Hey You
/3
- Hey You
- 2002
- video, color, sound
- 4min, 40sec
Erzen Shkololli’s video "Hey You" deals with the recognition of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and the fate of the Albanian state in the form of a pleading letter sung by Kosovar Albanian female vocalist Shukurte Fejza, whose songs were forbidden in Socialist Yugoslavia from 1981 to 1983. Fejza, who combines traditional Albanian elements with pop-folk music, was thrown into jail in 1986. Her songs received no play on any radio stations in Yugoslavia until the independence of Kosovo. In "Hey You", Fejza sings a lament as a prayerful plea to Europe. She personifies the Albanian condition and puts forth numerous questions about the past and the present of the Albanian population that was driven into exile. The ignorance on the part of the Western world is clearly referenced, thus raising the question as to the guilt of those in power. W.S.