FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The BBC has dedicated an article to the singer Dua Lipa and the festival that she and her family hold, "Sunny Hill".
With an extended report, the British media have written how the internationally famous singer is influencing the change of Kosovo's image. Dukagjin Lipa, Dua's father, was also invited to this report.
THE ARTICLE
More than 25 years after the Kosovo war, a music festival in the capital Pristina hopes to change the country's image around the world by inviting international artists and fans to learn more about the country's cultural scene. Sunny Hill Festival is organized by world pop star Dua Lipa and her father Dugi, who is from Pristina. They are using their industry contacts to bring acts like Bebe Rexha, Stormzy and Burna Boy to a party with tens of thousands of people, as well as inviting industry experts. But more than 15 years after Kosovo declared independence, can politicians do more to help grow the country's music scene instead of relying on the Lipa family?
"We have tried to change the face of Kosovo. From my data, over 42% percent of the guests at the concert were foreigners. We have a large diaspora and many of them have come and taken their friends with them. It has always been my dream to do something for my country. Kosovo has come out of the last war that happened in the Balkans and it needs a lot of support and a lot of beautiful art", said Dukagjini in the BBC interview.
Throughout the summer in the UK there is a music festival almost every week somewhere in the country. In some parts of the world there is no way to dance with your mates in a field while holding a lukewarm beer.
This is where Dua Lipa and her father Dukagjin wanted to change things by launching the Sunny Hill festival in their family's hometown of Pristina, Kosovo – a part of the world that several international artists have toured. "I want to change the rhetoric of what people think about Kosovo and that it is destroyed by war", Dua explained at the beginning of this year.
"When I lived in Kosovo, none of the artists I wanted to see ever came down." Some had traveled as far as Chicago to the US to see artists such as Bebe Rexha, Burna Boy, Stormzy and DJ Snake headline the main stage last weekend. Groove Armada, Black Coffee and Griff were also on stage. Kosovo is thought to have the youngest population in Europe, as more than half are estimated to be under the age of 30.
Travel restrictions, until earlier this year, meant that local musicians did not have the flexibility to play in other parts of the continent.
"It's not that easy to be a musician," explains singer La Fazani, who has played several times at Sunny Hill. "The only way to earn a good income is playing nightclubs."
Happy to see his daughter headline one of the biggest festivals in the world, Dukagjin says "Glastonbury is one of a kind" and knows it will be tough for his Sunny Hill project. Although, he says industry friends like Coachella owner Paul Tollett say the project reminds him of Glastonbury in the 1980s and there are plans to make it more than just a live music festival.
"I love artists who spend a day or two longer in Pristina and have the opportunity to meet local artists and share ideas. And that they get to know people in the music industry, and we hope that next year we can create a movement with some workshops", says Dukagjin.
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