The greatest Macedonian ambassador, Vlatko Stefanovski, will celebrate half a century of his musical career tonight at the Ancient Theatre within the “Ohrid Summer” festival. The concert will begin at 9 PM.
Stefanovski is the founder of “Vlatko Stefanovski Trio” and one of the founders of the band “Leb i Sol,” where he was the guitarist, singer, composer, and lyricist. During the band’s twenty-year existence, “Leb i Sol” recorded 12 albums, a double compilation, and music for various purposes: film and theater performances, as well as TV series. Stefanovski’s first solo performances began in the early 1990s, and together with Bodan Arsovski in 1990, he released the first Macedonian compact disc, featuring music for the rock ballet “Zodiac.” In 1994, Stefanovski recorded his first solo album, “Cowboys and Indians.”
In 1993, Stefanovski worked on the project “Sarajevo” for the play by Goran Stefanovski, performed at the Antwerp theater, directed by Slobodan Unkovski. This was followed by music for the film “Gypsy Magic,” directed by Stole Popov, and the soundtrack was released in 1997. The title song from this album, “Gypsy Song,” became a hit in the Balkans. Vlatko was also part of the “Balkan Horses” project, which included several prominent musicians from the Balkans such as Theodosii Spassov (Bulgaria), Kostas Theodorou (Greece), Krassi Zhelazkov (Bulgaria), Hakan Beser (Turkey), Emil Bukur (Romania), Sanja Ilić (Yugoslavia), Stoyan Yankoulov (Bulgaria), and Tamara Obrovac (Croatia).
In 2001, Stefanovski released the compilation “Kino Kultura,” which featured the most interesting musical themes from five films: “Gypsy Magic,” “Heavenly Hook,” “Three Summer Days,” “Self-destruction,” and “Road to the Sun.” At the beginning of 2002, at the invitation of Croatian director Vicko Ruić, Vlatko composed the music for his second film, “Serafin, Son of the Lightkeeper.” That year, during the summer, he performed in various countries in different formations (with his trio, with Miroslav Tadić, with Gibonni, etc.), and in the fall, he focused on recording his next solo album. In 2004, Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadić recorded the album “Third Mother,” featuring Bulgarian musician Theodosii Spassov. Due to his interest in various musical genres, Stefanovski has appeared on the albums of many bands and singers such as the Croatian band “Film,” Željko Bebek, Vasko Serafimovski, Oliver Mandić, Bojan Zulfikarpašić, Vanja Lazarova, Vlado Janevski, Gibonni, and more.
Throughout his long musical career, Vlatko Stefanovski has received numerous awards, including the Yugoslav Estrada Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Macedonia, the Sterija Award for the music in the play “Liberation of Skopje,” three “Golden Gramophone” awards at the “Mesam ’87” festival, and a proclamation from the city of Chicago.
