Famous People from Macedonia

There are so many famous people from Skopje, so many singers, actors, directors, performers and so on. But in this post I will list the most influential artists from our beautiful country. :)

1. Kaliopi Bukle
  
Kaliopi Bukle  (born December 28, 1966), more simply known as Kaliopi, is a popular Macedonian singer and song-writer. She is one of the most recognisable names on the Balkan music scene. She is known for her strong voice and a signature high-pitched scream.

Kaliopi Bukle

Kaliopi Bukle showed interest in music at a young age and in 1976, she entered in the Macedonian children's festival "Zlatno Slavejče" with the song "Tebe majka čeka", previously sung by great Tereza Kesovija and secured first place herself.
Kaliopi later toured with the choir of Zapro Zaprov "Razvigorče" through Czechoslovakia, Slovenia (then within their native Yugoslavia) and Austria between 1978 and 1980.

In her later career she participated in the “Opatija” festival as a member of “Kaliopi” and won best interpretation for the song “Leo”, awarded by the journalists of Yugoslavia. The bend published its debut album in 1986 for RTV Ljubljana (radio and TV broadcast) also named after her. That year, the band also participated in the Split Festival in which it was awarded the prize for the best debut performer for their performance of the song “Da More Zna” (If Sea Knows), which was also proclaimed to be the most listened and played song on the radio during that month. The second album of the band “Rodjeni” (Relative (coll.)), issued two years later, recorded in Zagreb reached enormous success, especially with the hit-song “Bato” (Brother). Other hit-songs from the band “Kaliopi” are: “Kofer Ljubavi” (Love Case), “Da More Zna” (If Sea Knows), “Ostani u Meni” (Stay With Me), “Nebo Mi Sja” (The Sky Shines For Me), “Bolero Lora” and etc.

Kaliopi made a comeback in 1996 at SkopjeFest, the country's selection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, with the song "Samo Ti" ("Only You"). She was awarded with first place from the jury and audience. She was thus set to be the first singer to represent her country at Eurovision since its independence from Yugoslavia; however, being caught up in some controversies, Macedonia failed to participate in the Eurovision contest that year.
Kaliopi as popular Macedonian singer influenced many singers from Macedonia such as Elena Ristevska, Maja Grozdanovska-Panceva, and Verica Pandilovska.

2. Vlatko Stefanovski

Vlatko Stefanovski is Macedonian ethno-rock jazz fusion guitar player.


Born in 1957, he started playing guitar at the age of 13. Stefanovski was one of the founding members of Leb i Sol with whom he recorded 13 albums between 1978 and 1991. He currently splits his time playing with his VS Trio, in an acoustic partnership with Miroslav Tadich or composing for film and theatre. He is the brother of dramatist Goran Stefanovski.
Stefanovski has played a wide variety of guitars, including a Gibson SG, a Fender Stratocaster - heavily modified with Schecter and Radulović parts, a Telecaster, a Radulović super-strat and a Pensa-Suhr super-strat. The influence of ethnic and folk music of Southeastern Europe and more specifically of the music of  Republic of Macedonia are recognizable in his occasional use of odd meters (5/4, 7/8) and non-traditional scales.
He played the guitar solo in the song "Za Milion Godina" by YU Rock misija, the former Yugoslav contribution to Bob Gelford's Band Aid.

3. Toše Proeski

Todor Toše Proeski (January 25, 1981 – October 16, 2007) was a Macedonian multi-genre singer, songwriter and actor. He was popular across the entire Balkan area and all around Eastern Europe, and locally he was considered a top act of the Macedonian Music Scene. Proeski was known for his strong vocal performances and trademark quote "Ve sakam site" (I Love You All), and was once dubbed "Elvis Presley of the Balkans" by BBC News. He died in a car crash in Croatia on October 16, 2007. 

Proeski, was born in Prilep, SFR Yugoslavia(today Macedonia), to Dominika and Nikola Proeski from Krusevo, his hometown, where he spent most of his childhood. After his musical talent was discovered at the age of 12, he was chosen to perform at the popular children's song festival Zlatno Slavejče (eng.: Golden Nightingale) in Skopje, performing the song „Јаs i мојоt dеdо“ in Aromanian language. This was his first public music performance; however, his successful career began in 1996 when he participated in the teenage music festival Melfest in Prilep. 

Toše Proeski

In his later years, after spending his time in recording studios in Athens, Greece, Proeski released his third album "Ako me Pogledneš vo Oči" ("If You Look Into My Eyes") on October 2002 in Macedonian and Serbian. After the release, Proeski went on a tour throughout Macedonia doing intense promotion. He also went to Serbia, Bosna and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria for further promotion. Proeski won Beovizija in Belgrade on April 2003, with "Čija Si" ("To Whom Do You Belong?"), a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former republics. This song was due to represent Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 but the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year and so some would be forced to withdraw.

Proeski also established himself as a songwriter. He wrote several hits for himself including "Ima Li Den Za Nas" ("Is There A Day For Us"), "Slusaš Li" ("Are You Listening"), "Malečka" ("Little One") and "Polsko Cveḱe" ("Field Flower"). In 2004, Proeski composed "Muza" ("Muse") for Martin Vucic, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest representative for Macedonia. It became the title track for the young artist's second album. In interviews, Proeski stated that he had written over 100 songs but was waiting for the right moments to record them as they were still in demo form.
On October 15, Proeski gave his final interview to the Macedonian Television Station Kanal 5. He talked about his intention to finish his Musical Academy studies, his search for his soul mate, and his new album in the works.
Toše's last concert was held on October 5, 2007 for the Primary Education Project for USAID. The concert raised tens of thousands of euros for the primary schools of Macedonia. The concert was attended by over 35,000 people and viewed all over the world.

During the early morning of October 16, 2007, at 6:20 a.m., Proeski died in a car accident on the Zagreb-Lipovac highway near Nova Gradiska, Croatia. He was a passenger along with his manager Ljiljana Petrović in a Volkswagen Touareg driven by Georgij Georgijevski. The Touareg crashed into the back of a truck and then into the median barrier, killing Proeski instantly, crushing the third vertebrae of the neck, although the truck sustained no damage. Proeski was asleep in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash. Of the other two passengers, only the driver suffered serious injuries (head trauma).
Proeski's body arrived at midnight in Skopje by helicopter of the Macedonian army, and was transported by car to his home town Krusevo. Grieving citizens gathered to pay their last respects at the airport and also in Macedonian Square. The Embassy of the United States of America, the USAID and the Diplomatic mission of the European Union published official statements on the death of Toše Proeski. October 17 was pronounced a national day of mourning in Macedonia. The three days following his death were pronounced days of mourning in the City of Kruševo.
After his death, the government of the Republic of Macedonia, gave him the title "Honorable citizen of Macedonia"

4. Igor Džambazov

Igor Džambazov (born July 15, 1963) is a Macedonian actor, showman, TV host, singer, songwriter and director of music videos. He currently is the host of the TV show Trkalo na Srekata ('Wheel of Fortune').


Igor Džambazov was born in Skopje in a family of actors and musicians. His grandfather Petre Prlicko was an actor and his father Aleksandar Džambazov is a conductor and composer. In his autobiography Toa sum Jas ('That's Me') he states that the first music he had ever heard was his father's schlagers and at first he thought that it was the only music in the world, but later he figured out the con and started listening something modern.

Igor Džambazov

He formed his first music group 'Pop' at only 12 years in 1975 and was actively engaged playing in the garages and bomb shelters around Skopje. Fifteen years later, he becomes member of Havana band which had the luck to be promoted by, in that time, an eminent Macedonian politican Vasil Tupurkovski. Igor with the other two members of the bend Zeko (Зеко) and Piže (Пиже) recorded three songs: Daj mi, žiti sve... ('Give me, please') , Nema spas ('No relief') and Štok mi bejbi ('Shtok me baby') in only few mounts of the existence of their band. The songs were recorded in the studio of Tose Pop Simonov. Havana band had one of their most notable appearance on September 8, 1991, the night when the Macedonian people celebrated their liberty. Then the band fell under bankruptcy, with the desire of the three, one day, to return to music.
In the years that followed he participated in several national musical festivals, for which he acknowledges, is his biggest mistake in the field of music. From the national festival 'MakFest', from 1991, the song Ljubov zapej ni ('Love sing to us') which Igor recorded with, the sisters, Tanya and Lydia Kocovski and John Ilija Apelgrin, became the most performed song between two festivals in Macedonia. In 1992 he recorded two of his hits Čija si ('Whose are you') and Grev ili špricer ('Sin or sparkling wine'), and again participated in 'MakFest' 1992 in which he performed the song Vreme za plačenje ('Time for crying') and received the second prize from the audience. Also, he won the sixth place on InterFest, a music festival from Bitola in 1994 and in the same year published his first solo album called Greatest Hits. It was recorded in studio ROSS on tape and was produced by Robert Sazdov (Роберт Сазадов) with the program and arrangement made by Darko Mijalkovski (Дарко Мијалковски). The complete author of the songs is Igor Džambazov, except for one which was inspired by the song Dancing in the Street by Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

I just want to say that Igor Džambazov is my favourite and best artist from Macedonia. He's my idol :)

5. Milcho Manchevski

Milcho Manchevski (born 18 October 1959 in Skopje, Macedonia), usually credited as Milcho Manchevski, is a film director and screenwriter from Macedonia.


Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the feature films "Before The Rain" (1994), "Dust'" (2001), "Shadows" (2007) and "Mothers" (2011).
"Before The Rain" (1994) won an Academy-Award nomination and thirty awards, including Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice, Independent Spirit, FIPRESCI, UNESCO, best film of the year in Argentina, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, and other awards in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia, etc.
The New York Times included "Before The Rain" (1994) on its list of the best 1,000 films ever made.
"Dust'" was the opening-night film of the Venice Film Festival. Both "Shadows" and "Mothers" were the Macedonian Academy Awards entries, with "Mothers" screening in the Panorama section of Berlinale 2011.
Manchevski's films have screened at more than a hundred festivals, and have been distributed in close to 50 countries (theatrically, TV, cable and video).
His films are part of the curricula at numerous universities worldwide, and have been discoursed at a number of conferences. The University of Leipzig (Germany) and the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) hosted academic conferences dedicated, respectively, to "Before The Rain" (1994) and "Dust'."
Manchevski won awards for best experimental film (for "1.73") and best MTV video (for "TENNESSEE", which The Rolling Stone placed on the list of the 100 best videos ever).
He has published fiction, essays and op-ed pieces in New American Writing, La Repubblica, Corriere Della Sera, Sineast, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Pravda, etc.
Manchevski has staged performance art with the group 1AM and by himself.

Milcho Manchevski

He authored a (very small) book of fiction, "THE GHOST OF MY MOTHER" and two books of photographs "STREET" (1999) and "FIVE DROPS OF DREAM" (2010) which accompany the two photo exhibitions.
He has lectured at a number of universities, cinematheques, art museums and art institutes, most notably as a Head of the Directing Studies at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Film program.

His 2010 film "Mothers" was selected as the Macedonian entry for the Best Foreign Movie Awards at the 83rd but it didn't make the final shortlist. It was also screened in the Main Programme of the Panorama section at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.


So that's my opinion on the most influential artists from our beautiful country. Hope you liked and enjoyed this post. :)

Biographies Source: "Wikipedia"