Macedonia is pretty much in shock of the death of popular pop artist Vlado Janevski on Sunday 28 June.
Janevski is most famous outside of Macedonia for in 1998 being the country’s first ever Eurovision entrant. Not even in the decades when Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia was there ever a Macedonian selected to go to Eurovision.
In Macedonia, Janevski was respected for his self-penned, whimsical and wry lyrics for his otherwise easy-listening and very Eastern European-style pop songs.
Janevski started his pop career in Macedonia in the 1990s in his early 30s – an age he admitted that many of his colleagues retire from the tight Macedonian pop scene. Prior to that, he had a brief period living in the USSR. Some of his songs were inspired from his time there, such as his hit Doma si e doma (Home is Home), where he sings about the golden domes on churches can't make up for the richness of life in Macedonia.
Some of his biggest hits included covers of popular Russian and Ukrainian pop songs, such as in the clip here of his 1999 hit Ne zaboravaj da se setish na mene (Don’t Forget to Remember Me), a cover of the Alena Apina’s 1997 hit Elektrichka (Commuter Train).
Janevski though was most connected to Chair, the multiethnic district in the northern part of Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, which he would often sing lovingly about. His song Chairska romantika (Chair Romance), one of his first solo hits, is also a signature of his.
This Vlado Janevski song is one of the unofficial anthems of Macedonia's capital Skopje
And this one, Eden baknezh (One Kiss) is a personal favourite. As the lyric goes, "put a full stop at the end of your name!"
In a reference to Dzvezdeno nebo (Starry Sky), one of Janevski’s biggest hits, mourners and fans of Vlado Janevski have been invited to come to Skopje’s largest arena this evening with candles to pay their respects.
As the organisers of the event have said: "Let his songs resonate once again, let the light from the candles be our 'thank you' and our presence be proof that great artists are never forgotten. Let us send him off with dignity. With song. With silence. With love. Because legends never die – they remain forever in the hearts of their people."
Почивај во мир легендо!
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