From Scratch – Albanian Summer Picaresque

An account of an album about Albania by British experimental musicians made in the eighties. Also involving stories about the Albanian Society, William Bland, A. L. lloyd, RCPB ML, and Cornelius Cardew. From Scratch is a story of Albanian Summer: An Entertainment, an LP album released by Practical Music in London in 1984.

The album was composed by Dave Smith, musician and a member of The Scratch Orchestra, and performed by Janet Sherbourne and Jan Steele, improvised and classical musicians. Through interviews, archival materials, and hard-to-find essays the publication contextualizes the background of British experimental musicians’ interest in socialist Albania. It includes new interviews with Dave Smith and Jan Steele, three essays by Smith on Albanian music and culture, an essay by Gavin Bryars on Smith’s music, discussions on the influence of A.L. Lloyd and Cornelius Cardew, and the role of the Albanian Society in the UK.

The book will introduce new insight into the leftist internationalist background of British experimental music influenced by the work of Cardew.

Apart from the musical internationalism, the book also includes a section of nine abstract slogans depicting the political and artistic contradictions of socialist Albania; annotated bibliography of books published in different languages on Albania; the collection of images taken from the biweekly Zëri i Rinisë (The Voice of Youth) published in 1984 and 1985.

Designed by Ott Kagovere, the book is edited and co-published by Pykë-Presje, a collective from Prizren, Kosovo.

The book is commissioned by Manifesta 14 Prishtina.