Music

“Makedonissimo”: when Macedonian folklore meets classical music

13/10/2023 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

The musical project “Makedonissimo”, desired and created by pianist Simon Trpčeski, reinterprets the folkloric tradition of North Macedonia through classical arrangements, without forgetting the traditional dances of the region, in a mix of ancient and contemporary

"In corpore sano", Serbia's hymn to health for Eurosong in Turin

05/05/2022 -  Nicola Dotto Belgrade

"(Umetnica) mora biti zdrava" [(The artist) must be healthy] is the warning and call to everyone's responsibility on the subject of health launched by Serbian artist Konstrakta, who will perform on the stage of the next "Eurovision Song Contest" of Turin. We interviewed her

Jazz, the music of freedom surviving the USSR

18/09/2020 -  Sheyda Allahverdiyeva

Nothing would suggest a local jazz tradition in Azerbaijan. Yet it is a genre that has developed, from the 1920s onwards, despite the Soviet period and the difficulties of the transition

From Tbilisi With Hate: Georgia's punk scene

15/05/2020 -  Onnik James Krikorian Tbilisi

A brothel turned into rehearsal studio: this is one of the images that best describe Georgia's punk scene of the last 30 years. A reportage among punk and metal teenage fans, with photos, videos, and a coming soon documentary

Opera in Azerbaijan

29/07/2016 -  Natalia Kawana

Azerbaijan can hardly be considered a typical opera destination. But the country has a lot to offer opera lovers: performances of Western and Eastern European masterpieces, its own compositions, which are a unique mixture of musical traditions, and excellent singers

The traditional music of Ulaş Özdemir

21/10/2014 -  Gianluca Grossi

His last piece of work was produced with the Forabandit, a musical ensemble that contaminates traditional Turkish music with the lyrical and musical experience of the Provençal troubadours and Persians rhythms. Interview

Fanfara Tirana

12/09/2013 -  Gianluca Grossi

Though certainly more funky and jazzy in their arrangements than their great-grandparents, Fanfara Tirana have in fact revived brass tradition in Albania. And they made it out in the world thanks to a collaboration with Transglobal

Musical Dialects of the South Caucasus

19/06/2013 -  Onnik Krikorian Tbilisi

Funded by a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, three students from the United States and Gibraltar are researching and recording traditional music in the South Caucasus to make it available online

Sezen Aksu, queen of Turkish pop

24/05/2013 -  Gianluca Grossi

The legendary singer, first Turkish female artist to have written lyrics and music to her own songs, has also made herself known for her care for human rights

Erkin Koray, the Turkish Jimi Hendrix

24/01/2013 -  Gianluca Grossi

Erkin Koray is one of the greatest Turkish musicians. He has contributed not only to rock, but also to psychedelic, world music and prog. This has earned him the nickname of the Turkish Jimi Hendrix

Shazalakazoo’s folk-step

28/12/2012 -  Gianluca Grossi

It is a sub-genre of the more popular turbo folk - and certainly a more elaborate one. It is called folk-step. Two of its greatest representatives are Shazalakazoo, a Belgrade-based electronic music duo

Dubioza about Europe

13/05/2011 -  Luka Zanoni

They won't be there, at Eurovision 2011. But their piece, called 'Euro Song', is already on everybody's lips. They are the Dubioza Kolektiv who want to to talk about Europe. And their efforts have been rewarded.

Bazaar Rhythms

08/04/2011 -  Marjola Rukaj

Cultural and ethnic crossroads and meeting place par excellence, the çarshija is also the place for finding some of the deepest roots of the Balkan musical heritage. Our inquiry

Novi Val

19/04/2010 -  Francesca Rolandi Belgrade

The New Wave in the former Yugoslavia: the social, cultural, and political coordinates of an underground phenomenon transcending the former republics.An interview with Dragica Vukadinović, curator of the exhibition "New Wave at the Skc (Student Cultural Centre) 1977-1989". The Belgrade Scene

Yugoslav vintage

14/04/2010 -  Luciano Panella

A new compilation of songs from the Yugoslav sixties and seventies has emerged, with the songs reinterpreted in a contemporary way. The producers of the three-disc trilogy are DJs Bakto, Woo-d, and Borka, three Slovenian deejays long active in the electro, hip-hop, and drum and bass fields

Kosovo: Music riots in Mitrovica

22/01/2010 -  Tatjana Lazarević Mitrovica

“The music by emerging bands tells of young people's bitterness for the surrounding world. Words are brutal, lyrics are cruel, and music soaks rebellion". A journey through the music scene in North Mitrovica and its young protagonists

Macedonia: He who sings means no evil

30/12/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Recently, a group of young protesters from Skopje seems to have chosen music as the credo of their civic and political activism. They protest by singing. They call themselves Raspeani Skopjani [Singing Skopjans], and their popularity has been growing

Pseudo-Emigrant Cabaret

28/09/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

With their passionate, non-conventional music, theatrical contaminations, and growing domestic and international success, "Foltin" looks like the next best thing in Macedonian music. Osservatorio interviewed the group's singer and front-man Branko Nikolov

The Loss of an Icon

07/11/2007 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Toshe Proeski, Macedonia's greatest pop star died in a tragic car accident, near Nova Gradiska in Croatia, on 16 October 2007. Macedonia lost not merely a star, but a humanist and a unifier, someone who could unify people Macedonians with Albanians, and former Yugoslavs, too.