“ON THE LADDER OF SUCCESS” WITH NOKAUT’S NIKOLA PEREVSKI – PERE: IN FACT, WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A SPECIAL INSPIRATION OF MINE
– I had my first contact with music when I was just two years old, when my father brought a mini piano at home, one of those with small keys. And to this day I remember that wonderful sound that opened me to a new world, in which I still live, the one I still explore. In fact, my first big passion was sport. As a child I was obsessed with skiing, football, athletics, and especially with basketball, which I was devoted to for a longer period of my childhood. But because of a split of circumstances, music happened to win.
This is the way, Nikola Perevski-Pere, the frontman of the cult group “Nokaut”, began his musical story, from the very beginnings to the status of one of our eluted music authors and performers. With the band Nokaut, he has made 4 studio and two live albums, but they are only a part of the rich musical opus of Perevski. It is enough to mention that he is the author of over a hundred songs, many of which can be called anthological pop Macedonian tracks.
– If I have to pick out a song as a favorite, then I’d say “Znaesh kade da me najdesh”, although it is really difficult for me to choose from all of them, including “Bestraga”, “Lebedot bel”, “Od nas zavisi”, “Sakam da zhiveam”, “Za nas “… However, I would say that while I was writing “Znaesh kade da me najdesh”, I felt as if I had some deep premonition, some kind of sign that I was creating a wonderful piece of work. Proof that I was right were the audience’s reactions as well as the ones from our devoted fans – says Pere for his most famous tracks.
Sport – his first big passion
Born in Skopje, he was in direct contact with music since the age of two, when he received a mini piano as a gift.
– I grew up in the city center, more precisely in Pelister Maalo, and then moved to Radishani. I still remember the address, “Simce Nastevski” No. 35a. Although far from the center, however, the road continually led me through Pelister Maalo, first because I remained to study in the then “Brakja Ribar” elementary school, which today is called “Dimitar Miladinov”. Also, my grandparents used to live there. Of course, I must mention that I spent the holidays in Kumanovo, with my other grandparents. As I grew up, I discovered new instruments that helped me discover new aspects of music. Next were the bongo drums, which I received for my third birthday. Two years later I received a quarter violin, and the rest is history. The musical gene has previously existed in my family. My father, to this day, plays the harmonica from time to time and together with my brother they play blues or rock melodies. My mother’s side is also musically gifted. Her uncle, Chaslav Tripkovski, was a music professor and conductor of the women’s choir in Kumanovo.
My first big passion was sport. As a child I was obsessed with skiing, football, athletics, and especially with basketball, which I was devoted to for a longer period of my childhood. In fact, it was so good to me (I know, is not for belief given my height), and I was regularly the best player of inter-school matches. But because of a split of circumstances, music happened to win. The rhythm, melody and tone vibrations were louder than the sound of the basketball court’s parquet, the cheering and the basket hitting the ground. Music still echoes everywhere around me, and the sport remained to be my love as a passionate supporter.
He started with the violin, and ended up with guitar and keyboards
Pere quickly realized that his place was in music and that he would like to do it for the rest of his life. At the age of 5, he began his musical education, at the elementary music school “Ilija Nikolovski-Luj”, and his first instrument was violin. He started with classical music, and later became obsessed with rock, funk, pop and jazz music.
– The feeling of knowing where I belong, where I feel fulfilled, completely overtook me at an early age. Fortunately, it turned out that I was right. I started music education at the age of 5 in the preparatory year at the elementary music school “Ilija Nikolovski-Luj”, where a year later I started playing the violin. It was the instrument that I first started practicing and studying, but I ended up playing guitar and keyboards.
I studied classical music from the earliest age. Later, I switched to rock, specifically focusing on the music from the band “Indeksi”, which came as an influence from my parents. I have a habit of playing their music to this day. The legends “The Beatles” and Elvis Presley have also had a great impact on me, but I am mostly influenced by funk, pop and jazz music. I am constantly up to date with everything that happens on the world stage and I often “pick up” something I have never expected to like. You know, music is live matter, “you have to go with flow”, but you must keep your values, and not follow every trend.
He wrote his first song “Aleksandra” at the age of ten
Parallel with his first musical steps, Perevski began composing as well. His first song “Aleksandra” reflects the focus of his inspiration that still follows him – women. Otherwise, it is also a period when he enrolled in the music high school, when his musical urge intensified, with many gigs, socializing …
– I first felt the urge to express myself musically at the age of 10. And it was an indescribable feeling for me. You hear your own emotions and being able to interpret them with a universal language is something fantastic. Even then, I realized that music has a noble mission.
Otherwise, the first song I recorded in a professional music studio was named “Aleksandra”, a song for my first love. In fact, women have always been a special inspiration of mine.
I graduated in the music high school “Ilija Nikolovski-Luj”, in the field of Theory of music with a compulsory subject – violin. The high school days for me were rebellious. It was a period when I was still figuring myself out, when I was just “a kid”, and I believed that I could change the world. There was a lot of music, lots of friendships, gigs, loves accomplished and unfulfilled, and all of this accompanied by the feeling and the belief that the world is in my hands. It’s not like it wasn’t.
My first band was called “Aperitiv”. We released several singles in the period from 1993 to 1996. It surprises me that many people still remember the group and often remind me of those times before “Nokaut”.
When I’m without inspiration or an idea, I completely shut off from the world around me
Always following the trends and trying to learn something new, Pere was constantly investing in his musical upgrading to keep up with this variable industry. He is the author of hundreds of songs, which makes people ask the question: “Where do you draw so much inspiration from and what do you do when it disappears?”
– The music simply springs deep within me, but when I work for others, I want to get to know the character of the person I create for, find out more about their life, to form a clear picture about the contractor or the company, if it comes to advertisement, for the audience to believe in the song. When I’m without an idea, I shut off from everything and absorb as much energy, most often going on long walks and trips, or by talking with my close and dear people. I must admit that lately nature is very inspiring to me.
When it comes to composing, I probably learned the most from myself and from God, then experientially from Darko Dimitrov, in terms of how the song is created, and produced … And, of course, I cannot not mention the Academy of SAE in Barcelona, Spain, where I graduated from the Department of Electronic Music and Audio Production. There, I upgraded my experience as a musician with an endless desire to create and produce music.
With “Nokaut” he united many generations
For the audience, Nikola Perevski will always be Pere – “Nokaut”. In the 1990s he created a group that, with a series of rotations in the formation, offers many generations of fans a unique, fresh and powerful sound.
– The first formation of “Nokaut” did not have the capacity for live performances and mainly focused on singles and albums, so later somehow quite naturally came the moment to change the formation. So, in the band entered people who are professional musicians with a real capacity for concerts and developing a different concept for the band. That formula proved to be much more successful, for which speaks the fact that “Nokaut” functions with the second lineup to this day, with minor changes in the meantime.
Both options, that is, concerts and studio work, completely fulfill me, but at the same time they can drain me. However, everything depends on how I feel at a given moment. In the studio, I am more relaxed, isolated from the outside world, surrounded by my own thoughts and inspiration only, while on stage, it is a completely different story. Sweet nervousness, excitement, the fans’ eyes and lights pointed towards you, and a lot of adrenaline. I love both options, but it’s best to have them in moderate doses.
Tough is our game, but beautiful and worth it
Pere is living proof that you can make a living in Macedonia from making and performing music. He is the father of three children and is a man that puts that role on a pedestal, above all else in life.
– It is true that I live exclusively from music. From creating music and interpreting my works. Personally, the original music awakens greater passion and challenge, because the feeling when you go out on the stage and perform your own work, while you have incredible feedback from the audience, is very special. Of course, the stage experience is crucial, but nothing is compared to when you feel that the audience pays tribute to something that you have created in a way and inspiration that is known only to you.
The most important thing in my life is that the births of my three daughters, Mihaela, Kaja and Sofia, marked the most beautiful moments of my life for me. It’s not simple, but there is not a more beautiful thing to hold in your hands than the fruit of love, and then watch how the same fruit grows and develops into a complete person. Tough is our game, but so beautiful and worth it.
Author: Nikola Petrovski
Photo gallery: Private archive, Vladimir Mitrevski, Jovan Kucinovski
