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Vlatko
Stefanovski was born in 1957 in Prilep, Macedonia in a
theatrical family. He started playing guitar at the age of 13. In his
late teens he formed the group “Leb i sol”. It became one of the biggest
names in the ex-Yu music scene. The band played a particular style of
fusion music, a blend of Macedonian traditional irregular rhythms and
contemporary rock. “Leb i sol” released 13 albums and toured around the
world. Recently Stefanovski has developed a very successful career. His
first solo release “Cowboys and Indians” (199 4) showcased his various
interests, from deep ethno roots to ambient moods and classic blues. The
second CD “Sarajevo” (1996 ) was a benefit project for the UNICEF Fund
for Children in Need. In May 1996 Vlatko formed his electric trio and
released their first CD for Third Ear Music in December 1998 . In 199 7
Stefanovski wrote the score for the motion picture “Gipsy Magic”
directed by Stole Popov, which was released as a soundtrack CD under the
same name.
he also made the music for the Turkish film “Journey to the Sun”
directed by Yesim Ustaoglu, which won two awards at the Berlin film
festival in 199 . 1998 saw the release of the album “Krushevo”, on which
Vlatko collaborated with the well known guitarist Miroslav Tadić. The CD
was released for MA Recordings, an audiophile USA / Japanese record
label. Vlatko and Miroslav promoted the album with three concerts at the
HI – FI 98 fair in Los Angeles and at the Skopje Jazz Festival 98 . In
199 they played in the Sava Center Hall in Belgrade and recorded their
“Live in Belgrade” CD which came out in March 2000. In the last couple
of years he has also played and recorded in France with the group
“Koreni” formed by the pianist Bojan Zulfikarpašić. He is also a member
of the group Balkan Horses Band, with some other great musicians from
seven Balkan countries. Vlatko appears as a special guest at Gibonni’s (Croatian
pop super-star) last two albums and big concerts, together with some
world class musicians like Manu Katche, Pino Paladino and Toni Levin,
among others. Stefanovski has contacts with many artists, musicians and
guitarists all around the world among which there are masters like Allan
Holdsworth and John McLaughlin. In the January 199 7 issue of “Guitar
player” Magazine the editors named Miroslav Tadić as one of 30 world
most radical and most individual guitar players. Tadić completed his
formal education in the USA after having studied in Italy and Yugoslavia.
He played and recorded a vide range of musical styles from baroque music
to classical music, blues, jazz and rock. He cooperated on several
projects with Terry Riley, Los Angeles Opera, Placido Domingo, Howard
Levy, Joachim Kuhn, Dušan Bogdanović, Vlatko Stefanovski, Theodosi
Spassov, Kudsi Erguner, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, L. Shankar, Markus
Stockhausen, Mario Joao, David Thorn and Jack Bruce, among others. He
has a wide popularity in Europe, Japan and the USA. |
