EAZ, Ilira or Loredana: the new stars of Swiss pop have Albanian roots

That hasn’t happened in over 50 years. Dialect music is in the charts in Germany and Austria. There is no escaping the song «Juicy» by the Wetziker rapper EAZ with Albanian roots. Not in Switzerland, of course, where the song has been at the top of the charts for six weeks. And even in non-German-speaking countries he is in the waiting positions of the charts.

Streaming numbers are exploding. In March, the singer and rapper had 171,208 monthly listeners on Spotify. It is now over 1.3 million. In total, “Juicy” has been streamed nearly 10 million times worldwide. This is also a dialect plate. EAZ is currently writing Swiss music history.

EAZ is only surpassed in terms of streaming numbers by Ilira (3.8 million monthly listeners), the 28-year-old singer from Brienz and the 27-year-old rapper Loredana (1.7 million). EAZ, Ilira and Loredana are currently the most successful music exports from Switzerland – and they are all of Albanian descent. And the Albanian diaspora in Switzerland also seems to have no problems with young people. Because Lorent Berisha is moving up from the junior department.

The singer with Albanian roots has just successfully represented the Swiss colors in the German TV casting show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (DSDS) and took third place. The 19-year-old Lucerne from Dierikon wants to follow in the footsteps of Gjon’s Tears, who sang the best result for Switzerland in a long time at the Eurovision Song Contest two years ago and finished third.

Yes, he too is of Albanian descent. He just released his beautiful debut album «The Game». Swiss musicians of Albanian descent are the leaders of a new generation. The faces of the new Swiss doll.

Rapper and singer EAZ is currently having the best run. We meet him in Wetzikon, where he was born and grew up in a modest apartment building. He now lives in Villmergen AG with his Chilean-Swiss girlfriend, but still maintains strong ties to the Zurich Oberland community.

In fact, the name EAZ is derived from Wetzikon and tariff zone 32. E is the 5th letter of the alphabet, A is the 1st and Z is the 26. If you add them up you get 32. He visits his parents and friends here at least once weekly. “Here I know everything and everyone, I have experienced everything. I had a great childhood and youth experience here. I feel at home here,” says EAZ and tells his exciting story.

Father Rama came to Switzerland in 1984 at the age of 19 as a labor migrant and soon found a permanent job in a carpentry workshop in Bäretswil. The family with his mother and three sisters initially stayed in Kosovo and followed him to Wetzikon in 1993. So even before the major military conflict in 1999 with Serbia. In the same year, 1993, EAZ was born Arber Rama, the youngest in the family. The family was popular and quickly integrated. Mama Rama immediately completed a six-month German course in Switzerland, got a job at the Wetzikon retirement home, and later even completed an internship.

“We were grateful to be here and quickly adapted to Swiss conditions,” says Arber. Yet the model family was confronted with prejudice. A roommate was collecting signatures against the Ramas. But a police officer who lived in the same block stood up for the family until the lady withdrew from collecting signatures. Today she is a fan of EAZ.

At home, the family speaks a mixture of Albanian and Swiss German. “I think in Swiss German,” says EAZ. His lyrics are mostly in dialect, interspersed with English scene words, and sometimes in Albanian. « I rolled s Haze (hemp) i the OCB (cigarette paper brand) / no no, more depression / Seg, are you ready for the odyssey? / But number you make special / Baby girl, you’re my motive, you’re my motivation ‘, for example, he sings in the song ‘Motivé’, which has been nominated for the Swiss Music Awards in the category ‘Best Song’.

Arber was a good student until he caught the rap virus at the age of eleven. “The world of 50 Cent, Eminem and 2Pac suddenly interested me much more than school. I skipped school and went to the studio instead,” he says. Not everything went as planned in training either. He says:

Then he put his money on the rap card, but went astray, was in debt and even had to go to jail for a week. “In the beginning, the music took almost everything from me and then gave it all back,” he says afterwards. “I pushed the boundaries and committed something stupid that I deeply regret,” he says, which is why he still has a guilty conscience. to his parents: “You have only given me good things.”

EAZ the gangsta rapper? “I don’t want a gangsta image. I want to stand for good music and a positive attitude to life,” he resolutely explains, distancing himself from lyrics that glorify violence and are hostile to women. “I grew up with women. My three sisters and my mother have given me so much love. We owe our women so much,” he says.

His biggest hits “Motivé” and “Juicy” are true hymns to women. In doing so, he focuses on his great role model 2Pac, who fought against discrimination against women. EAZ also has a modern, differentiated view of women that contradicts the more patriarchal Albanian society. “Women are stronger and superior to us men in many ways,” says EAZ. His girlfriend also steered him in the right direction and gave his life the necessary structure. “She’s my better half,” he says.

Like most Kosovar Albanians in Switzerland, his heritage is important to him. “Kosovo is exactly the same home as Switzerland,” he says. But the football fan would choose the Swiss national team. He is currently very impressed with Granit Xhaka as a footballer. However, as a person, Shaqiri is closer to him. Like him, EAZ is more of a quiet man, with a little mischief and a big heart: EAZ, the Shaqiri of Swiss rap.

But why are Albanian pop and rap artists from Switzerland so successful? How come they can do what the Swiss can’t? And why do they perform better than many Swiss? “When we Albanians do something we love, we give everything and even more,” says EAZ. The comparison with football is also necessary here. Albanian migrants have had a bad image in Switzerland since the 1990s.

As a 2010 Federal Bureau of Migration diaspora survey explains, male youth of Kosovar descent in particular were often associated with stereotypes such as “Balkan macho prone to violence”, “racers” or even “drug dealers”. The young Albanians were confronted with prejudices that could seriously disadvantage them in everyday life and especially when looking for an internship or job. Football has long been one of the few opportunities for young Albanians to gain appreciation and respect in their new homeland and to climb the social pecking order.

What was true for football is also true for rap and singing. In any case, it is striking that a whole series of Albanians such as Drini, Baba Uslender, Marash, Bossnak and Xen soon devoted themselves to rap. EAZ also drew motivation and courage from this disadvantage: “We are the voice for the young people who are not being heard,” said EAZ recently. Today he is heard.

Identity and identification are very important for Albanians – loyalty. To his friends (“homies”), his parents, his relatives, the bloc, to Wetzikon, Kosovo, the Albanian community, but also to Switzerland. He has the word “Loyalty” tattooed on the back of his hand. The cohesion of the Albanian community is strong. Today, nearly 120,000 Kosovar Albanians live in Switzerland. That is 6 percent of the Kosovo population. In addition, there are the Albanians from Albania and North Macedonia, who are considered part of the large community. Millions of Albanians are scattered all over the world. They all support their pop artists. Whether they are called Dua Lipa, Rita Ora and Ava Max – or Loredana, Ilira and EAZ.

But EAZ does not limit itself and also has many Swiss friends. He doesn’t blame others for his missteps, he wants to fit in and makes music for everyone. This will drive him. He is also the first and so far the only one from this Albanian rap scene who approaches the mainstream and dares to make commercially oriented, international pop music with catchy choruses. Nowadays he sings more than he raps. All this makes him accessible and open to others. EAZ suspects that its fans now have more Swiss than Kosovar Albanians. Together with the Kosovar Albanians, that makes the difference. Perhaps the decisive advantage.

EAZ took part in the TV show “Sing mein Song – das Schweizer Austauschkonzert” on the CH Media channel 3+, which just ended, and won hearts there. Peter Reber called him “the nicest bad rapper, sensitive, lovable” and praised his rhythmic sense and musicianship. “I’ve become a fan,” he said.

The third generation of Albanians reaches the heart of Swiss society. The cliché of the Albanian as an assistant on the construction site is outdated. Barbara Burri Sharani, who was responsible for the said study, notes today that Albanians are increasingly finding their way into universities and even into politics. But also in Swiss society, prejudices are slowly being eliminated.

Switzerland is ready for EAZ.

(aargauerzeitung.ch)