Kosovo artist La Fazani wins the Telliskivi Creative City, Selektor Studio and Tallinn Music Week Award
Singer-songwriter, producer and composer La Fazani from Kosovo won the studio award competition for Tallinn Music Week 2025 performers by Telliskivi Creative City and Selektor Studio. This is the second year the award has been presented with the winner selected from artists who had applied to the competition for an opportunity to record, mix and master their new music at Selektor Studio in Telliskivi Creative City, Tallinn.
La Fazani, the performative alter-ego of Kosovo’s Arbër Salihu, creates music that blends hip-hop, indie, rock & roll, electronica, and Albanian folk, painting vivid narratives of everyday life in Kosovo and the Balkans. Since 2022, he has gained prominence with singles like “Hajde me shuplakë”, which reached second place on Albanian charts and made him a crowd favourite at Kosovo’s largest music festival, Sunny Hill, founded by his famous compatriot Dua Lipa and her family. With the song “Oj Kosovë”, he won the national song competition Festivali i Këngës në RTK in 2023.
Salihu’s versatility extends to film, theatre and children’s music, whilst his classical compositions have received recognition at the prestigious Chopin Festival.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this incredible award, to return to the delightful city of Tallinn, and to begin working in what seems to be an exquisitely authentic creative space at Selektor Studio,” says Salihu. He adds: “Tallinn Music Week has already given me some unforgettable memories, and I’m excited to deepen the cultural connection between the Balkans and the Baltics. Estonia and Kosovo share more than just size — both are small, proud nations with turbulent histories and vibrant, resilient cultures. I’m truly looking forward to building more bridges through creating some fire music.”
The award includes recording, mixing and mastering 3-4 musical pieces at Selektor Studio with producer and recording engineer Martin Laksberg. Laksberg, who participated in the selection jury, admits that although the competition was strong, La Fazani was one of his firm favourites.
“The standard of each entry was truly top level as there were many established artists with fully developed styles and self-definition,” says Laksberg. “Many excellent creators caught my attention. However, La Fazani stood out because his music seems to have a lot of flowing creativity, experimentation, and at the same time captivating appeal.” The producer adds: “His demos are captivating and fearless, and the spectrum of ideas is pleasantly broad. He seems to draw inspiration from everything and anything and has a great deal to say.”
42 applications by musicians from all over the world who performed at this year’s TMW were evaluated by a jury comprising Selektor Studio representatives Martin Laksberg and Henrik Ehte, CEO of Telliskivi Creative City Triin Marie Juss, UNESCO City of Music Tallinn project manager Grettel Killing, and Eva Johanna Lepikov and Ingrid Kohtla from TMW.
Lithuanian duo Superkoloritas who won the first Telliskivi Creative City and Selektor Studio Award last year have released a five-track EP “Ritmo!” on 24 May which recording was completed at Selektor Studio with Martin Laksberg and drummer Caspar Salo.
La Fazani online:
Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | Youtube