Çiljeta (born Çiljeta Xhilaga on 5 February 1985 in Tirana, Albania), and simply known by her stage name Çilieta), is an Albanian pop singer and model.
Çiljeta | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Çiljeta Xhilaga |
| Born | (1985-02-05) 5 February 1985 (age 37) Tirana, Albania |
| Genres | Pop, dance |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, actress ,model |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1999-present |
Çiljeta was born in Tirana, Albania, to Ferdinand Xhilaga, an accountant, whose family hailed from Debar but who was born in Delvinë, and Majlinda Xhilaga, a hairdresser, from Korçë. She attended the Sami Frashëri High School in the city.[1]
Xhilaga featured in the Miss Shqipëria competition in 2001 and won the title "Miss Cinema".[1][2]
Çiljeta distinguished herself in the successful song Dridhe (English: Shake it), a collaboration with Getoar Selimi of Tingulli 3nt, a rap group from Kosovo.[3] The song was followed by many successful ones, especially Puçi Puçi (English: Kiss kiss), featuring Ingrid Gjoni, and Të dy qajmë të ndarë (English: Away we both cry), a hit composed by Flori Mumajesi and with words of Ardit Roshi in the Kënga Magjike of 2010, where she cried while interpreting the song.[4] Çiljeta had already interpreted in the Kënga Magjike 08 with S'ke ku vete (English: Can't go nowhere).
Çiljeta participated in the Dancing with the Stars (Albania) show, in its 2011 (second) edition, along with partner Dion Gjinika.
Çiljeta had a son on February 4, 2013, whom she has named Ferdinand, her father's name.[5] Father of the baby, is reportedly a French architect with a Latin American background.[6] She is a well known supporter of Partizani Tirana. She is dating Alban Hoxha an Albanian football player.
Çiljeta is self-declared as being a supporter of the Democratic Party of Albania, and its leader Lulzim Basha.[7] Earlier, she had sung in New York, in a party organised by Red and Black Alliance, now an extinguished party, but declared that she was unaware of who the organiser of the party was.[8]
She notably had two public reactions against Serbia and Greece politicians: to Serbia after the Serbian government removed a memorial to the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac in Preševo, an Albanian-inhabited region of Serbia. The second reaction was to Greece, after she saw in television an anti-Albanian interview of Christos Pappas, a politician of the Golden Dawn, a Greek far-right political party.[9] After these declarations, the Greek media attacked her, saying that she claims to be a singer, but must be something else, and published provoking photos of Çiljeta.[10]
On March 20, 2012 Çiljeta was reported by the media to visit a correctional facility for minors, where she met 38 children, a meeting organised by the Institute of Minors, Kavaje, the Centre for the Human Rights of Children of Albania, and UNICEF.[11]