page_title: Esma Redžepova
section_title: Debut
hierarchical_section_title: Esma Redžepova / Music career / Debut
caption_attribution_description: English: Personal photo of Stevo Teodosievski, macedonian musician and humanitarian.
context_page_description: Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska was a Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian of Romani ethnicity. Because of her prolific repertoire, which included hundreds of songs, and because of her contribution to Roma culture and its promotion, she was nicknamed Queen of the Gypsies.
  She started to sing while she was a teenager in the 1950s, and her career spans over five decades. Her musical success was closely linked to her marriage with Stevo Teodosievski, who was a composer, arranger and director of a musical ensemble, the Ansambl Teodosievski. He wrote many of her songs and fully managed her career until his death in 1997. Her musical style was mostly inspired by traditional Roma and Macedonian music. Some other influences are also noticeable, such as pop music. Esma Redžepova started her career at a period when Romani music was very denigrated in Yugoslavia and Roma people considered it shameful for women to sing in public. Redžepova was one of the first singers to sing in Romani language on radio and television.
  Redžepova was particularly noted for her powerful and emotional voice. In 2010, she was cited among the 50 great voices in the world by NPR.
context_section_description: In 1956, Esma'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 who started singing in cafes at age 17. Among Roma people, such a career was viewed as inappropriate or shameful for an unmarried girl.
  Esma performed A bre babi sokerdžan, a Macedonian Roma traditional song. It was the first time a song in Romani was aired by the station. Esma won the contest, beating 57 other schools and winning 9,000 dinars. When Esma's parents learned about her success, they were upset and reluctant to let her follow a musical career. At that time, the only employment prospects for Roma singers were performing in cafes and restaurants.
  Stevo Teodosievski, an ethnic Macedonian musician and band frontman, was impressed by Esma's performance at the contest and hoped she might join his musical ensemble. Teodosievski was a self-taught man coming from a poor background, leading the large folk musical troupe Ansambl Teodosievski. He also worked for Radio Skopje and was a member of the League of Communists of Macedonia.
  As part of the local establishment, Teodosievski was somewhat of a visionary in holding the belief that Roma music could one day become esteemed and popular among non-Romani people. At that time, Roma music in Yugoslavia was disparaged and not considered suitable for radio or television. Furthermore, racism against Roma people was common in Macedonia and throughout Yugoslavia, and even Roma people themselves had a low opinion of Roma singers — especially female ones. Before Esma, Roma performers never sang in Romani on radio or television and hid their origins. Teodosievski had been promoting Roma music even before meeting Redžepova and faced harsh criticism in the media for it. However, he felt Esma could help him achieve his goals and perhaps even become one of the most prominent artists in the country. He convinced Esma's parents to let her go with him and join his ensemble. It was promised that Esma would only sing in reputable circumstances.
  When they met in Skopje, Stevo Teodosievski was not fully satisfied with Esma's voice. He encouraged her to train for long hours and enroll at the Academy of Music in Belgrade, where she studied for two years.
caption: Stevo Teodosievski, Esma's manager and later husband.
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