The band Ljubojna, which most authentically conveys the pulse of the Macedonian traditional sound, has not only founded its work on its descending to the “source” but deeply immerses into what we call contemporary sound, the Macedonian music of the 21st Century with all its passion and vigor. It is an elegant music with rough rhythmic beat and intermingled music styles.

The band has performed Macedonian music for eight years and has announced it through the vocal expression of Vera Miloshevska. It is believed that she is a successor of the renowned Vanja Lazarova and Mirvet Belovska. The critics call her Vera the Nightingale. People say she enchants with her spontaneity of a cafe singer.

Two words brought Ljubojna to life, “ljubov” (love) and “boj” (battle). Its music is tied to the Macedonian life and founded on the Macedonian traditional music. The idea of the band is to utter music as one universal language. A great experience lies behind the musicians’ devoutness and an art passed down from the masters of this music.

At the moment Ljubojna is an institution with personnel that resembles the Israeli philharmonic orchestra. It works as an acoustic chalgia orchestra, an electro-acoustic band and as a brass band, and all these elements are fully functional. It has both original and traditional material in its repertoire.

For years the Macedonians lived in shame of its own music, wandering in the hallways of the world’s music, and that is a complex that has remained with the legacy of Yugoslavia. When the time came to face ourselves both individually and globally, regarding the culture or brands that we have built for ourselves during the passing years of independence, we found ourselves as empty as an empty basket. In that situation, all kinds of brands began to be made in the most guerrilla of ways. As a consequence it forced the whole culture into a cacophonic dead end and where we still are. In today’s terms adaptability is creativity. In a non-critical surrounding anything can be sold as creativity and finally the message is: creativity doesn’t pay off. On top of that is the closed political direction that is suffocating, an instant way of living that is pressuring, and here is its child – turbo folk music. That is why it is great when the good music is making a musical product that you can’t shut your eyes from it.

VERA MILOSHEVSKA – vocal
OLIVER JOSIFOVSKI – silent bass
BOJAN PETKOV – guitar
TRAJKO VELKOV – trumpet
BLAGOJ TRAJKOVSKI – clarinet
NAJDO SHAKIROV – electronic drums
DEMIR SHAKIROV – darabuka
DJ YO!RDAN – turntables

Ljubojna & Ismail Lumanovski – Izlegu Da Se Rasheta

Ljubojna – Mori cupi kosturcanki