Intercultural Context; ii) Problems of the Development of Contemporary Folklore; iii) Problems of the Volksmusikforschung: Bericht uber Folk Musik; iv) Questions of Albanian Folklore; v) Upper Shpat: Observations on Popular Culture, etc.

Visiting scholar in

• Austrian Audiovisual Research Archive—Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna, Austria, 1988)
• Institute of Ethnography and Folklore—Rumanian Acadamy of Sciences (Bucharest, Romania, 1992)
• Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology—University of California Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California, 1992–3)

Member of a number of national and international organizations in the field of music. Winner of various national and international prizes. Chair of Ethnomusicology Department—Albania's Academy of Sciences, Institute of Popular Culture (Tirana, Albania, 1988–92). Co-founder of the Cultural Association of Arumanians of Albania (Tirana, Albania, 1992). Professor of Ethnomusicology / Musicology at several American Universities.

Biography

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SHETUNI FAMILY The village of Kakoz (Gjirokastra, Albania), 1956

Spiro J. Shetuni is the son of George S. Shetuni (1923–1986) and Barbara J. Shetuni (Samarai) (1926–2011). He had a brother: Dhimo (1947–2005), and a sister: Marie (1951–2006).

Shetuni was born in the mountainous area of Shpat, in the region called Buffalo’s Neck (Albania). (This place is in the south-east of the city of Elbasan, Albania.

The basic feature of Shetuni's childhood, as a typical childhood of an Arumanian shepherd, was precisely the constant migration: to the fields and mountains, during each season of the year. Because the Arumanian families were always on the move, up to the year 1958, his lifestyle, as well as of other Arumanian children, was dramatically difficult from every standpoint. Within nine years of Shetuni's childhood (1949–58), the Shetuni Arumanian family moved with all of their livestock to places that were neither villages nor inhabited centers, but were mostly pastures—summer or winter—as the case may be. The migratory life ended in 1958, when the Shetuni Arumanian family along with a number of other Arumanian families, finally settled in the place where the future village, Andon Poçi (Gjirokastra, Albania) would be built.

Education

Shetuni attended the primary school in the village of Andon Poçi (Gjirokastra, Albania) (1956–60,. and continued his education at the junior high school Nane Panajot Meksi, in the village of Little Labova (Gjirokastra, Albania) (1960–3). He did his secondary education at the High School of Culture (Tirana, Albania) (1963–7). Later, he took undergraduate studies at the former Higher Institute of Arts of Albania (today the University of Arts), in the branch of music theory (1970–4). He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree with an ethnomusicological study titled Arumanians of the Village of Andon Poçi: Musical culture.

He then worked as a music teacher at the 29 November Junior High School (Gjirokastra, Albania) (1967–8). After completing his studies at the former Higher Institute of Arts of Albania (today the University of Arts), he was appointed as a Pedagogue of the subject matter Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction, at the same institution (1974–5). For purely political reasons, unfortunately, this appointment was abolished after one year! Politically persecuted, Shetuni was sent to work away from his specialty, as a Cultural Organizer in the Sinanaj village of the remote ethnographic zone of Lopës (Tepelenë, Albania) (1975–8). A zealous ethnomusicologist, inspired by his role model in life, the great Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and pianist, Béla Bartók (1881–1945), here he did extensive systematic research on the history, life, and culture of the inhabitants of the province of Labëria in general as well as on their traditional music in particular. He began working as a Conductor of Labor Centers at the Cultural House Mustafa Matohiti in the city of Tepelena (Albania) (1978–81). On the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Alfred M. Uçi (1931–2016), he was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Popular Culture of the Academy of Sciences of Albania (1981–92). He received the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in the field of music with the academic book titled Lab Polyphony (1988).

In 1992, as a Fulbright scholar, Shetuni left Albania to live in the United States to conduct research on the urban traditional music of Albania at the University of California Los Angeles . Later, for many years, he taught two music courses at the Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, USA), as follows: i) The Art of Music: An Introduction; ii) Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World’s Peoples (1993–2000). In the years following, he worked at three major American universities: Prairie View A&M University of Texas (Prairie View, Texas, USA) (2000–1); University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida, USA) (2001–6); Winthrop University (Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA) (2007–present).

1975 Higher Institute of Arts of Albania (today the University of Arts) (Tirana, Albania): B.A., Music Theory

1988 Academy of Sciences of Albania (Tirana, Albania): Ph.D., Ethnomusicology

1999 Kent State University School of Library and Information Science: ALA-accredited M.L.S., Academic Librarianship

Musicology

His academic monographs can be grouped into four main categories: i) monographs targeting traditional music of the Albanian people; ii) monographs that examine the professional music of the Albanian people; iii) monographs targeting the history of the Arumanian people; iv) monographs that examine the traditional music of the Arumanian people. Of particular scientific and professional importance is the six-book academic series, Albanian Traditional Music, with these titles: i) Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction; ii) Albanian Traditional Music: Gheg Music; iii) Albanian Traditional Music: Tosk Music; iv) Albanian Traditional Music: Lab Music; v) Albanian Traditional Music: Urban Music; vi) Albanian Traditional Music: The Historical Continuity. The fruit of a more than 20-year research, the six-book academic series, Albanian Traditional Music, aims to provide a broad and deep picture of the most important, substantive and formal aspects, of the traditional Albanian music universe. Its content is multi-dimensional, examining a number of issues, among which the most important ones would possibly be formulated in this way: i) issues of Albanian traditional music in general, such as: the substantive essence, the formal essence, the national essence, and the universal aesthetic essence, etc .; ii) issues of the main dialects of Albanian traditional music—Gheg musical dialect, Tosk musical dialect, Lab musical dialect, and Urban musical dialect—, such as: distinctive features, expressive means, musical styles, and musical genres, etc; iii) issues of the interaction between Albanian traditional music and the music of other peoples, such as: the traditional music of the Greek people, that of the Arumanian people, and the professional music of the Turkish people, etc .; iv) issues on the future of Albanian traditional music, etc.

Publications

Musical anthologues

Shetuni, Spiro J., Ferial Daja, Natasha Pano, eds. 1986. Songs and Instrumentals from National Folkloric Festivals: 1968–1973–1978. Tirana, Albania: Institute of Popular Culture. This anthology includes 161 songs, instrumentals, and dances (poetic texts and musical transcriptions, together) typical of all representative ethnographic regions of Albania

Shetuni, Spiro J., Agron Xhagolli, eds. 1986. Lab Multi-Voice Songs. Tirana, Albania: Institute of Popular Culture. T The book contains 208 songs and dances (poetic texts and musical transcriptions, together), which are grouped in 15 different musical styles.

Monographs

Shetuni, Spiro J. 1989. Lab Polyphony. Tirana, Albania: Institute of Popular Culture.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2011. Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction, with Sheet Music and Lyrics for 48 Songs. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Review in Fontes Artis Musicae (Journal of IAML: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres), Vol. 59, Issue 4:393–4. Review, Bogdani, Ramazan H.: " " Review, Çaushi, Fitim: Çaushi, Fitim.  2016. "The Vlach Maestro of Polyphony". Dita (Tirana, Albania), December 4.</ref> Review, , Spiro. 1986. ["Shetuni, Spiro J., Agron Xhagolli, Këngë polifonike labe"]. Drita (Tirana, Albania), November 23:7. Review, King, Christopher C. 2013. "Shetuni, Spiro J., Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction, with Sheet Music and Lyrics for 48 Songs". Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ARSC Journal (Association for Recorded Sound Collections), September 22, Vol. 44, Issue 2:262–3. Review, Schwartz, Carolyn M., 2014. "Shetuni, Spiro J. Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction, with Sheet Music and Lyricis for 48 Songs". Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Music Reference Services Quarterly, Vol. 17, Issue 4:265–6.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2012. Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction. Denver: Outskirts Press,

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2012. Albanian Traditional Music: Gheg Music. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.  

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2012. Albanian Traditional Music: Tosk Music. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc. T

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2013. Albanian Traditional Music: Urban Music. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2014. Albanian Traditional Music: The Historical Continuity. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2014. Albanian Professional Music: Phenomena of the Twentieth Century. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc. usic in the future.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2015. My people: The Arumanians. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.) [A six-part academic series.]

• Part I—The Arumanians: Introduction—establishes the Arumanian issue as an important subject of Balkan historiography, thus serving as a fundamental historical-social context for the entire six-part series.
• Part II—The Arumanians: Ethnology—deals with aspects of ethnic identity of the Arumanians, such as: the nationality, language, religion, number of population, geographic distribution, lifestyle, socio-geographical environment, profession, and marital relationships.
• Part III—The Arumanians: History—examines aspects of the history of the Arumanians, relying on books, documents, and scientific archival materials. It also examines the difficulties and dramas of the Arumanians during the second half of the twentieth century: the pressures, persecution, imprisonment, and killing of honest and innocent Arumanians!
• Part IV—The Arumanians: Culture—studies the poetical and musical culture of the Arumanians, making an overall classification, according to the main countries in which the culture exists.
• Part V—The Arumanians: Autobiography—is a personal testimony, within the context of the Arumanian population's life, aiming at providing an answer to the dilemma of the Shakesperean model: "To be or not to be an Arumanian?!"
• Part VI—The Arumanians: Conclusion—addresses the issue of the preservation of ethnic identity of the Arumanians and the lessons arising from their history, thus serving as a fundamental historical-social conclusion for the entire six-part series.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2015. My Village: Andon Poçi. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc. This book is derived from the six-part series titled My people: The Arumanians (Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc., 2015).

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2015. Lopësi: The Musical Culture. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2016. Arumanian Traditional Music: An Introduction. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2016. Albanian Traditional Music: The Mode of Existence. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc.

Shetuni, Spiro J. 2016. My Life: To Be, Or Not To Be, An Arumanian. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc. 16). 

Personal life

Shetuni is married to Mrs. Lulieta J. Shetuni (Kokalari) (1955–present). Their wedding ceremony took place on May 3, 1981, in the village of Andon Poçi (Gjirokastra, Albania) They have two sons.

References

Data on the life and works of Shetuni can be found in two main encyclopedic sources.

This article "Spiro J. Shetuni" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Spiro J. Shetuni. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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