Krushevo (Dig)

Miroslav Tadic, Vlatko Stefanovski | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: M.a. Recordings
• ASIN: B00000IJG3
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,377 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Gajdarsko Oro

2. Jano, Mori

3. Jovano Jovanke

4. More Cico Rece Da Me Zeni

5. Proseta Se Jovaka Kumanovka

6. Ni Prela Gora Ni Tkala

7. Dafino Vino Crveno

8. Izlezi, Vido

9. Ajde Da Liznaes, Pametis Milice

10. Oj. Ovcarce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Odd-meter rhythms, archaic tunes and two virtuoso guitarists, June 10, 2001

By 

Primoz Peterlin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Krushevo (Dig) (Audio CD)

What can be the outcome when two virtuoso guitar players with similar cultural roots, but different musical careers meet for a common project? In mid-seventies, Vlatko Stefanovski founded the Macedonian art-rock group Leb i sol (Bread and salt, the traditional Slavic welcome), which gained international fame and recorded in total 13 albums before the group was dismissed in the early nineties. In his subsequent solo career, Stefanovski turned more towards etno and jazz, recorded more albums, and wrote music theatrical performances and motion pictures. Miroslav Tadic, also a former Yugoslavia native, left his home country during study, which led him to Italy and finally USA. Since 1985, he has been teaching at the Californian Institute of Arts in Los Angeles. In their January 1997 issue, the editors of GUITAR PLAYER magazine voted Miroslav Tadic one of the world's 30 most radical and individual guitarists.

In summer of 1997, Stefanovski and Tadic met for a recording session in Makedonium, in the small town Krushevo in the central Macedonia. Two acoustic guitars are recorded in a specific, almost sacred, chapel-like atmosphere of the interior of the Ilinden uprising memorial site monument.

Recorded are ten Macedonian folk songs or dances - usually in an odd-meter rhythms and archaic scale structures - arranged for two acoustic guitar players (Tadic plays flamenco guitar on most tracks, and Stefanovski plays dobro on the last two tracks). The sound is clear with no often disturbing studio post-processing. Indeed, the guys sound just as splendid when you hear live (I had one such privilege at the Ljubljana Jazz festival last year).

The whole project bears resemblance in spirit with earlier John McLaughlin/Paco De Lucia fusion sessions. If you like them, it is worth giving this album a chance, for not only you will hear two virtuoso guitarists at their best, but will bring you to - most likely - new and exotic rhythms and tunes of Macedonia.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A revelation to jaded ears., November 8, 2002

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Krushevo (Dig) (Audio CD)

One of the great things about Amazon for us parochial American types is that it allows us to explore more of the many insanely rich traditions of music that abound all over the planet. This CD is an exemplar of what we are missing.
This CD presents Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic playing the music of Macedonia. The liner notes are careful to distinguish the Macedonia that used to be the southern part of Yugoslavia (where this music comes from) from the Macedonia area of northern Greece. It was recorded in June of 1997 inside the Macedonium Monument in Krushevo, Macedonia. The music is beautifully recorded and it is deserving of that treatment.
The compositions are based on traditional melodies. The technique of these players is impeccable and their musical sensibilities have been informed by many different styles of playing: classical, flamenco, jazz, rock among others. One of the pieces, "Jano, mori", sounds like something Bill Frisell might do if he knew this material. Other times, these guys remind me of Ry Cooder or Paco De Lucia.
In the end, however, all such comparisons are mostly irrelevant. They merely serve to suggest to American ears the level of which Stefanovski and Tadic play.
What is important is the merger of player and material. Stefanovski and Tadic sounds as if this tradition of folk melodies is at the core of their musical souls. This is rich, somber, wonderful music being beautifully played by musicians who love it. If you love guitar music, this CD belongs in your collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balkan Music on a Power Trip!, January 9, 2003

By 

Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Krushevo (Dig) (Audio CD)

Yamaha electric steel-string guitars provide the power surge and circuit revision to this already exotic and odd-metered Macedonian traditional music. The experiment works! Traditional folk tunes such as "Gajdavsko Oro", "Jano Mori", "Jovano Jovanka", "Dalino Vino Crveno", "Ajde Da Li Znaes pametis Milice" sound great when when played on the Sakura nylon guitar and Yamaha steel-stringed guitar. The melodies and rhythms remain unaltered but the quality of music becomes 21st century ... I love Macedonian folk music & the musicians ensure that the musical scales which create its uniqueness remain intact. *IF* you are a risk taker you'll have no regrets hearing Balkan music with a "new attitude". Erika Borsos (erikab93).