UP THE LADDER OF SUCCESS WITH ADI IMERI: “I DON’T TAKE MYSELF SERIOSLY AND I HAVE NO TENDENCY TO IDOLIZE PEOPLE”

Adi Imeri is a well-known contemporary musician in our region, involved in various musical forms, bands, and experiences. He is attracted by the magic of all musical instruments, but we often see him on stage with a guitar. His short biography includes numerous performances and concerts. He explores different music genres, investigates various musical forms, and is constantly in search of new, interesting figures in music for collaboration.

Adi draws his musical roots from his father, Damir Imeri, an established musical legend, and his mother, Budimka Imeri, a flutist and producer. Music is the alphabet for Adi and his brother Dino Imeri, our renowned pianist.

What were the beginnings of your music career?

Even in the prenatal phase, when my mother and father attended a concert of the great percussionist Bob Moses at the Skopje Jazz Festival, I had an intense reaction to his playing by kicking in my mother’s womb – a fact that was passed on to me much later in life after I developed a taste for his playing on Pat Metheny’s first album, “Bright Size Life.” I would say that some things were already drawn before I was born and embarked on this mission.

What transitions did you make to become who you are today? What fills your resume when it comes to your career?

My relationship with this so-called career is the opposite of anything that could be interpreted as a business move, so I still don’t have a filled resume because I operate from task to task based on deep intuition and wouldn’t know where to start. In the blink of an eye, 20 years passed, filled with many adventures, sweet and sour realizations, encounters with brilliant collaborators, and the privilege of calling them friends and family.

Tell us about your first working days… What was your first work experience?

The environment in which I grew up allowed me to develop a healthy and compassionate relationship with music as a way of framing reality and a tool for organizing my internal architecture and ecology, constantly exploring and developing without specific explosions or life-changing moments.

What was your breakthrough, and how did the successes line up?

There were many “aha!” moments so far, but I remember a particularly important quote from the great musician Eyvind Kang: “I believe that music should grow on trees and be freely picked like fruit without the extravagance of the harvest.” I clearly remember that moment as a turning point in realizing that what I do is essentially decorating the audio-immovables, a state of communicating beauty detached from market value and cultural impact. Since that moment, my communication with the world has been in a state of continuum. Everything I have ever done and will do, I see as part of a whole, not as a step or bullet points.

What are your strongest attributes that played a key role in your career?

I don’t take myself seriously, and I have no tendency to idolize people.

What phase are you in your career now, and where do you invest your energy?

Specifically, this year I dedicated myself to working in theater, composing music for plays: for Atrium (“priPAGJANJE” and “Glad” directed by Hana Milenkovska), the Macedonian National Theater (“Hanging Around” directed by Bojan Trifunovski), the Drama Theater (“Parovi” directed by Ivana Angelovska), and the Theater for Children and Youth (“Heidi” directed by Dragana Gunin). I’m also cultivating confusion in my personal and professional life through work with hardcore jazz rock-punk band Peach Vice, recording an album with the band Next to Silence, which will be released by SJF Records, followed by a performance at the opening of this year’s Skopje Jazz Festival (full circle moment!). Additionally, I’m working on several new releases under my name, forming the duo marumaru, education workshops, and a lot of other things.

What motivated and inspired you the most, and who supported you the most to get where you are today?

I must mention that in my world, there is no linear progress; everything exists simultaneously, so I no longer perceive the older model of thinking and organizing success as a social currency.

What are your ambitions?

To stay above water, be present and useful in the lives of the people I love, to continue exploring and developing, and to buy myself new winter pants.