Macedonia Culture and Literature

CULTURE: LITERATURE

The earliest texts in Macedonian are also the earliest Paleoslav writings. The apostles of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius, in fact used the Macedonian dialect in their writings, spoken NE of Thessaloniki (9th century). Their work was continued by the disciples among whom the bishop Clement stands out (ca. 840-916) who founded a literary and theological center in Ohrid. Medieval Macedonian literature includes a rich set of hagiographic writings, apocryphal gospels, tales and romances of chivalry. These productions, in a language closer to the current Bulgarian, cannot be considered as belonging to Macedonian literature. It is in fact only with the century. XIX that we can speak of Macedonian literature, as the territory, which fell under the Turkish yoke in 1371, remained passive there until the last decades of the nineteenth century. Forerunners of the literary revival were three clergymen: Joakim Krčovski (d. Ca. 1820), Kiril Tetoec Pejčinovik (ca. 1771-1845) and Teodosija Sinaitski (d. 1780-90), whose writings have a substantially moralizing and didactic character. In the second half of the nineteenth century the Macedonian national movement developed thanks to the work of some patriots who worked to ensure that the Macedonian language was introduced in schools and churches. As a result of this activity, many of them suffered persecution, exile and imprisonment. Main exponents of the national revival were the brothers Dimitrija (1810-1862) and Konstantin (1830-1862) Miladinov. Dimitrija collected the Bulgarian folk songs published in 1861 by his brother Konstantin. The original verses of the latter instead mark the beginning of modern Macedonian poetry. The poet of the century. Nineteenth with the greatest talent was Grigor S. Prličev (1830-1893), also an exponent of that second generation of writers who fought with great commitment for the rights of Macedonians. His epic poem Il serdaro, written in Greek and translated by himself into Macedonian, earned him the nickname “second Homer”.

The division of Macedonia after the Balkan wars (1912-13) and especially after the First World War between Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece, it had serious consequences for the development of culture. Several writers were forced to live and work abroad. Also of fundamental importance is the work of Krste Misirkov (1874-1926) On Macedonian issues, in which the problem of the political-cultural autonomy of the Macedonian people is addressed. This essay, seized by the Bulgarian authorities and written in the language of Central Macedonia, provided the foundation for the Macedonian literary language. In the period between the two wars, some poets stood out, including Kočo Račin (1908-1943), author of a collection of lyrics, Bianchi albori, which reflects in a touching way the socio-political condition of the Macedonians in the Yugoslavia of the Karađorđevićs, and Kole Nedelkovski (1912-1941), who published the two collections of verses Lightning and Walking around the world. Macedonian literature flourished after the Second World War, when Macedonia became one of the Republics of the Yugoslav Federation.

According to globalsciencellc, the recognition of the Macedonian language as an official language contributed to the development of the letters. Contemporary authors include Slavko Janevski (1920-2000) who wrote the first novel in Macedonian language, The village beyond the seven ash trees, and Blaže Koneski (1921-1993), poet, philologist and literary historian; Aco Šopov (1923-1981) was inspired in his works by the war of national liberation in Yugoslavia. Among the writers who established themselves in the last decades of the twentieth century, at least the names of Vlado Maleski (1919-1984), Srbo Ivanovski (b.1928), Ante Popovski (1931-2003), Dimitar Solev (1930-2003), Simon Drakul (1930), both narrators of great psychological introspection, Živko Čingo (1936-1987), Radovan Pavlovski (b.1937). The emerging writers of Macedonian literature following the collapse of the former Yugoslavia often tackle with grotesque accents themes related to the great Balkan crisis and the role of Macedonia and the ethnic groups that make up its human landscape, such as Jordan Danilovski (b.1957), also a poet and literary critic, Hristo Petreski (b.1957), Sasho Gigov (b.1968) and Ermis Lafazanovski (b.1961).

CULTURE: MUSIC

The Macedonian musical tradition is influenced by the influence of the different ethnic groups that inhabit the region and that of the neighboring countries, so the typical elements are relat. few and found above all in the rhythmic and modal range. With the foundation in the century. IX by Saints Cyril and Methodius of a school on Lake Ohrid where sacred singing was taught, a musical tradition was born which had in J. Kukuzele its greatest theorist. The Turkish occupation prevented us from continuing on this road and only at the end of the century. XIX Macedonian music resumed its path: musical societies were born in Skopje and the first real Macedonian musician A. Badev (1860-1908) was active. In 1944 the State Symphony Orchestra was founded in Skopje. The first Macedonian opera was The Drums (1951-53) by KV Makedonski. As in many countries of the socialist bloc, in Yugoslav Macedonia the preparation of instrumentalists and soloists was of a high level, and the presence of cultured music composers capable of creatively reworking the Macedonian musical tradition, such as Blagoja Ivanovski (1921-1994), Vlastimir Nikolovski (1925-2001), or Dragan Shuplevski (b.1933). In the years following the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the civil war in the Balkans, Macedonia also experienced an intense production of ethnic music played by politically engaged underground groups, which mix traditional Macedonian or Gypsy rhythms, Orthodox choral polyphonies and Western rock music, such as the Anastasia or the Kismet; the best known Roma musicians, also internationally, are the singer Esma Redzhepova and above all the Kochani Orkestar, a Roma group that has known international success thanks to the film Underground by Serbian director Emir Kusturica.