Parashqevi

Parashqevi Simaku studied dramaturgy at the High Institute of Arts in Tirana. Her parents cultivated her love for art from childhood, and she began singing young, collaborating with Albania's finest composers.

Through the 1980s she became a defining voice of Festivali i Këngës, winning twice and placing five times. She belonged to an era of Albanian music that would never return.

After 1991, she left for the United States. In Hollywood, she recorded her first English-language album with vocal coach Seth Riggs. A decade later, she released a second album: ten songs in Albanian, for every immigrant who ever missed home.