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Vajtim or Gjëmë (Gjâmë in the Gheg dialect of the Albanian language) is the dirge or lamentation of the dead in the Albanian custom by a group of men or a woman or a group of women. Traditional lamentations have now almost become extinct both in the Islamic and Christian Albanian population, except in some parts of Northern Albania and Kosovo as well as in parts of North Macedonia such as Zajas and Upper Reka, where they exist in a very diminished form.[1] The earliest figurative representations of this practice in traditional Albanian-inhabited regions appear on Dardanian funerary stelae of classical antiquity.[2]
The many-voiced vajtim gave rise to the Albanian Iso-Polyphony and its instrumental expression, which evolved into the Albanian Kaba.[3]
- ^ Dervishi, Nebi (2014). "Dëshmitë e Rekës Shqiptare pas regjistrimeve nëpër shekuj". In Pajaziti, Ali (ed.). Shqiptarët e Rekës së Epërme përballë sfidave të kohës [Albanians of Upper Reka in face of the challenges of time]. South East European University. p. 409. ISBN 978-608-4503-95-8.
- ^ Joseph & Dedvukaj 2024, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Tole 2022, pp. 43–45.