While being in Maribor, in Slovenia and part of the Association, I travelled, I travelled by all means, you know, regardless of whether I had a car, regardless of whether I had savings, because you didn’t, you know, we had means, there was no need to think about savings. I went to festivals […] There are many festivals, many activities, they tried to have activities in other centers too, yes… For many years I was present, even when my compositions were not played, but I went to follow the festival. That was refreshing, their intensity was greater compared to ours and our conditions at the time. Therefore, even the inspiration was greater. Yes, even the inspiration, the innermost inspiration, and we tend to say that one needs solitude to create. You know, there is something true about that. You know, silence, solitude.
Zeqirja Ballata was born in 1943 in Gjakova. He is a well-known modernist composer. Ballata received his university degree in Music Composition from the University of Ljubljana. He worked until his retirement at the Music Academy, University of Pristina. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Kosovo. Today, Ballata lives in Pristina with his family.