A low drone on a long "e" holds steady while two lead voices carry the melody. That is how songs have long been sung on the plains of central Albania, with women and men in separate groups, and when the dancing starts a clarinet often takes over the tune.
Beyond the songs, Banaj is farm country, stretched for kilometers along the Seman just after the Osum and Devoll rivers join. The road through the village runs on toward Berat, where old houses climb the hillside. Summers are hot and dry, and winters are mild and wet. A Local Friend turns your list of places into a day that makes sense, with fields, river and old town in the right order.
