Macedonian Postcards

Dragi talks about the many different versions and story lines of this central Macedonian song, which serves as the theme music for our podcasts.

This song from northern Macedonia describes a mother's fears for her son marrying a woman from another village. Dragi also discusses the passing down of cultural traditions, and the population mix of villages in past generations.

This song praises the master of the house. Dragi talks about how popular this song is, sung by everyone at special occasions. He also talks about the song's first recording ist, Angelko Spirkovski.

This song from the Skopje region features the gajda (bagpipe). Dragi learned it from a recording by the famed Trio Kučkovki, and he talks about the trio, led by Zvezda Dimovska, and also about Stojka Stojkovska.

Dragi talks about this song from southeast Macedonia, and discusses Irina Bujuklieva, the little-known singer who introduced it.

Dragi talks about this song from the Kumanovo area and about sedenkas—working bees—and his personal experiences with them in his family.

Dragi talks about this Tetovo song and the group that recorded it, Braḱa Gavrovski. He also talks about ornamenting songs and the possible identity of Kara-Mustafa.

For this song from north-central Macedonia, Dragi talks about the origin of the lyrics and four different versions. He also discusses Dragica Mavrovska.

For this song from north-central Macedonia, Dragi talks about the category of songs having to do with young men or woman who are awakened from sleep. He also talks about how this song is connected with his younger daughter.

Dragi talks about the Tetovo dialect, how songs spread from one village to another, the meaning of "young bride", and the symbol of the moon in folk songs.