My Last Song: A Tribute to Macedonia’s Gypsy Queen

As the title suggests, this album contains the last recordings of extraordinary North Macedonian vocalist Esma Redžepova, recorded in 2016 before her death in December that year. These six songs from one of the region’s legendary Gypsy stars make this a significant release. Composed, mostly, by accordionist Simeon Atanasov, who has led her band since the death of her husband Stevo Teodosievski, these romantic love songs suit her voice perfectly. Her wonderfully rugged, cracked tones are splendid on ‘Svirete Ja (Play for Me)’. They alternate with upbeat songs by Filip and Rade Nunevski, who respectively play trumpet and saxophone/clarinet in the Nune Brothers band. These songs have a more contemporary flavour and almost sound like Shantel-style Balkan pastiche complete with the drinking and partying stereotypes. Some of the lyrics, curiously, are in English. So the two elements are quite different, but the Nune Brothers did join Redžepova on her final tours, so musically the fit is fine. There are some excellent instrumental solos and the last recordings from Esma Redžepova are indeed wonderful.