kaba

In Albanian traditional music the term “kaba” is mainly connected with instrumental music. The term came to Albania from Turkish and is used in everyday life to characterise something inelegant or heavy. Kaba are at the same time instrumental improvisations played by solo instruments (mostly the clarinet) accompanied by an ensemble of one violin, one llautë - a plucked lute - and a small drum named def or dajre. The same ensemble accompanies multipart songs in southern Albania.

The term kaba is in addition sometimes used to characterise the second soloists in multipart songs in southern Albania, as in the following comparison from the Labëri region: “Kaba … is the meadow, the sheep graze there … [Kabaja … është merája, aty kullosin berrat …]” (Kruta 1991: 40)

This term is used also for characterising the drone in the phrase mbajnë kaba - they hold kaba (see iso).