Dedicated to the unforgettable actor Shpëtim Shëmili on his birthday

2026-05-15 20:43:00, Kulturë Pirro Minella

....You too, dear Shpëtim Shëmili, were born on May 15, 1941 in the city of Tirana. You graduated from the “Luigj Gurakuqi” Pedagogical High School in Elbasan from 1953 to 1957. You started working as a teacher for about three years, as a teacher in Shtërmen and Cërrik in the Elbasan district.
But in 1960 you competed and won the right to continue your higher studies as an actor at the “Aleksandër Moisiu” faculty, Tirana.

In 1964, you completed your studies with very good results and that same year you were appointed as an actor at the "Skampa" Professional Theater in the city of Elbasan.

Your first roles date back to 1964, 1965 in Xhemal Broja's drama "Linda", where you played the role of engineer Pirros and in the comedy by author Viktor Eftimiu "The Man Who Saw Death with His Eyes", where you brilliantly played the role of the Vagabond, in which the great Viktor Eftimiu himself praised you, dear Shpëtim, as a figure of great artistic value.
You devoted yourself entirely to stage theater and until the last moments of your short life you created dozens of artistic figures and characters, who have remained in the minds of the Elbasan spectators.

Throughout your artistic career, you have been one of the main figures of the “Skampa” Elbasan theater, as an actor, playwright, director and manager.
You have successfully performed over 60 roles in the “Skampa” Elbasan theater in comedy and drama, which belong to the best parts of Albanian and world drama.
It was in this managerial function that we both met. I was the Chief Finance Officer in the Municipality of Elbasan....

Dedicated to the unforgettable actor Shpëtim Shëmili on his birthday

Allow me, my friends from Elbasan, to bring you these impressions about our esteemed friend Shpëtim Shëmili:

... "The resounding voice of the great Shpetim Shëmili..."

...After I started my job as Chief Finance Officer in the Municipality of Elbasan, I sat down with the Mayor, the honorable Emin Haxhiademi, to coordinate the problems we were facing in the Municipality and the limited funds we had available from the depleted budget. I got to know the structure of the subordinate units of the Municipality, their problems and the limited possibilities to solve those problems...
We also had cultural institutions under our control, such as the Skampa Theater, the City Stage and some others. Of course, at a later time, I went to the relevant institutions to get to know them up close as personnel but also to find some problems that I could solve. One morning, I returned to the Skampa Theater and did not find the personnel there, but as usual they were in the café next door. I went in and met them one by one. The Director at that time was the great Shpetim Shmili, with that wonderful voice. I met the great Demir Hyskja and another artist I really liked, Astrit Cermen, and the rest of the theater staff. They also offered me coffee and ferns and then we went upstairs to Shpetim's office. Since he was very impulsive, he immediately started complaining, of course, about the allocated budget. I listened carefully and he raised several problems with me, especially the lack of good sound, the arrangement of the stage because the floor had started to rot, the replenishment of the wardrobe and some other issues. With the chief of finance, Fluture, I told him to summarize all these problems in a letter and to register them with us at the Municipality. But I told him one thing, that from there I would find funds to cover these expenses and I told him one more reason was precisely Shpetim Shmili, as an artist whom I admired very much. I also discussed with the Mayor the problems raised in that letter and tried to secure those funds as quickly as possible. Those funds were secured and we allocated them to the Theater. In a very short time, the concerns of those artists were resolved.

I have also dedicated a sketch to you by the great Shpetim Shëmili:
... "Every time you come here, boss, you have to pay for coffee and fernet from us artists..."
....With the great Shpetim Shëmili, we became good friends and from time to time I would pass by the Theater and often find myself among the artists with a glass in front of me.

One beautiful day after I had returned from Tirana I went to the Theater and doing the usual ritual, I told the artists that from the ticket sales I had found legal space and they would be rewarded with 20 percent of the ticket sales value. They were not believed. No one had thought of them until today. After a few days after I had consumed it and with the mayor of the municipality and the theater car, a minibus, we set off towards Tirana, me the head of finance of the Flutura and Shpetimi theater in the role of director.

Arritem ne Teatrin Kombetar ne zyrat e tij takuam personelin administrativ. Takova shefen e finances nje bukuroshe mbi te tridhjetat, te cine e ftuam per nje kafe dhe i thashe se per se isha munduar deri aty.

Po me tha une e kam aplikuar per here te pare kuptohet me ndihmen e dikujt nga Ministria e Kultures. Na vuri perpara tere proceduren e perpiluar dhe pasi morem nje kopje u kthyem ne Elbasan.

Dedicated to the unforgettable actor Shpëtim Shëmili on his birthday

Te nesermen ne mengjes se bashke me shefen e finances se Teatrit filluam te perpilojme dosjen perkatese. e mbaruam pas disa ditesh. Mora leje perseri nga Kryetari i Bashkise dhe shkova nje dite ne Ministrine e Kultures. Takova personat qe mund te me ndihmonin me pergezuan per iniciativen, mora mbeshtjetjen e tyre dhe pasi perpiluan edhe nje shkrese ne adrese te Ministrise se Financave dhe brenda javes shkova dhe rakordova edhe ne Ministrine e Financave dhe rreth drekes te lodhur por edhe te gezuar e kishim bere gati praktiken per ekzekutim.

Me shkrese percjellese per deget e buxhetit dhe thesarit te rrethit erdhem ne Elbasan. Kuptohet me disa peripeci te vogla nga dega e buxhetit te rrethit, se ishte hera e pare e realizuam me ne fund shperblimin e pare. Ne fillim te muajit tjeter kolektivi i Teatrit Skampa te Elbasan perfitoi te ardhurat ne baze te realizimit te shitjeve te biletave. Ne dreke pasi kishin marre shperblimin artistet si femije te gezuar me kishin ftuar per dreke aty tek turizimi i vjeter.

....Vajta me gezim dhe te them te drejten u ndjeva krenar qe atyre artisteve te medhenj si Demir Hyskja, Shpetim Shmili, Astrit Cerma, Kristaq Pilo dhe shume aktoreve te tjere dhashe edhe une nje kontribut modest per te rritur prestigjin e tyre.....

..Dhe Ju sot i dashuri Shpëtim Shëmili keni datëlindjen tuaj. Le tju kujtojmë vetëm datëlindjen, aktorë si Ju kanë vetëm datëlindje ndër shekuj....