If post-rock were created sometime during the 1970s, I could see an album like this getting extended play on my local radio station. Red Sails Billow hails from Bitola, Macedonia, and I have to say that it’s a pretty good example of what’s cooking in the Balkan post-rock scene.
Macedonia
[Music] Padot na Vizantija – Sepak Istata Sostojba
Padot na Vizantija (The Fall of the Byzantium in English) were one of the leading lights in the Yugoslavian post-punk scene. Singer Goran Trajkoski went on to participate in two legendary projects: Anastasia and Mizar (for a short tenure).
[Music] Amplidyne Effect – Patternized Movements
Post Global Recordings has been active in the Macedonian electronic/experimental music scene for a number of years. They’ve been releasing works onto Bandcamp, and this release by producer Martin Georgievski (a.k.a. Amplidyne Effect) is the label’s most recent. Icy post-rock mixed with airy electronic tones which keep one engaged in the way one listens to modern contemporary classical music.
[Music] Kolt – Zophist’s Respite
Post-rock, math-rock, prog-metal… Not quite sure how to describe Kolt, a band out of Skopje, Macedonia, but I like their energy a lot!
[Music] Usnija Redžepova – Kazuj krčmo džerimo
The Macedonian Gypsy singer Usnija Redžepova passed away today at the age of 69. I cannot say if she is related to her fellow Gypsy countrywoman, Esma, but when Usnija was young, she looked like Monica Belluci fronting a Roma band. RIP.
[Music – Kočani Orkestar – Siki Siki Baba (Strict, Strict Father)
All credit goes to Canio Rosario Maffucci for posting a live version of this hit by Macedonia’s Kočani Orkestar earlier today.
Those who remember the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will certainly remember this tune!
[Music] Kismet – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Every time I go to Skopje, there is always someone who asks why on Earth I’d bother to come and stay such long periods of time in what they feel is an insignificant city in the heart of the Balkans. You can thank this song, the disc it came on, and a friendship with Gorazd Capovski and Ilija Stojanovski, for this.
I had worked at Tone Casualties records as an A&R Manager, and came across this disc while at my evening job, buying weird music for Aron’s Records (RIP). I had passed through what was then Yugoslavia a few years past, and knew a bit about Macedonian music, but the combination of goth/darkwave and an ethnic, Byzantine sound, came as a huge revelation. I never, in a million years, thought Love Will Tear Us Apart would sound perfect with bagpipes. A pleasant surprise which still strikes a chord after 20 years.
The Skopje Connection – Branko, Branko, Branko (Live)
Three of the finest musicians Macedonia has to offer combine with Dutch cellist Ernst Reijsinger for an amazing concert I was privileged enough to attend.
The lineup for the evening:
Dzijan Emin – Melodeon
Luca Aquino – Trumpet
Georgi Sareski – Guitar
Ernst Reijseger – Cello
Enrico Blumer deserves a load of credit for making this collaboration happen. He has been a gift to the Skopje music scene.
[Video] Zlatko Origjanski feat. Beni Shaqiri – Generale
Though I am a big fan of Zlatko’s work (as evidence by the previous post featuring his old band, Lola V. Stain), I can’t say I was a big fan of Beni’s in the past. He seemed like a great guy, decent to the core of his bones, but his music never quite moved me, as it reminded me too much of 80s power ballad tripe that I ran away from in Los Angeles.
Hearing this piece has caused me to utterly reevaluate his music. This seems precisely what he was made to be doing, and Zlatko is bringing out the best in him Bravo to both!
[Video] Lola V. Stain – Makova Polja
Lola V. Stain were one of the founding members of Macedonian ethnocore. The project, featuring Zlatko Origjanski, gave a platform to musicians like Goran Trajkoski, who would found Anastasia, as well as the legendary gaija player Pece Atanasovski.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 