Friends Want to Finish Anita Bitri’s New Album as Tribute

The Albanian pop star Anita Bitri’s new album was left unfinished when she died along with her mother and young daughter Tuesday. Bitri, 36, her mother, Hazabije Bitri, 60, and her daughter, Sibora, 8, died in their sleep in their Staten Island home after gas from the boiler built up due to an obstructed vent.Progress on the album was slowed in recent months, as funds were running out. Now, if her friends get their way and are able to raise money, the project will be finished and a tragedy can be turned into an educational tool.In tribute to her life, Bitri’s friends at the Albanian American Women’s Organization have pledged to raise funds to cover the costs of finishing her latest album. The proceeds from the sale of the CD, titled “Nothing Is Impossible,” will go toward the purchase of carbon monoxide detectors that the group will install in homes in the city’s Albanian community.According to the mayor’s office, carbon monoxide kills about 500 people nationwide every year.The new album, which was under way at the Brooklyn Media Lab in Red Hook at the time of Bitri’s death, is a double disc that features English lyrics on one and Albanian on the other.After nine years in America, “She had something to say,” her producer, James Avatar, said. The lyrics on the new CD, he said, “glorified her homeland” while expressing her happiness in her chance to live in America.Bitri made five music videos and a documentary earlier this year, according to Mr. Avatar. She traveled to her native Albania this summer on a promotional trip for her new CD, and performed her new songs in concert there.The executive director of the Albanian American Women’s Organization, Shqipe Malushi, said that because Bitri filmed a documentary titled “Memories of my Life” at age 36, she felt it was almost as if Bitri knew her life wouldn’t last long.“When you do things like that, it’s as if she wanted to leave something beyond her,” Ms. Malushi said.Bitri was known as a vibrant performer with a captivating stage presence. Mr. Avatar described her as a unique mixture of Charo, Barbara Eden, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin. “She was a diva, but not a diva with an attitude,” he said. “She had the energy of a belly dancer. … She was alive.”Mr. Avatar recalled Bitri bringing her daughter to rehearsals and diction lessons to tame her thick Albanian accent. Sibora would amuse herself with his PlayStation video games while Mr. Avatar and Bitri worked to blend their distinct musical styles.When asked what effect her untimely death might have on her celebrity status, Mr. Avatar said he couldn’t speculate on how the album will do, especially since it hasn’t been completed. He said it would be a positive outcome if the attention generated by her death translates into increased attention to her life, and to the message she so passionately wanted to share.The accident has hammered home the importance of the new law requiring carbon monoxide detectors to be installed in every home or public building with fossil-fuel burning boilers by November 1.The gas, which can’t be seen, smelled, or tasted, is produced when fossil fuels or wood combust. To prevent the buildup of the gas, maintenance of plumbing, heating and other gas-powered equipment is important.Carbon monoxide can also build up when cars or other gas-powered machines are left idling in garages.“I urge all homeowners, building owners and landlords to comply with this law quickly as the weather is getting colder and these dangers increase during the winter season,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement yesterday.

Friends Want to Finish Anita Bitri’s New Album as Tribute

Friends Want to Finish Anita Bitri’s New Album as Tribute

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