Birth name Tefta Tashko Years active 1936–1947 Occupation(s) singer | Genres Urban songs Role Singer Name Tefta Tashko-Koco | |
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Similar People Avni Mula, Parashqevi Simaku, Prenke Jakova, Fatime Sokoli, Eli Fara | ||
Tefta Tashko-Koço (1910–1947) was a well-known Albanian singer of the 1930s. She was posthumously awarded the prestigious title People's Artist of Albania.
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Life
Tefta Tashko was born in Faiyum, Egypt where her parents had emigrated at the end of the 19th century. In 1921, the family moved back to Korçë, Albania and in 1927 Tefta left for France to learn singing at the Montpellier Conservatoire. From 1932 to 1936, she studied singing in the Paris Conservatoire under André Gresse, Declamation lyrique with Salignac and Maintien and Art Mimique with G. Wague. She returned permanently to Albania in 1936 where she performed in operatic and chamber music as well as Albanian urban songs. She was asked to encore the songs several times in each concert she has performed in Albania.
She recorded Albanian urban lyric songs for the Columbia Society in Italy in 1937 and 1942 She was a singer on Radio Tirana since its foundation on 28 November 1938.
Tefta Tashko was accompanied by Lola Gjoka and she sang songs written specifically for her from the Albanian composer Kristo Kono.
Personal life
She married Kristaq Koço and had a son, Eno Koço, Merited Artist of Albania, well known Albanian music scholar and music director. Tefta Tashko died unexpectedly in 1947, at the young age of 37.
Portrait
A painting by Myrteza Fushekrati (1942), made in 1976 [100x120 cm], was devoted to this artist and until 1990 it was exposed at the Gallery of Art in Tirana.
