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One of the most well-known
singers, actress and show-girl from Albania, Bleona's audience stretches from within Albania
to the surrounding major Albanian Communities.
These include, Kosovo , Macedonia , Montenegro
as well as the Diaspora in Western Europe and
the United States . Since she was young girl,
she was actively engaged in different youth
artistic activities in her hometown of Korca and
Elbasan. Her first international representation
was in the Balkans Festival in 1991 in Preveza ,
Greece . During 1991-1994 she worked as singer
and show-girl in a variety show of the
professional theater “Skampa”.
During 1994, at the age of fifteen, she
participated in the national song festival
organized by the Albanian Radio and Television.
During 1995 she participated in the spring song
contest representing herself well .Her first
major impression was at the national song
contest in December 1995 with “Leave me on my
own”. After a successful participation in the
spring song festival of 1996, she was invited in
a tournament in Switzerland among many
well-known Albanian singers. She tried also with
the traditional music by participating at the
World Folk Festival held in France in August
1996.
In October 1996 she started a tournament in
Germany , Belgium and the Netherlands . She came
back and participated in the Albanian National
Song contest in December 1996.
During spring of 1997, despite the difficult
social and economical conditions in Albania ,
she managed to produce her first video clip “The
Wind”. She represented herself in the spring
song contest in 1997 with the same song. This
video clip was broadcasted by a French
television, TV5 in a special segment on Albania
. In the summer of 1997, she received an
invitation from Albanians living in Montenegro
to hold a show in the city of Ulqin . In October
1997 she was invited by the Albanians in
Switzerland for a one month tour. In December
1997 she took part in the Albanian National Song
contest.
In January 1998, Bleona achieved a formidable
goal by producing her first album titled “I do
what I like”. In May of that year, she
participated as a singer and show-girl in a huge
concert organized by the Koha Jone Company for
the Albanians living in Greece together with the
Director of the Fine Arts Academy,
Kastriot Caushi. In September 1998 she began her
acting studies at the fine arts academy. She
participated in the Spring Song contest of 1999
representing herself as a show-girl and singing
her future hit “If you truly love me”.
During the Summer of 1999, she participated in a
charity tour of several European countries
including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland,
Netherlands, and Austria, Bleona set another
milestone in her rising career by releasing her
first music video “I do what I like”, in the
fall of 1999. By November, she held a one month
tour of Switzerland .
By January 2000, she released her second album
“If you truly love”. She then followed this up
with the release of a new music video from the
album. By this time, Bleona's career was gaining
tremendous momentum and name recognition
throughout the region. In September 2000 she
participated in the biggest tour ever organized
for the Albanians living in Europe . Her great
success culminated in her signing her first real
contract with German manager Jeton Dautaj and
performed more than 80 concerts throughout
Europe in the first half of 2001.
By this point, Bleona had well established her
singing style and most controversially her look.
By June 2001, she released her third album the
blockbuster hit named “I don't care”, and
becoming the highest selling record in Albania .
Once again she followed up a hit video named “I
don't care”, in cooperation with the Italian
producer Nicola Doersole. With 2 more successful
tours in March and October, new album and video,
she capped off a splendid 2001 with an exclusive
New Years Eve engagement at the discotheque
“Macumba” in Fribourg , Switzerland .
In 2002, she renewed her contract with her
manager Jeton Dautaj and accompanied by the
group Corona , started her 2 month European tour
in Switzerland , Germany , Scandinavia and Italy
.
By June, Mixing work and studies the last four
years, she graduated from the University of
Tirana Academy of Arts with a degree in acting.
In July she released her fourth album titled “Go
Learn How to Love” (Ik Meso si Dashurohet). This
song also went on to be one of the biggest video
hits of the summer.
By August 2002, Bleona's meteoric rise to
stardom had reached fruition. Between concerts,
albums, music videos, newspaper interviews and
several television appearances, the publics
demand for anything “Bleona” was undeniable.
Therefore, to solidify her status as a bona-fide
superstar of the Albanians, she set about on one
of her biggest projects to date. To perform an
extensive multi-city tour of Albania . These
were large outdoor concerts with 15 -20 000
spectators in the city centers of all of the
major Albanian cities. The grand finale of the
tour on October 11 th was in the capital
,Tirana. She invited the hard rock group from
Macedonia Elita 5 to perform with her. The
relentless rain of the evening did nothing to
deter the crowd of by police estimates of more
than 80,000 A compilation DVD video of the best
of the tour titled “ Ik
Meso si Dashurohet” was later released .After
such a hectic schedule, most others would look
forward to rest and relaxation.
But in November, the workaholic Bleona continued
her grueling concert schedule with a fourteen
show engagement in Germany . She finished the
year with a three night performance in one of
the most modern Discos in Fribourg , Switzerland
.
During 2003, she continued her shows all over
Europe . In the spring of that same year, she
began to work on her fifth album. Collaborating
with composers Wirus, I. Berani, Xh. Gashi, A.
Hila and with writers Agim Doci and J. Papingji.
While working on the album, she continued her
touring. She performed in Montenegro the entire
summer. During autumn, she toured Greece and
Italy . By December, back home from her tour,
she was able to finish and release the album she
started in the spring. With a controversial
album title and lead song,”You don't know how to
pick me up”, (Ti nuk din as me ma lyp) went on
to be a smashing success and sell over 300,000
copies in
only two months making her the first and the
only Albanian singer to ever reach this mark.
The album was also well noted for the video clip
“Oh look what you have done to yourself” ( O
Bobo c'i Bere Vetes). The New Year again found
her at a four night engagement in Switzerland .
January - April 2004 Bleona continued her work
in the concerts in Diaspora. In June 2004 during
a private visit to USA , she had the opportunity
to perform for the first time in the United
States Live at a promotional concert in Chicago
. This concert gave The Albanian Diaspora the
chance to have an unforgettable evening, taking
photos and talking to the singer.
18 June 2004, she was invited to take part in
the National Albanian American Council (NAAC)
annual awards banquet at the Plaza Hotel in New
York City which Former U.S. Secretary of State
James Baker was recognized for his efforts in
the Albanian community after the overthrow of
communist dictatorship.
During summer 2004, she started her annual
concerts in Kosovo , Macedonia and Albania .
September 2004 she was invited by the Albanians
residing in Sweden where for the first time,
aside from her pop music repertoire, she sang
one set of the most beautiful Albanian folk
songs live. This performance was so well
received, that since that evening, Bleona has
made it a regular part of her program at all of
her concerts.
She returned to New York in October 2004 as she
was invited to take part with several other
artists in the Miss Albania USA Beauty Pageant
organized at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan .
Bleona performed as the final act of the long
evening singing two of her recent hit songs
waking up the rather comatose audience.The show
was taped live and shown on Channel 21 in Kosova.
She capped off the year with concerts in Greece
, Italy , Switzerland , Germany and New Years in
Prishtina and Peja, Kosovo.
She started 2005 performing in her concerts in
Zurich , Frankfurt and Dusseldorf for 2 months.
But by this time, Bleona had been a professional
singer for an amazing ten years now. She had
conquered the Homeland and the surrounding
Albanian communities and felt it was time to
expand her visibility outside the Balkans. After
testing the waters in America the previous year,
confident in her abilities as well as being
fluent in the English language, in March 2005,
she journeyed once again to America . Being the
“lucky girl”she made one of the most important
meetings of her career with the lawyer and
entertainment agent Michael Novak. On Mr.
Novak's resume are several American stars
including Kid Rock. Motivated by the idea of
introducing a non-American performer to America
, he proposed to Bleona to enter the American
music market by attempting to record a CD with a
compilation of the best known American Hits. The
idea was to develop her as an international
performer.
In April 2005 she started working with Mr. Eric
Morgeson, The Head of Studio A Recordings in
Detroit , Michigan . Mr. Morgeson, a veteran
record
producer, has been involved in several important
projects with talent including J.Z., Justin
Timberlake, Hip Hop star Eminem and recording
the soundtrack for the movie “Rush Hour”.
Impressed by the large number of gold and
platinum discs displayed on the walls, Bleona
set out on a mission. With great devotion, and
the work discipline of a professional singer,
she worked tirelessly everyday for nearly 3
months, usually 14 hour days. By June, she
recorded twelve American songs. This was done on
the behalf of the thankfulness for those people
who changed her career fundamentally but at the
same time with a great responsibility to
represent all Albanian artists and the face of
Albanian art abroad.
Despite her endeavor into the American music
scene, Bleona still felt a responsibility toward
her Albanian public. At the end of her English
recording sessions, Bleona and Mr. Morgeson
searched out a new song only for her, and her
Albanian fans. What they discovered was a song
composed by successful Latino music song writer
Kike Santander. His successes include being the
writer behind International pop sensation Ricky
Martin. After securing proper
licenses from Henry Foxx Agency, Bleona finished
her future hit titled “Boom Boom”. The song was
recorded in two versions, English and Albanian.
Collaborating with “Chaos Film Productions” of
Miami Beach , Florida and the assistance of
Director Alyn Dorney, Bleona completed the music
video she always dreamed of doing. With the look
and feel of the south Miami Beach back-drop, she
completed an energetic filming of her soon-to-be
hit song and video.
By the end of July 2005, she returned to Albania
releasing her sixth album, unprecedented for an
Albanian performer. The album was released as a
single CD called “Boom Boom” which contained the
song “Boom Boom” in Albanian, English, and
bilingual versions as well as two karaoke
tracks. The single CD was accompanied by a free
second CD with the well known American hits. The
song was an immediate hit especially the edgy
video which received endless amounts of airtime
on Albanian television stations. In august 2005
she started her tour in Albania and Kosovo
promoting her new CD.
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