- country:North Macedonia
- style(s):Gypsy
- label:Accords Croisés
- artist posted by:Accords Croisés
Esma Redzepova is an emblematic character of the Rom (Gipsy) community of Macedonia. She was born in Skopje, where her father was a shoe shiner. She begins to sing very early, notably in the bounds of her family. She is only fourteen when Stevo Teodosievski discovers her, at the occasion of a young talents contest. A composer and an arranger, he gets from her parents the permission to take her to Belgrade where he marries her. After the death of Stevo, she continues her career, singing the good and the bad fortunes of the nomadic life of the Roms, or violent Love, by turns a source of despair or of bliss. Her harsh and heartrending voice, with a burning fervour, sustained by the doleful sound of the brass, made her deserve the nickname of ''Queen of the Gipsies''.