Musical arts create a great tradition in Albania, especially the Albanian folklore music, a typical music that can be found in The Balkan countries, region known all over the world for the great richness of folklore music. Folklore music in Albania is too rich and offers a great variety. This is expressed in different ways of interpretation, to begin from polyphony (song without instruments), polyphonies with, flute or bagpipe to other kind of songs and instruments all together. Northern Albania uses specific types of instruments such as: Lahuta (single string instrument), Cifteli, Sharki and Drums. In the south part of Albania, the iso-polyphony music is particularly popular and well known as a world cultural heritage. Besides folklore music, Albania has a rich tradition in urban music from Shkodra (jahre songs), Elbasani, Korça (serenades) Vlora, Përmeti, Leskoviku and Delvina (saze songs) and Berati
The Albanian musician Jan Kukuzeli, and also other hymnografs, have been very well-known and much estimated in other countries during Medieval times in the XII Century.
The main folkloric activity is The National Folklore Festival, usually held in the museum city of Gjirokastra.
Albania also has a rich tradition of dances with a great variety of choreography and costumes mainly depending on the origin. There are epic as well as lyrical dances. Particularly famous for their elegance, rhythm and drama are the dances of Rugova, Tropoja, Devoll, Lunxhëria, and the couples' dance of Rrajca, lab dances and the Cam dance of Osman Taga.
