We decided to stay in France, because it was the only possibility for the three of us to be together outside of Albania, where at that time it was not easy to enter and exit countries like France, in fact it was almost impossible, this because I was reaching the end of my studies and at that time I would have to return and would not be able to leave Albania anymore, because it was the communist regime…
The violin master, Tedi Papavrami, is a creative personality with great world successes. The violinist was born on May 13, 1971. The talented student of the “Jordan Misja” art school would perform with the Tirana Philharmonic Orchestra from an early age. Tedi Papavrami was considered an “enfant prodige” from an early age in terms of interpretative skills. Becoming an image of the cultural success of the government of the time, Tedi would be awarded a scholarship to study at the Paris Conservatory. In September 1982, the French government offered him a scholarship and Tedi studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris, under the direction of Pierre Amoyal. Political changes and the death of the dictator Hoxha would bring Papavrami closer to France, which would profoundly influence his cultural outlook.
In 1985 he won the “Rodolfo Lipitzer” competition in Gorizia, in 1986 he unanimously won the “First Prize of the Paris Conservatory”, in 1987 he received the diploma of the Lausanne Conservatory. In an interview some time ago Papavrami said: “I came to France, initially as a scholarship holder. When I was 9 years old, I received a proposal from France to study in this country. Of course, it was complicated for them to allow me, because at that time it was the communist regime and this was unthinkable for a child, while at the age of 11 they allowed me to study in Paris. At that time, I had just won a competition in Italy, an international competition, and the communist Albanian state was very proud of this”.
The cellist has recounted his journey in France, which, in fact, was not at all easy for him as a child with great ambitions.
“While I was in Paris, my mother accompanied me to live, because I was very young, then they allowed my father to come and visit us during the holidays. We decided to stay in France, because it was the only possibility for the three of us to be together outside of Albania, where at that time it was not easy to enter and exit countries like France, in fact it was almost impossible, this because I was finishing my studies and at that time I would have to return and would not be able to leave Albania anymore, because it was the communist regime. At that moment we stayed forever in France, where we requested political asylum, which we received very quickly”, says Tedi.
He has performed with renowned orchestras in Europe, Africa, Turkey, Japan and even Israel. Papavrami has repeatedly won awards and has performed with prestigious orchestras from different countries of the world. In the following years, in addition to his identifying sound in the works of Paganini, Brahms and Prokofiev, Papavrami also appeared to the public as the translator of Kadare, in French.
DIFFICULT DECISION
Taking advantage of some scholarships that the French government began to provide in the early 80s, some students were also sent to France to study in art schools. As was the case with a little child named Tedi Papavrami, whose virtuosity was discovered by the French teachers themselves when they were in Tirana. And based on an agreement, they took little Papavrami (along with his mother, to accompany and care for him during those years in France) to perfect him in one of the most famous music schools that Paris had. But the agreements in question with France for sending Albanian students and pupils there, turned out to be beyond the expectations of official Tirana?!
Sometime in early March 1986, according to Memorie.al, an unusual announcement arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana (via a secret coded telegram). The Albanian Ambassador in Paris, Maxhun Peka, attached to the telegram in question, was sending to his higher superiors at the Foreign Ministry a letter that had just been sent to him by Jolanda and Robert Papavrami, the two parents of the little violinist.
In that letter, the Papavrams informed Ambassador Peka that they had decided to stay in France forever and that they had made that decision, which they considered “very ugly towards the homeland and Albania”, with full conscience. As we will see in the rare documents published for the first time in the pages of this book, the letter in question from Tedi Papavram’s parents to Ambassador Maxhun Peka is quite short and very concise for the message they sought to convey sufficiently through it. But they informed him (Ambassador Peka) that, in addition to it, they had sent another letter to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party, “comrade Ramiz Alia”.
Where they explained in detail the real reasons that had led them to make that decision to stay permanently in France. In the letter sent to Ambassador Peka, (the letter sent to Ramiz Ali is not in the relevant file from which these documents were taken), it is clearly seen that Robert and Jolanda Papavrami took care not only to exonerate the ambassador and the embassy staff with whom they had very correct connections and relations, but also to “not become hostile” to the communist regime of Tirana, from which anything could be expected?! The letter in question, with its gentle tones and to some extent even in the form of a prayer, seems to have had only one purpose; that of not affecting Ted’s grandparents who lived in Tirana. So, so that their action would not bring consequences to Teodor Papavrami, the famous doctor (at that time he was working at the Military Hospital in Tirana), who lived with his wife somewhere at the beginning of Dibra Street, in a small but quite beautiful house. But it seems that Robert and Jolanda Papavrami, “had done the calculations without the innkeeper”?!
Because precisely where their weakest point was, the communist regime of Tirana took revenge. So after this event, the Papavrami couple were removed from their home and exiled somewhere in the mountains, in a lost village in Central Albania.
INTERPRETING
Tedi Papavrami is a musician, instrumentalist and translator of Ismail Kadare’s work into French after Jusuf Vrioni passed away in 2001. He became involved with the violin at the age of four. He studied violin with his father, the renowned professor Robert Papavrami, who has greatly influenced his artistic future. At the age of 8, he performed Sarasate’s “Arie Bohemienne” with the Tirana Philharmonic Orchestra and three years later Paganini’s first violin concerto. He was very talented and his father believed in his talent. The latter was determined that Tedi would become someone in life. In September 1982, thanks to the flutist Alain Marion, the French government offered him a scholarship to study in France where he studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris, under the direction of Pierre Amoyal.
In 1985 he won the “Rodolfo Lipitzer” competition in Gorizia, in 1986 he unanimously won the “First Prize of the Paris Conservatory”, in 1987 he received the diploma of the Lausanne Conservatory.
He then pursued musical studies under the direction of Zino Francescati and Viktori Mullova. In 1992, he was awarded the “George Enescu” prize by Sacem and in 1993 he won the first prize and the special audience prize at the “Sarasate” international competition in Pamplona. In addition to his career as a violinist, Tedi has translated the works of Ismail Kadare after the death of Jusuf Vrion in 2002 and plays the main character in the film “Provincial Chronicles”. He has performed in Europe, South Africa, Turkey, Japan, Israel, with well-known orchestras such as the Orchestra di Bologna, Bamberger Symphoniker, etc. He has performed under the direction of well-known conductors such as K.Sanderling, C.Hogwood, A. Pappano, L.Langree, G. Varga, Z.Macal, JCCasadesus, etc.
In the 2000-2001 seasons he performed with the Orchestre Philarmonique de Nice, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Orchestre Philarmonique de Liege, etc. and has conducted several tours in Japan with Paganini’s “24 Capricci” and is among the few violinists who performs the complete works. The versatile artist Tedi Papavrami regularly performs the chamber music repertoire together with P.Bianconi, H.Sermet, M.Rubackyte, P.Meyer, E.Lesage, R.Oleg, G.Hoffman, etc. He has also performed in the film “Kronikë provinciale” (2009).
