DŽAMBO AGUŠEVI ORCHESTRA From humble beginnings in the small Macedonian city of Strumica to conquering stages across the globe, the Džambo Aguševi Orchestra has risen to the very top of the international music scene. Džambo Agušev also known by the nickname "the funky tiger" is the most widely celebrated Macedonian musician and since the late Esma Redzepova but he’s not about to rest on his laurels. Instead, the 32 year old trumpet player and band leader is aiming at developing the reputation he and his band hold as musicians par excellence! Appereance at Womex 2014 in Spain gained the reputation and invitations for festivals and clubs throughout Europe. Looking back to 2019 – it was marked with 3 weeks long tour in USA and Colombia, smashing gig at Roskilde festival and 2 performances at Fira Mediterrania. They have collaborated with artists like Dubioza Kolektiv, Husnu Senlendirici, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Mamak Khadem, Suzan Kardes, Jovan Pavlović, Peter Ralchev... Džambo composed and Orchestra performed music for great Korean movie “Okja”. New album “Brasses for the Masses” will be relased on February 28th, 2020 on Asphalt Tango Records and the worldwide tour will follow.

LINE UP  Džambo Agušev: trumpet, vocals, band leader • Kočo Agušev: trumpet • Džemal Agušev: trumpet, vocals • Sunaj Mustafov: trumpet • Ali Zerirov: tenor horn • Džafer Fazliov: tenor horn • Mustafa Zejnelov: tenor horn • Šukri Dževatov: helicon • Orfej Čakalovski: big drum • Redžep Nedžatov: drums

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FOLTIN With their passionate, non-conventional music, theatrical contamination, some remarkable movie soundtracks’ work, growing domestic and international success and with more than 20 years of activity and 8 albums (+1 side project), many would say they are Macedonia's most authentic and unconventional band and greatest musical attractions. Foltin's music is hard to define, sounds unpredictable and challenging: surreal, passionate and witty, dynamic and full of surprises, characterized with a frantic dance atmosphere, blending many genres. They have fresh, warm and infinitely imaginative sound that has the power to make people feel embraced and uplifted. Their language has been unusual; over the years, it has gradually evolved into Macedonian and English. Previously their songs used a phonetic mimicry of different languages without semantic meaning. They took part in many musical and theatre festivals in Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Lebanon, Russia, Israel, Turkey, England and they have been awarded for their work many times.

LINE UP  Pece Nikolovski: clarinet, blues harp • Branislav Nikolov: vocal • Pece Trajkovski: accordion, keys, guitar & percussion • Goce Jovanoski: bass • Slavčo Jovev: drums • Marjan Stanič: percussion

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LUBOYNA The music of Macedonian band Luboyna (Ljubojna) is music of exploration. During the 15 years of its existence, the band has passed through several stages with several changes in the lineup, and that resulted in five stylistically different records. “This thirst for exploration caused a fierce turnover in our lives, when we were deciding, each for himself, and then together, that music is what we could live most sincerely and what we could witness most faithfully. The same feeling of love and exploration joined us into a successful team. Somehow there was this feeling of necessity for a group of people to join hands together and the result of that would be something that will be a creation of the new sounds of Macedonian music. By that I don’t refer to the so called ‘ethnic’ music, but to the real Macedonian popular contemporary music scene. The music grew as our intentions grew. All of the band’s phases can be found on each of the releases. During that period Luboyna did not made changes to its line up, but it built it, and that resulted into three line-ups: chalgia, acoustic-electric rock lineup and the brass fantasy.”

LINE UP  Vera Miloševska: vocal • Oliver Josifovski: double bass, backing vocal • Demir Kanturovski: trumpet, backing vocal • Aleksandar Vančovski: drums • Filip Dimiškovski: keyboard • Igor Milevski: violin

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TONI KITANOVSKI & CHERKEZI ORCHESTRA Toni Kitanovski’s path has taken him from his hometown of Skopje to the USA and back again, through the worlds of African music, jazz, classical and the avant-garde, studies at the Berklee School of Music, playing and composing for classical orchestras and jazz big-bands and close collaborations with musicians such as Greg Hopkins, Charlie Mariano and Oscar Salas. Back in his homeland he heard the Gypsy brass-band, Cherkezi Orchestra, playing at a party and suddenly realized a connection to the likes of Sun Ra, Coltrane and Mingus. The group is a merger of curious musical spirits, Toni Kitanovski’s jazz trio and Cherkez Rashid’s gipsy brass band, producing some highly original and distinctive music. Their first, 2006 album “Borderlands”, revealed the band’s true creative potential to a wider audience and gained praise and acclaim from both critics and listeners alike. Numerous invitations from jazz and world music festivals and all sorts of venues all around Europe arrived and kept them busy with the opportunity to sharpen their sound and widen the repertoire. This resulted in the production of the group’s second studio album in 2011 entitled “Shukar”, marking the continuation of their collaboration with Enja Records from Munich. Band’s evolution feeds on exploration of the rhythm called “clave” and its countless modification. Clave was born in Africa than spread in Americas, Middle East and it is also common in music of Balkan gypsies. Put on your dancing shoes!

LINE UP  Toni Kitanovski: guitar • Asan Rašid: trumpet • Tehemana Skenderovska: vocal • Safet Demirov: percussion • Ivan Bejkov: bass • Viktor Filipovski: drums

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CHALGIA SOUND SYSTEM Chalgia Sound System is a Macedonian music group formed in 2008, which focuses on the Macedonian Chalgia music tradition. The aim of the group is, on one side, to continue the performance of the Macedonian Chalgia music tradition by exploring the vast heritage of the tradition in its melodies and forms which the group performs true to the tradition, and on the other side, to create contemporary music in the spirit of the tradition of the Macedonian Chalgia. Macedonian Chalgia is a music form and an ensemble which was characteristic for the cities (urbanized) on the territory of Macedonia and appeared by the end of the XVII century, with a peak by the mid XIX century and active until mid XX century (mostly during the Ottoman Empire). The music itself has dominant Macedonian melo-rhythmical elements but with the presence of the Oriental Qanun and Oud it is reach in Oriental and Mediterranean influences. In 2009 the band recorded its first self-titled album live for a TV show, aired on New Year’s Eve 2010. It contains 18 traditional chalgia songs and dances, and was later promoted as one of the best albums recorded that year. The second album, titled “Tihuvaj”, was released in June 2019, contains 9 compositions written and arranged by the band. This music is based on chalgia tradition and typical chalgia ensemble instruments but discretely augmented by contemporary electronic production.

LINE UP  Dobrila Grašeska: vocal • Dorian Jovanovic: oud, bass, electronics • Aleksandra Kuzman: violin • Boshko Mangarovski: qanun • Filip Krstevski: drums, percussion

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