Esma Redžepova

Stevo Teodosievski, Redžepova 's manager and later husband.

In 1956, Redžepova's headteacher suggested she sing at a school talent contest for Radio Skopje. She went without informing her parents, who did not want her following the path of her older sister who started singing in cafes at age 17.[9] Among Romani people, such a career was viewed as inappropriate or shameful for an unmarried girl.[3]

Redžepova performed "A bre babi sokerdžan", a Macedonian Romani traditional song.[9] It was the first time a song in Romani was aired by the station.[11] Redžepova won the contest, beating 57 other schools and winning 9,000 dinars. When Redžepova's parents learned about her success, they were upset and reluctant to let her follow a musical career. At that time, the only employment prospects for Romani singers were performing in cafes and restaurants.[16]

Stevo Teodosievski, an ethnic Macedonian musician and band frontman, was impressed by Redžepova's performance at the contest and hoped she might join his musical ensemble. Teodosievski was a self-taught man coming from a poor background, leading the large folk musical troupe Ansambl Teodosievski. He also worked for Radio Skopje and was a member of the League of Communists of Macedonia.[17]

As part of the local establishment, Teodosievski was somewhat of a visionary in holding the belief that Romani music could one day become esteemed and popular among non-Romani people. At that time, Romani music in Yugoslavia was disparaged and not considered suitable for radio or television. Furthermore, racism against Romani people was common in Macedonia and throughout Yugoslavia, and even Romani people themselves had a low opinion of Romani singers – especially female ones. Before Redžepova, Romani performers rarely sang in Romani on radio or television and hid their origins. Teodosievski had been promoting Romani music even before meeting Redžepova and faced harsh criticism in the media for it. However, he felt Redžepova could help him achieve his goals and perhaps even become one of the most prominent artists in the country. He convinced Redžepova's parents to let her go with him and join his ensemble.[16][17]

When they met in Skopje, Teodosievski was not fully satisfied with Redžepova's voice. He encouraged her to train for long hours and enroll at the Academy of Music in Belgrade, where she studied for two years.[17]

After Redžepova left the Academy of Music in Belgrade, Serbia, she joined the Ansambl Teodosievski and started touring. In 1961, the Ansambl went to Zagreb, Croatia, to record Redžepova's first record. It was released by Jugoton and included "A bre babi" as well as "Chaje Shukarije", a song Redžepova wrote herself. The song, sung in Romani, quickly became a huge success in Yugoslavia.[17]

The 1960s and 1970s were extremely successful for the couple. They recorded many albums and EPs, and took part in radio and television shows.[17] Most of the songs performed by Redžepova at that time were traditional Romani songs or songs inspired by Romani music. However, some of them had a noticeable Western influence. "Makedo" is inspired by cha-cha-chá, "Kod Kodak" shows heavy pop influences, and "Pesma Šeher Sarajevu" makes use of psychedelic organs. Redžepova also performed many songs related to ethnic Macedonian music with no tie to Romani music. Some of these songs are duets recorded with Macedonian singers, such as "Blagujno Dejče", "Biljana platno beleše" and "Zošto si me majko rodila".[18]

In Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, Romani people were officially recognised as a national minority and were granted linguistic and cultural rights. However, Redžepova was one of a handful of Romani artists in Yugoslavia to have achieve widespread and lasting success and public acclaim, together with Serbian Romani vocalist Šaban Bajramović.[19]

Despite her success, Redžepova was the target of racism and gossip. Romani people in Skopje thought of her as dishonorable for the community and were very critical about her relationship with Teodosievski, a "gadjo". At that time, it was unthinkable for Macedonians and Roma to engage in mixed marriages, and both communities strongly disapproved them. Redžepova was frowned upon by Roma because she had an emancipated lifestyle, performing on stage, sleeping in hotels, working with men. On the other side, institutions, including Radio Skopje and the League of Communists of Macedonia, were very critical about Teodosievski and reproached him for working with "Gypsies". To escape the stifling atmosphere, Redžepova and Teodosievski moved to Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, at the beginning of the 1960s. They married in 1968.[17]

Racist prejudice played a large part in Redžepova's career. Media often characterized her with traits considered typical to Roma people: she was portrayed as hot blooded, happy and easy going, and genetically talented. Comments were often made about her dark skin. Teodosievski used some positive stereotypes to promote the singer, as long as they gave a tasteful image of her.[17]

At the end of the 1960s, Redžepova and Teodosievski founded a music school where they mostly trained young disadvantaged boys, usually Romani. Most of the musicians in Ansambl Teodosievski were trained in the school and some of them eventually achieved fame.[20] In total, 48 boys attended that school.[21]

By encouraging other Macedonian Romani musicians, Redžepova and Teodosievski built a circle around them. Among the most prominent members were the singers Muharem Serbezovski, Usnija Redžepova and Enver Rasimov, and clarinetist Medo Čun.[22]

Yugoslavia was part of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Yugoslav artistic scene was subject to many international influences. Redžepova performed several songs in foreign languages, such as Greek, Turkish, Hebrew and Hindi. The Romani people came from India to Europe in the Middle Ages. The link that Tito created with Jawaharlal Nehru and India was very important for Yugoslav Gypsies because their culture and history was publicly enhanced. Redžepova and Teodosievski visited India three times, in 1969, 1976 and 1983. During their second trip, they were entitled the King and the Queen of Romani Music at the first Romani Music Festival in Chandigarh. In 1983, Redžepova sang in front of Indira Gandhi.[20]

In addition to performing for Indira Gandhi, Redžepova also sang for Josip Broz Tito, Reza Pahlavi and Muammar Gaddafi.[9] Together with her husband's ensemble, she performed for public audiences in several countries, including the United States, the Soviet Union, Mexico, Australia and Canada.[21] In 1962, she was the first Yugoslav artist to perform at the Olympia in Paris.[23]

During the 1980s, Redžepova's career had reached its peak. In 1989, she settled in Skopje with her husband.[24] After independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia went through difficult times. Stevo Teodosievski died in 1997 at 72.[24] She toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts.[21] She also released a selection of duets with Usnija Redžepova in 1994.[25]

The 2000s were very fruitful and marked a slight shift in the singer's career. In Macedonia and former Yugoslavia, she gained a more modern image and redefined herself as a worldbeat artist. For instance, she made several collaborations with young pop singers. In 2002, she recorded a song with the Croatian band Magazin and a duet with the Macedonian singer Toše Proeski. She also recorded a song with the Bosnian band Crno Vino in 2005, and made a collaboration with Kiril Džajkovski in 2010. On the international scene, she contributed towards the establishment of Romani music as a non-mass-market good, pleasing an urban and cultural elite.[26] However, many of her new songs were not widely accepted by Western audiences because they did not match their expectations about Romani music. For instance, some songs featured the synthesizer, an instrument that is not used in traditional Roma music. She was booed at a concert in Spain, but defended herself saying that Romani music has always adapted itself and borrowed external features.[27]

Redžepova during her Eurovision performance in 2013.

Her best known single, "Chaje Shukarije", is the feature song on the 2006 Borat movie soundtrack, which she claims was used without her permission. Together with Naat Veliov from Kočani Orkestar she sued the producers of the film for €800,000 ($1,000,000). Afterwards, Redžepova won a €26,000 compensation, since it turned out that Sacha Baron Cohen got permission from her production house to take the song, which she was not notified about.[28] She was particularly upset because her song was used to illustrate backwardness, something she always fought against. However, Borat contributed towards the expansion of her fame internationally.[29]

She was selected together with Vlatko Lozanoski to represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Their song, "Imperija", was unveiled in March 2013, but it caused controversy in the country as its clip featured many monuments of the controversial project Skopje 2014. The song was thus viewed as a nationalist act. Macedonian Radio Television requested that the singers write a new song. Eventually, "Pred da se razdeni" was released a month later.[30][31] The song failed to advance from the second semi-final of the competition on 16 May 2013, placing 16th in the field of 17 songs, scoring 28 points.[32]

Redžepova died on the morning of 11 December 2016 in Skopje after an illness, she was 73.[33] She had previously been taken to hospital on 28 November, and was then in a critical condition.[34] Her funeral ceremony took place on 12 December at the Skopje City Council, where several officials, including the Mayor of Skopje and the President of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov, paid homage to her.[35] She was later buried at Butel cemetery.[36]

Esma Redžepova recorded and released more than 580 songs, including two platinum and eight gold discs. She performed more than 22,000 concerts, a third of which were held for charities. With Ansambl Teodosievski, she recorded 108 singles, 32 compact cassettes, 15 discs, six videotapes and numerous television shows.[9][40]

Redžepova mostly sang in Romani and Macedonian, but she also recorded songs in Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Hebrew, Greek and Hindi.[18] Redžepova's songs often spoke about love, sorrow and marriage. One of her most famous songs called "Chaje Shukarije" became an anthem for all Roma all over the world.[41]

Esma often sang traditional songs, both Romani and Macedonian, but a lot of them are also compositions. Teodosievski usually composed and arranged songs, but Esma composed some tracks as well, including "Chaje Shukarije". She also choreographed performances.[42]

Ansambl Teodosievski, which Esma Redžepova performed the most with, is composed of traditional instruments, used both by Roma and Macedonians, such as the oboe, accordion, zurna and davul. Most of Esma's songs were either in the line of Roma or Macedonian folk tradition, with various influences ranging from Turkish, Middle Eastern to Central European. However, contemporary influences are visible on her later work, which can be characterised as worldbeat influenced pop music.[43] During the 2000s, as she started recording duets with younger artists, she contributed to pop, ethno-pop and RnB songs. Furthermore, some of her earlier songs also showed strong Western influences, including "Kod, kodak" (1966), "Devojka i pesna" (1966), "Makedo" (1966), "Pjesma Šeher Sarajevu" (1970) and "Đurđevdan, Đurđevdan" (1972).[18]

Redžepova's voice greatly changed over the years. When she started singing, her voice was bright and almost childlike. Stevo Teodosievski compared it to the sound of a silver bell.[21]

Esma Redžepova defended that Romani music was inventive, evolving and subject to many influences. However, she was very critical of hybrid Romani music such as the ones from Spain and Hungary. She stated that Romani musicians from these countries play more or less local non-Romani music.[24] She considered her singing style very ancient and traditional.[44]

Esma Redžepova did not cite any inspirational artists and stated that she owed everything to her husband. Her favorite artists were the Bulgarian Nedyalka Keranova and the Iranian Googoosh. She also enjoyed classical music and cited Luciano Pavarotti as one of her favourite classical artists.[45]

Esma Redžepova and the Ensemble Teodosievski performing "Romano Horo" for the Austrian television in 1965

On stage and in her music videos, Esma Redžepova played with stereotypes linked to Gypsy women and used traditional attire and dancers. The Middle-Eastern character of her performances was often enhanced to please non-Romani audiences. In the same way, costumes worn by Esma or her dancers could be inaccurate to Macedonian Romani culture. For instance, some videos showed Hungarian or Russian costumes, to match the expectations of the non-Roma about Romani culture and traditional dresses. Although Esma used sensuality and seduction in many of her early songs, such as her numerous čočeks, she limited this aspect of her performance by not wearing immodest belly dance outfits. Instead, she usually wore the Romani dimije, which she personalized by using modern fabrics.[46]

Her performances could be very theatrical depending on the song and the emotion that grew from it. For instance, when singing "Hajri Ma Te Dike", Redžepova usually wore a black veil and pretended to be weeping.[17]

Because she extensively worked with the same music ensemble, Redžepova had a particular relationship with her musicians. On stage, they stood and took part in the choreography and mime interactions with the singer in accordance with the text of the songs. In the early performances, musicians swayed left and right to the rhythm with their instruments, as did Western pop groups of that period.[17]