Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska (, ; 8 August 1943 – 11 December 2016) was a Macedonian Romani vocalist, songwriter and humanitarian. She was nicknamed "the Queen of the Gypsies".
She started to sing while she was a teenager in the 1950s, and her career spans over five decades, which she began with Stevo Teodosievski, who became her mentor and husband. Due to racism against Romani people in Socialist Republic of Macedonia, she and Teodosievski lived in Belgrade until the breakup of Yugoslavia. Her musical style was mostly inspired by traditional Romani and Macedonian music. Some other influences are also noticeable, such as pop music. She was noted for her powerful and emotional voice. Redžepova is listed among the 50 Great Voices in the world by NPR. Redžepova was also noted for her extravagant attires and her turbans, as well as the use she made of typical stereotypes about Romani women, such as sensuality and happiness.
As part of her humanitarian engagement, she fostered 47 children with Teodosievski and supported various causes. She also involved in local politics in her hometown of Skopje as a member of VMRO-DPMNE. In 2010, she was awarded the Macedonian Order of Merit and in 2013, she was named National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia by president of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov. Together with Vlatko Lozanoski, she represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. Initially, they were supposed to sing the song "Imperija" (Empire), but that song caused controversy due to the depiction of monuments of Skopje 2014 in its clip, so a new song, "Pred da se razdeni", was chosen, with which they participated. The song failed to qualify for the final.
Early life and background Redžepova was born in a poor Xoraxane Muslim Romani family, on 8 August 1943 in the Romani neighbourhood of Toopana, Skopje, at that time annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria.Bulgaria During the Second World War, Marshall Lee Miller, Stanford University Press, 1975, , p. 128.
Her father Ibrahim lost a leg during a German bombing in Skopje in 1941 and had to rely on crutches as he was unable to afford a prosthetic. He had an Iraqi Jewish grandmother and a Catholic Romani grandfather. Ibrahim worked variously as a porter, circus strongman and shoeshiner. When Redžepova was a child, she carried the shoe shining supplies for him. Ibrahim sang and played drums and sometimes performed at weddings. Some of Redžepova's siblings accompanied him. Her mother Čanija was a seamstress who made šalvari for Romani people.
At the age of nine, Redžepova was introduced by her brother Fari to Skopje Romaines Pralipe, a local Romani music organisation, where she said that she was able to quickly learn complicated rhythms. Her mother encouraged her musical talents, so Redžepova and her brother soon joined their school's folklore group. Her parents insisted that all their children finish primary school. However, they expected Redžepova to get married in her teens. She resisted attempts by her parents to have her married. Per herself, she became emancipated and would wear flowered dresses instead of the dimije, the traditional attire for Romani girls at that time.
Music career
Debut
Pece Atanasovski, who worked for Radio Skopje, noticed her talent and invited her to participate in an amateur program named "The Microphone Is Yours." 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, Sajka, who started singing in cafes at the age of 17 and was disowned. She feared the anger from her parents if they were to find out because it was considered shameful for women to perform outside the family for strangers. Despite parental disapproval, she said her brothers supported her first steps towards a singing career.
At the age of 11, she was introduced to Stevo Teodosievski, an Eastern Orthodox ethnic Macedonian accordionist and folk music arranger who worked for Radio Skopje, by Medo Čun, a Romani clarinet player in his orchestra and a friend of her brother. Redžepova performed "A bre babi sokerdžan", a Macedonian Romani traditional song. She won the contest, winning 11,000,000 dinars. Per Redžepova, her parents learned about the award and became angry, but she promised her father that she would become a radio singer. In the 1950s, the only employment prospects for Romani musicians were performing in weddings and bars.
Per anthropologist Carol Silverman, Teodosievski was a visionary for having a vision of "taking Romany culture to a larger stage" and training Redžepova to stardom. According to 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. He convinced Redžepova's parents to let her join his ensemble, by stating that he would turn her into an artist.
Yugoslav years As part of Ansambl Teodosievski, she and Teodosievski began a career in the 1960s. In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Romani people were officially recognised as a national minority and were granted linguistic and cultural rights. Despite the official policy of multi-culturalism, Yugoslav music producers discriminated against Romani people. She and Teodosievski were affected by the racism of Macedonian institutions and the gossip of the public. At Radio Skopje, Teodosievski was derided by his colleagues for supporting Romani music. Per him, he was expelled from the League of Communists of Macedonia for supporting her. In the beginning of her career, they deliberately denied her opportunities. As a result, she and Teodosievski decided to move to Belgrade in the 1960s, the capital of Yugoslavia, to gain more opportunities. In 1962, she was the first Yugoslav artist to perform at the Olympia in Paris. In her early career, Teodosievski expanded her repertoire, arranged her tours and planned her career by allowing appearances for concerts and for radio and television recordings. Her early repertoire consisted of Macedonian folk songs.
Her signature song of the mid-1960s is "Čhaje Šukarije" (Beautiful Girl). She claimed that she wrote the melody and lyrics of the song, but Medo Čun also claimed to have contributed to the melody. Redžepova married Teodosievski in 1968, but they had to marry during the mourning period because of her father's death. At that time, it was unthinkable for Macedonians and Romani people to engage in mixed marriages, and both ethnic groups did not want to do it. She was well-received by her Macedonian fans. According to her cousin Šani Rifati, Romani people initially rejected her because she married a non-Romani man. For Romani people, Teodosievski's ethnic Macedonian ancestry was problematic. After achieving international stardom, she was eventually accepted by her compatriots. Yugoslav media characterised her with traits considered typical to Romani people: she was portrayed as hot blooded, happy and easy going, and genetically talented. Comments were often made about her dark skin. She and Teodosievski maintained these stereotypes as long as they were positive, constructing an image that depicted the Romani woman as beautiful, sensual, fiery, and respectable.
She was the first Balkan Romani musician to gain commercial success in the non-Romani world, the first Romani singer to perform in the Romani and Macedonian languages for non-Romani people, the first female Romani artist to record in Yugoslavia, the first Macedonian woman to perform on television, and the first Romani performer to appear in Romani-style dimije for non-Romani audiences. They recorded many albums and EPs, and took part in radio and television shows. At the end of the 1960s, Redžepova and Teodosievski founded a music school where they fostered and trained young disadvantaged boys, mostly Romani ones. Most of the musicians in Ansambl Teodosievski were trained in the school and some of them eventually achieved fame. In total, 47 boys attended that school. 5 of them were raised under their roof. All of the children received education, lodging, meals, and clothing for free, while Redžepova had the role an adoptive mother and vocal coach.
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. Yugoslavia was part of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Yugoslav artistic scene was subject to many international influences. Redžepova also performed several songs in other languages, such as Greek, Turkish, Hebrew and Hindi. 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. She gifted Gandhi šalvari and taught her how to tie a Romani headscarf. In addition to performing for Gandhi, Redžepova also sang for Josip Broz Tito, Reza Pahlavi and Muammar Gaddafi. Together with her ensemble, she performed for public audiences in several countries, including the United States, the Soviet Union, Mexico, Australia and Canada.
Career after the independence of Macedonia In Socialist Republic of Macedonia, because to the exclusion of the Romani people, her songs were not not on radio and television there for 25 years. In 1989, she settled in Skopje with her husband. After independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia went through difficult times. She released a selection of duets with Usnija Redžepova in 1994.Songs of a Macedonian Gypsy (CD Version), Smithsonian Folkways. Teodosievski died in 1997 at the age of 72. She toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts. In 1997 and 1998, she lectured Americans at the East European Folklife Center’s Balkan Music and Dance Workshops. At the 1998 Romska Vasilica singing contest in Macedonia, out of 9 singers, she was the only woman. In the 1990s, she started training female singers, including her protégée Eleonora Mustafovska.
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 other artists. In 2000, she collaborated with American klezmer trumpeter Frank London on the album "Chaje Shukarije", which contains new versions of the songs, and in the same year, she also collaborated with Macedonian composer Duke Bojadžiev on the album "Esma's Dream: Esma and Duke". In 2001, she collaborated with Italian guitarist/mandolinist Aco Bocina. In 2007 she collaborated with the French musician Titi Robin on songs of her album "Mon Histoire" (Accord-Croises). In 2002, she recorded a song named "Dani Su Bez Broja" (Days are endless) with the Croatian band Magazin, where she sang an introductory verse in Romani. In the same year, Redžepova had a duet with the Macedonian singer Toše Proeski. Her song titled "Naktareja mo Ilo Phanlja" (He closed my heart with a key) was inserted into the song "Magija" (Magic). Her song is about a woman whose boyfriend deceived her and married her best friend instead. She also recorded a song with the Bosnian band Crno Vino in 2005. On the international scene, she contributed towards the establishment of Romani music as a non-mass-market good, pleasing an urban and cultural elite. Her ensemble was criticised by audiences for using the synthesizer, an instrument that is not used in traditional Romani music, and was booed at a concert in Spain. She defended the use of the instrument by saying that Romani music has used modern instruments for a while.