Today I’m starting on an exciting musical venture, meeting a
musician, a trumpet player from Kočani who will teach me some music and show me
the town.
The day started by me winning a bet I had been running with
Miki – he bet on the coach being empty, with three or less people travelling with me. I held
5 or more against it… In the end the whole coach was packed, not one free space !!! I
documented this on video as proof, to collect my win of a burek in the best
place of Skopje…
Elam Razidov had gotten in touch via facebook already a year ago. He
thought I would be able to organise concerts for him and his orchestar in
London. After realising this won't be the case, we settled on a lesson one day, when I would be in Macedonia. Due to language barriers the first 6 months of our communications were limited to ‘Zravo, kako si’ (Hi, how are you) until my
Serbian improved.
Kočani is quite a modern town, not beautiful, but nice. I
was picked up from the bus station, after waiting…waiting…waiting…
We drove to
his house up the hill, in the local Romani settlement. One could right away
see, that here the Romani people were far better off then in Šutka.
There were
clear differences visible though of who had worked in the west (quite a few), who
had a good job in Macedonia itself (few), or who was a musician in a recognized
orchestar (the best houses!). Though from the outside, most houses looked
half-built, from the inside all was very clean and tidy, and furnished fairly
luxuriably in their own fashionable way.
His whole family was there when we arrived, wife, daughter,
grand children. After the obligatory coffee, we started a very intense session
of 5 hours, in which I learned a number of pieces. After we had gone through
the first few moments, where Elam quickly made his judgement if I need to be
put into the category of ‘stupid westerner mad for Balkan music but lacking any
musical substance’ - I did (of course) land on the bright side of that, we had an intense
session, where he taught me a few pieces, which I can share with my friends and
in the west, but definitely not with any other Balkan musician, as those pieces
are like a secret, they are holy, and exclusively for me and for the West !
learning 'Bolna Ležam' - by Elam Razidov
When I was offered a ‘light lunch’ of eggs, sausages,
cheese, and even a proper salad, he drew the conversation to professional
matters, and I received an ‘official’ invitation to play with his orchestar –
brilliant, now I’m a member of two renowned Macedonian brass ensembles, I have
never had those career opportunities in London ! In the upcoming few months I
shall go to Pakistan, India, all over the Balkans and god knows where else.
One of the beauties of Romani culture is they have
imagination, and they let their dreams become true in fantasy. So we are both
well aware that this is never going to happen, but it is very enjoyable to run through
those fantasies as if they would be true…
Elamoro - also by Elam Razidov, as the name says already...
After the session, we went into town for a coffee, and some
‘sight-seeing’. Not that there is much to see, all is quite modern and mostly well
kept.
I was brought back to the bus station, invited back for a longer stay in
his house and so on and on… We will see, if this shall remain a part of the
Romani-fantasy world of the 13th August 16, or if I will come back
for a continuation of this venture in the in the future.
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