Erli Gurra, a violin master in Tirana

He has learned to listen to the song of the wood. No one sounds the same. Age, maturity, temperature… How could a piece of maple or spruce wood turn into a perfect violin? A thousand secrets are hidden behind an instrument, from the moment you take it in your hand as an ordinary piece of wood, until the moment it goes on a stage, in the hands of the instrumentalist. Erli Gurra is one of those masters of these secrets. If you asked him how a violin is made, he wouldn’t stop talking all day. Fortunately, he is one of those people who not only knows the secrets of the craft, but also knows how to explain it best.

Without the slightest hesitation, Erli invites us to his place of ‘miracles’. He advises us not to pay attention to the mess, but the truth is that his small “laboratory” is as tidy as it gets. It smells good of freshly cut wood. All the work tools are placed in a row, on the wall: chisels, files, saws… of different sizes. On the wooden table, walrus…, but also elements of violins and cellos, which are in the process.

They should also have their quiet time.

Anyone would wonder why a young man would do such a job, but Erli has chosen his profession as much as he has been chosen by the latter.

For him, creating instruments is an inherited passion. Father, grandfather, great-grandfather were involved in the restoration and making of musical instruments. The first, with the popular instruments of the time, while his father raised the profession to the most contemporary musical instruments. He grew up with this feeling and it was the most natural choice to continue on the same path.

But he decided to take it further. Today he is a “maestro liutaio”, which means maker of bowed instruments.

“In my eti lab, the instrument that attracted me the most was the violin. I was always curious as to how one was built, and I walked around the open, broken violins that were for tuning. And I was 10 years old when I did the first works on a violin. That’s where I realized what passion was and I was lucky that passion turned into my profession”, says Erli, who after completing 5 years of studies in Cremona, Italy at the School of Stringed Instrument Construction, would follow closely in the laboratories, the processes of restoring and making instruments, learning the profession “stolen” from Italian masters. It was there that he would see up close and touch a Stradivari violin, the instrument between myth and truth. “Besides he managed to make 1000 violins, even to this day it is amazing how he managed to make such instruments, with tools many times less sophisticated than today. And we still continue to aim to approach Stradivari’s violins”.

It takes Earl a month to make a violin. Within the year, depending on the requirements, he can realize 7-8 such. If he received an order for a cello, the work takes more time. It is difficult to say which one is the most tiring, the most delicate. Each requires a lot of patience, precision. From the selection of wood, which as everything comes from outside, the carving, the realization of an aesthetically beautiful object, but above all from the acoustic side, to the placement of the wires and that moment when you will hear the first sound. The precision must be maximum, it is played with tenths of a millimeter… The sound of the violin can depend on a millimeter, and for this you need not only precision, a battle of nerves, but also a good ear for music, otherwise it would be impossible to capture the pure and beautiful sound. “Each piece of wood has different reactions. It is the liutaio’s ability to understand not only the response, but also when to stop working to achieve the right sound.”

He is now performing his 52nd violin and 90% of them have traveled abroad. “For Albanian instrumentalists, it is very difficult to have a violin-author. At a time when it is so important to have one that gives you the opportunity to express yourself. They are very few and mostly the work here is limited to repairs. My market is overseas,” he says.

While he counts 52 instruments made, he still remembers the first violin he made. This, not because he refused to sell it, but because he bought it. “I gave my first violin to my parents. I made it at school, I bought it for the school and gave it to them and I see it from time to time, not just for nostalgia, but also to compare my work”, says Erli.

Surely, it is not only that. All the heritage of the generations is preserved there, the love for the profession, the passion, the long hours of work and waiting, the emotion of seeing an instrument made with one’s own hands… On balance, it’s still early. Will Stradivari violins reach 1000?!