留學essay：A Popular Guitarist In Yugoslav

Vlatko Stefanovski,是前南斯拉夫最受歡迎的吉他手之一,進而,在南斯拉夫音樂界因為rock-ethno-jazz樂隊演奏Leb i Sol (面包和鹽)影響巨大和他的單飛生涯在“世界音樂”作為非常有影響力的吉他手的風格。Vlatko的成功是因為他喜歡玩音樂,不是流行和擁抱世界的場景的音樂。盡管他的風格對當時耳朵轉向西方的觀眾來說是全新的, Vlatko通過創建和玩前衛搖滾，爵士樂和植物的聲音的獨特組合成功地使傳統音樂更貼近年輕觀眾。
 

Prilep Vlatko Stefanovski生于1957年,南斯拉夫,今天的馬其頓境內。他13歲時得到了他的第一把吉他。有趣的是,Vlatko在想如何會彈吉他。他沒有音樂教育，然而職業生涯和生活都是關于音樂。這并不奇怪,因為特別是在20世紀和21世紀,很多大明星都很少或沒有音樂教育。“這和你彈得好有關,不是有多少從不同的音樂機構的證書和文憑”, Vlatko說。1970年代和今天相比是一個非常困難的時期去學習,得到音樂信息這是一個挑戰，網絡徹底改變了在各個領域以及音樂中信息的取得。Vlatko表示,他的主要學習工具是留聲機。然而,他對吉他的熱情幫助他克服挑戰,當時是令人不安的年輕音樂家。
 

他在青少年晚期組了樂隊““Leb i Sol”意思是“面包和鹽”講述本身這個時期基本和傳統的東西。樂隊的形成后不久, Leb i Sol成為最偉大的樂隊之一在前南斯拉夫樂壇。
 

Vlatko Stefanovski, one of the most popular guitarists in ex-Yugoslavia and further, had a huge impact on Yugoslav music scene with his rock

-ethno-jazz band Leb i Sol (Bread and Salt) and still with his solo career is very influential guitarist in the “World Music” genre. Vlatko’s formula for success was playing music he liked, not music that was popular and embraced by the world scene. Even though his style was totally new to the audience whose ears were turned to the West, Vlatko succeeded in bringing traditional music closer to the younger audience by creating and playing unique mix of progressive rock, jazz and ethno sound.

 

Vlatko Stefanovski was born in 1957 in Prilep, Yugoslavia, the territory of Macedonia today. He got his first guitar when he was 13 years old. Interestingly, Vlatko thought himself how to play guitar. He has no musical education and yet, his career and his life are all about music. This is no big surprise, because especially in the 20th and 21st century, many big stars have little or no music education. “It matters how well you play, not how many diplomas and certifications from different music institutions you have”, states Vlatko. 1970s were very hard times to learn and it was a challenge to get to the information, compared to today, where internet revolutionized information access in all fields as well as music. Vlatko stated that his main learning tool was gramophone. However, his passion for the guitar helped him overcome challenges that at that time were troubling young musicians.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

In his late teens he formed the group “Leb i Sol” meaning “Bread and Salt” and speaks itself about this term of hospitality as something basic and traditional. Soon after the formation of the band, Leb i Sol, became one of the greatest names on the ex-Yugoslav music scene. In the late 1970s and the early 1980s most band from Yugoslavia were trying to imitate and copy the style of the rock-pop bands from the western world. The audience liked western culture and music, and musicians knew that western rock/pop style was the way to gain popularity and make money. However, Vlatko Stefanovski had different vision. His band, Leb i Sol, played a particular style of fusion music that no one on the territory of Yugoslavia heard before. Leb i Sol was pursuing a unique blend of Macedonian ethno melodies with traditional odd rhythms (7/8, 9/8, 11/8) and contemporary rock. In his first albums like Rucni rad 1979 (Hand Work) and Zvucni zid 1986 (Sound Wall), I could hear that his music style and playing was heavily dependent on motifs from folklore and tradition. He claimed many times that he unconsciously started to experiment with traditional music and transform it into rock. “It was not a plan to get to the market. It is provoking tradition and attempt to add something mine.” Vlatko found his inspiration in Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton. He played Rolling Stones as a teenager, those were challenges for him. And then from electric music, he came to traditional music. It was not the other way. Everyone else, especially people from Yugoslavia were gravitating towards very influential Western music. “I never understood, how that works. Everyone gravitates towards music that is not played in their country. People from Belgrade want rock band from Britain to satisfy their music needs while, Yugoslavian emigrants from Austria are very nostalgic about Yugoslavian, domestic music. It seems that people are not usually satisfied with the music they are surrounded with.”

 

It was not expected that popular band will come from the small city from the small province. Leb i Sol surprised Macedonia as well as the rest of Yugoslavia. Macedonia is very interesting musical environment. It has beautiful traditional and folk music and many, many talented musicians. Best percussionist and the best rhythm sections come from Macedonia. Although Macedonia is a very small country and placed aside, it had music that was very authentic. Beside influences from Ottoman Empire, Byzantine and Greeks, Macedonia succeeded in keeping something unique. Leb i Sol was very new to Macedonia as well as rest of Yugoslavia, however their sound was the sound that comes from the roots of Macedonian traditional music and was very familiar. Audience, at first very surprised by the new sound of Vlatko’s band, reacted very positively to the tunes that were played and listened to by their grand, grandfathers, but now wrapped in the modern and more appealing rock sound. When Leb i Sol first started playing on the summer music festivals, their sound was very different form the sound of the other bands that were heavily influenced by Western rock culture. Traditional music lines were recognizable in their songs and covers, but that was all covered in rock sound, with distorted guitars, electric basses and drums. They did not have anyone to be compared with. Vlatko’s motto was that sometimes to be popular you do not necessarily have to follow trends. Leb i Sol released 13 albums, and toured around whole Yugoslavia and further. Audience recognized their perseverance, consistence and true devotion to the music and disagreement to commercialize. Therefore Vlatko and his band, slowly conquered Yugoslav popular music scene. The band made a name for itself with its live and memorable performances, which even at quite an early stage of its career gave it an opportunity to perform in front of a crowd of 100,000 people.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

In the early 1990s, Yugoslavia started to break into smaller countries. Some split ups were peaceful while others were followed by the civilian war. Whole Balkan was under pressure and fear of more war and more deaths. Politicians and population of Yugoslavia were split up. One group wanted independence while others wanted to stay together in one big country as before. As seen in the other countries earlier, politics always had an effect on the media, and popular music specifically. Same situation occurred in Yugoslavia. Some celebrities went to politic paroles and demonstrations, using their popularity to pursue nation to choose their opinion, either split or stay together. Many musicians and other celebrities wanted Yugoslavia to stay as it is. The question is simple: Is it better to be popular within 20 million people or play/sing in your own backyard? Vlatko is very passionate about music and art in general. That explains why he was not involved into politics or anything else that does not deal with music and art in general. He is not interested in politics at all. He only wants to play. That is what he did during the period when Yugoslavia was breaking apart and kept becoming better and better. Fantastic guitarist and composer, very good man after all, stayed clean in time that had influenced everyone in Yugoslavia. He kept his innocence thanks to the music and guitar. In my opinion, last thing on people’s mind was music. Vlatko stated many times in his interviews that this period was the hardest for his career. “It was very complicating to play and produce music when all those things were happening in the country where my music was the most popular. I was thinking about moving out of Yugoslavia, but at that time I got married and my daughter was born. Changes seemed to be unavoidable but there were not a lot of possibilities to escape. It was very hard. Again, I was lucky that Macedonia was not in war directly with anybody at that time, so I could slowly travel within Macedonia and play.” One big challenge that was facing all musicians after the separation of former Yugoslavia was creating relations with the newly formed countries. When it comes to separation and declaration of new, independent countries, it is possible that audience that was once listening to your music now might claim you as a foreign artist and refuse to listen to your work. However Vlatko did not have as much trouble since he was not involved in politics and never had breaks in connection with the audience in ex-Yugoslavia.

 

Due to the situation in the country and all other difficulties facing the band, Leb i Sol split in 1991 and band members started solo careers. Vlatko started to work on projects for movies and plays, and collaboration with other musicians. Cowboys and Indians was his first solo album published in 1994. This album showcased his various interests from deep ethno roots to ambiental moods and classic blues. In 1996, Vlatko formed his first electric trio and released the first Vlatko Stefanovski Trio CD in 1998. Soundtrack that especially brought my attention is Kalajdzisko Oro. It’s a traditional Macedonian dance, however as with most any Vlatko’s songs, Kalajdzisko Oro got whole new dimension with electric guitar, electric bass and drums. I find it very interesting, how the same tune and melody can be transformed, improvised, more energetic, and simply made more appealing to the audience of the 21st century. Same year, Vlatko recoded “Krushevo” with well known guitarist Miroslav Tadic, professor of classical guitar at the Californian Institute of Arts in Los Angeles. The outcome of two virtuoso guitar players with similar cultural roots, but different musical careers was quite different from what the audience was hearing from Vlatko before. It was his first all-acoustic album of Macedonian folk songs and dances, usually in odd-meter rhythms, played only by two classical guitars, by Vlatko and Miroslav. The whole album resemblances the earlier fusions of two extraordinary guitarists, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia. Vlatko claims he does not like to play same things for the long time. “I get nervous. I like to dig out some melodies that were not played a lot or are totally unknown. I always move through the music. I’m very curious and I always found new things that I will be playing. Miroslav thought that people from North America and other parts of the world did not hear music that I played mostly in Yugoslavia. And he was right.” Vlatko’s most recent album Thunder From The Blue Sky published in 2008 is his first blues-only album. Popular Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman played with Vlatko on this album.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Vlatko Stefanovski’s popularity has been decreasing within young, teen audience. His old fans continued to listen to him after breakup of the country, but he was not gaining any youth audience. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, newly formed countries did not promote Vlatko’s or any “good music” from ex-Yugoslavia through media. Second, Yugoslavia faced economic crash and sanctions. This affected young people especially who did not have option to explore the music that was not distributed by the mass media within Balkan. There was no internet, and whole generation was surrounded by the music, mix of folk and pop, whether they liked it or not. Audience that was listening to Vlatko’s music before 1990s continued to be his fans. However, young people had no option and no opportunity to find this guitar virtuoso and his fantastic work. I will take myself as an example. I was born in 1992 in Yugoslavia. First time I heard Vlatko’s music or Leb i Sol was in 2006, since I play guitar and wanted to cover some ethno song from my motherland. Many of my friends that still live in Yugoslavia, heard but do not listen to his music. Vlatko did not want to commercialize and this decision had a different effect from the effect in 1970s and 1980s. His said many times that sadly, today’s audience does not how to listen to music, how to filter good quality music from garbage.

 

Vlatko claimed many times that his goal is not to be a big star. Vlatko’s passion for music and not for popularity, unlike some other popular musicians, explains why there were no scandals about him and why he was not involved into politics or anything else that does not deal with music and art in general. Unlike many today’s stars, who get popular by going from scandal to scandal, paparazzi photo to paparazzi photo, Vlatko does not need to get his fans by stories published in entertainment sections of the newspapers and magazines; his music promotes him. He is well known for his good heart and calm life. Vlatko held many free, humanitarian concerts for people with disabilities and people in need such as the benefit project ‘Sarajevo’ (1996) for the UNICEF Fund for Children in Need. Besides humanitarian work, Vlatko also uses his talent to promote Macedonian culture. Most Balkan countries have two official alphabets, Cyrillic and Latin. There has been many controversies on which alphabet should be used and promoted on products, ads and so on. Due to growing English language influence in the world through media, young generations gravitate towards using Latin alphabet. That is why Vlatko composed a song called “Kirilica” (Cyrillic). He performs the song with the children’s choir, calling all people of Macedonia to write using the Cyrillic alphabet because it is tied to their history and national identity. In many of his interviews he stated that people should appreciate foreign cultures and respect their own. Today, he lives in Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia, with his family. Vlatko works in his home studio, while playing concerts during summer.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Vlatko’s unintentional success as he claimed and his goal to enter deep into tradition to take something from it and add something from rock and blues, and to bring tradition closer to the young generations at 1970s and 1980s seemed to give a great boost to his career. Leb i Sol was a band that at the time was superior when it came to its playing capabilities. They laid the foundations for what in the Balkans is known as ethnic or world music. They approached the folklore in a very spontaneous and brave manner, while retaining their image of a rock'n'roll band. This turned out to be a very good strategy, since young audience at that time was mainly listening to the Western music style. Playing the music you like, not music that was popular and embraced by the world scene, can sometimes bring you more popularity then you or anyone else might expect.