Tallava or Talava is a music genre originating from Albanian-speaking Roma communities in Kosovo as well as in North Macedonia, with a presence in Albania.
[4] It is identified as part of the wider pop-folk genre of the Southeastern Europe, which includes Chalga from Bulgaria, Skiladiko from Greece, Manele from Romania and turbo-folk from Serbia.
[5] Tallava originated in the 1980s and 1990s within the Albanian-speaking areas of Kosovo region, created by the Romani ethnic minority community.
[4] Tallava occupies an ambivalent place in popular consciousness; it is both celebrated and vilified by the wider Albanian community.
Kafu Kinolli sees tallava as distinct from the wider turbo-folk umbrella genre in that whereas a turbo-folk song has a linear structure (e.g., verse-chorus-verse-chorus), tallava songs are longer, more improvisational, and without a definitive structure.