“WHEN I WAS A STUDENT” WITH OLIVER JOSIFOVSKI FROM “LJUBOJNA”: I USED TO SPEND MY WHOLE DAY AT THE ACADEMY, AND THEN SLEEP FOR AN HOUR AND HALF, WRITE HOMEWORK FOR AN HOUR AND HALF, AND SO ON THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT

Where are you going with your bed? Where are you going with that boat? Is that a bagpipe you’re carrying?… people used to shout at him as he was walking with his contrabass throughout Sofia attending a performance or a lecture while studying at the State Music Conservatory in Sofia.

Our established musician from Bitola is known as the founder of the group “Ljubojna”, which he leads with his wife Vera Milosheska-Josifovska. But that is only part of his rich two-decade musical opus. He is one of the founders of the famous band from Bitola – “Foltin” and is a member of several renowned Macedonian jazz ensembles. Josifovski is also one of the most sought-after composers for theatrical music. In fact, “Ljubojna” as a project arose from an engagement in the play “Parite se otepuvacka” (Money Kills). He has been a part of 130 plays in which he worked on music, but also several feature and documentary films, as well as ballet performances.

Oliver is one of the most regarded musicians in our country, and the collaborations with famous names such as Ibrahim Maluf, Gian Emin, Jure Pukl, Teodosij Spasov, Vasil Hadzimanov, Vlatko Stefanovski, Karolina Gocheva, Zoran Madzirov, Nigel Kennedy, Davor Jordanovski and others speak volumes about his reputation.

In the section “When I was a student”, which we create in cooperation with Fakulteti MK, we talked and reminisced about the faculty lectures, socializing, challenges.

When the music stopped playing at home, the songs continued at the neighbors’ place

Born into a musical family, where there was constant singing and playing, Oliver had a musical instrument in his hand since he was a child. The environment in which he grew up in Bitola had a great musical influence on him and he says that when the music at his house stopped, the songs continued at the neighbors’ place.

– The music always follows me. I have been playing musical instruments since I was very young. And then I knew that it would be good for me to pursue music and naturally the desire to expand my music education arose. I was born into a musical family. At our home, music was played all the time, and when the music stopped, it continued immediately at the neighbors’ place.

– I finished my primary education at the school “Gjorgji Sugarev” in Bitola, where we played sports all day. Until the fifth grade I was a super great and exemplary pioneer, and then…

He continued his secondary education in an architectural high school.

– I spend some time in Bitola and then ended up in Struga, where my classmates drew the programs for me all night while I was playing the guitar for them – he says.

When I used to stroll the contrabass around, people came out on their terraces thinking that the train was passing by

Like any top jazz musician, improvisation is one of Oliver’s strengths. He also used that skill when he needed help with transporting the contrabass through Sofia. He often walked to lectures at the State Music Conservatory in Sofia, where he studied jazz-contrabass. To make this massive instrument easier to transport, Oliver came up with a kind of wheel attached to the bass’ case, but it quickly started screeching and making noise so that everyone knew when he was passing by on the street.

– I lived in several private accommodations, but not in a dormitory because it was terribly far, and I performed in the evening, so I had to spend all the money for taxis, which were small. When I moved to the center of Sofia, I often walked on foot with the contrabass on my back, and then I invented a wheel that was supposed to be an aid for easier transportation. But that wheel started making an unprecedented noise after the first use, so the whole neighborhood came out on the terraces thinking that the train was passing on the street.

He really loved walking with the instrument through cities and places, and since the contrabass is a huge instrument, it was difficult to go unnoticed, so Oliver tells us about a few occasions:

– Where are you going with your bed? Where are you going with that boat? Is that a bagpipe you’re carrying? Or there’d be a kid who would ask “Mom, look at that huge violin!” and the mom would say “No, honey, that is not a violin. It’s a guitar.” …

– Once at home, in Bitola, during one of the winter holidays when everything was snowy and when there were no taxis or people on the streets, myself and two other friends were carrying the contrabass in our hands through the narrow streets in my Bair Maalo, carefully, lying down, and we came across an old lady. She was upset, stood aside, bowed her head, and she made the sign of the cross a.k.a. she crossed herself.

“Music is best learned outside of a class desk,” a professor told me

Contrabass, Harmony, Musical Aesthetics and, of course, Improvisation were Oliver’s favorite subjects during his studies. Even when he did not have lectures, he was constantly at the university, rehearsing, alone, or with the band he had with his colleagues at the time. “Music is best learned outside of a class desk,” a professor told Oliver at the time, who, given his constant presence on stage, understood the message well.

– I always put the subjects Contrabass, Harmony, Musical Aesthetics, and Improvisation first, while the subject Bass Guitar was not my favorite because of the professor, who had a passion and invented musical scales in his spare time. And so, when he started teaching in class, everything seemed unnecessarily complicated.

– I had an average of 9.67. I was at the academy all day and practicing, and we also had a band with which we rehearsed four times a week, hence the name “Four times a week”. The preparation of part of the exams was by playing in ensembles, part by playing and preparing by yourself, and part by a pencil in hand and headphones and a lot of work. There were times when, in addition to practicing all day at the academy, I slept for an hour and a half a night, then wrote homework for an hour and a half also. That would go on for the whole night.

Spend time on your instrument and hang out with the music

Without failing an exam and with only one overhaul due to dissatisfaction with the grade, Oliver graduated from the university in Sofia without any problem and on time. Always recognizable by his image and way of dressing, at that time being a punk, Oliver received advice on clothes from one of the professors, and it is still with him to this day.

– I usually dressed spontaneously, freely – punk. One day the professor sat me down and said: “I have something to tell you about clothes. “You have to be elegant in society.” For a long time I did not understand what he meant, but then I did. By the way, we usually hung out with the colleagues and musicians we played with and with colleagues from the drama industry. We often cooked and gathered. The students’ day in Bulgaria was on December 8 and was celebrated with many parties, and we, of course, had parties on other days as well.

– I did not fail any exam, but I took one overhaul because I was not satisfied with the grade in the subject Bass Guitar. I advise the new generations of students to spend their time on their instrument and on upgrading thЌemselves. To socialize with music and research that type of science – adds Oliver.