“WHEN I WAS A STUDENT” WITH MIKI JOVANOVSKI-DŽAFER: “YOU DID NOT PASS, PROFESSOR, COME NEXT TIME!”
It was difficult for me when I had to leave my friends at the band in order to go and pass an exam. I had a problem even when we went to catch a fish, so I went to pass the exam and I came back. Between two exams we went to gigs with the band abroad, says the famous musician about his student story, which Fakulteti.mk and Pivara Skopje are realizing together.
About himself he says he is one of the few rockers who graduated from college in his time. Miki Jovanovski-Džafer decided to study law although he was extraordinarily talented for solo singing. Makedonka, his music teacher from the Cvetan Dimov Gymnasium, took him to the Music Academy in Skopje with a desire for him to become a part of the singing class of Professor Kosta Trpkov.
The professor was so surprised that he called the students studying solo singing, some of them even eight years, to see how a student should sound like when singing, and said that Jovanovski came as an already graduate student. But he did not receive a support from his family and, as his friends have proposed, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law. The music remained an eternal love for him, but he graduated from the Faculty of Law in Skopje, and on the basis of that he later became an employee of the Customs Administration. If he decided to study music academically, he would have probably left abroad.
One of “those who do not study”
He says he was a quiet high school student who was interested in beat, blues and rock’n’roll, and he did not want to stand out too much because of the demagogy of the time, which envisaged a divide between “those who are studying” and “those who do not study.”
– I belonged to the latter. I remember the mathematics teacher Mladenovic, who wrote an equation on the whole board and said: “Who will solve this equation will have an A until the end of the school year and he will not be obligated to come to classes.” I do not know what made me concentrate while he was writing the equation (probably just like when I was downloading an American rock song), but the top students started to raise their hands, and after two times, I said to myself: “Oh nothing, some of these nerds will get the A.” But no one managed to solve it. I raised my hand and Mladenovic tried to put it back down, while he placed his chalky hand on my washed hair. Classical discrimination! And then, the class president Natalija (I admit I liked her) stood on the side of the justice and said that I should be given a chance just like the entire class. The professor said: “He does not know” and Natalija replied: “Well, everyone didn’t knew twice already.” I got up, approached the school board and solved it. The entire class was laughing, but the professor said: “It’s correct!” The teacher did not want to give me an A, he gave me D, and Natalija wrote it. A contradictory professor! But when I got my grade, I got up, I picked up the sound amplifier and the guitar that was under my bench. I went out and I never returned to that class, I left the top students to “learn” mathematics – laughs Jovanovski.
He admits that he had good working habits in terms of subjects such as philosophy, history, sociology. He became part of the school choir, where it was literally a fight to get in because they traveled for free.
– I barely managed to get my turn so that I can show how musical I am. I raised my hand and the teacher Makedonka said to me: “You naughty one, you are applying so many times”, but with the help of the principal she gave me a chance to audition. When I sang beside the piano of Makedonka, she promptly expelled everyone out. So, I represented the gymnasium, and I sang old Italian songs – Džafer recalls.
Talent inherited from both parents
He inherited the talent for music from both of his parents. His father Ivan had a string orchestra “Kajmakčalan” in Bitola, and he was a member of the first choir of the Macedonian Opera.
– I was lucky enough, as a child, to be acquainted with the opera, ballet, philharmonic, and the chamber works. My uncle took me to the old theater to see my aunt. She sang in the choir of the Opera and was the most beautiful to me. I got the base for music in the pre-school age, and that helped me to have a real outlook in terms of music. My mother Jordanka sang beautifully and sang in the choir ” Kočo Racin”. My sister Sonja said that it was not fair that they gave the talent only to me. She bought records, and I learned from them,” said Džafer.
He enrolled at the Faculty of Law “Iustinianus Primus” by chance. He passed the first year immediately, but he began to perform a lot with bands, so he pushed the faculty in the background.
– I prepared the exams quickly and I tried hard not to get stuck with the studies. It was difficult for me when I had to leave my friends at the band in order to go and pass an exam. I had a problem even when we went to catch a fish, so I went to pass the exam and I came back. Between two exams we went to gigs with the band abroad. We organized everything by ourselves, we did not have managers. Such is the Macedonian reality for the artists. There is no reliable Macedonian show business to this day – Miki is categorical.
Professors like in a Russian film
He says that at the Faculty of Law he had interesting professors and assistants with whom he wanted to debate. Rarely, but I had a good communication with all professors like Gjorgje Marjanovic, whom I liked because of his immediacy, explains Miki.
– You know, the studies are something that you remember, just like you remember your army days. There were professors like Čokrevski, Pelivanov, Matevski, Micajkov and others who seemed like they just stepped out of a Russian film. I passed the last exam, Political Science, with Miodrag Micajkov as a professor and he molested me as much as he could. But I remember the “revenge”. I had a gig at “Kaj Mravka” located on the “lawyers’ street”, where the professors and the assistants also came. One evening Micajkov came. I gave him the microphone to sing, so he asked me how he sang. And I replied: “You did not pass, professor, come next time!” – in a tavern you are all good, like in a fairy tale – laughs Miki.
He recalls that at the end of the 70’s at the Faculty of Law meetings of the communist youth took place. “Total single-mindedness”, Džafer is still baffled.
– With one of my colleagues, now a judge, we peeked to see what they were doing and once we entered the room in the middle of their meeting. They blatantly made the students coming from the wealthier families their members, and as someone with a quick temper, I swear at them and left the premises – the musician recalls.
I played the drums and sang
Miki says that the grades were not important to him and he thought that he would never get employed with the diploma from the Faculty of Law. He earned well from music even during his studies and he never waited for a financial support from his parents.
Džafer was a member of many bands: Solzi, Bangla Deš, Most, Republika 903, Razboj, Leb i sol, Avtogram, Bodyguards, Toa e toa, etc.
He did not want to play alone, although he “lost a lot of time with the character of the musicians”.
While Špato was alive, he was telling me: “Do not listen to these people here from the music authorities”. I learned from the records and tapes from that time and I was telling him what I was listening to. As a kid, I listened to Nat King Cole, then in the 60s the miracles emerged: The Beatles, Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Hendrix, and then the invasion of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Gino Vannelli, Benson, Al Jarreau, Toto… When I started, three musicians with the same name were my inspiration: Steve Winwood, Steve Marriott and Stevie Wonder. For me, music is a divine thing and you cannot enjoy it alone – Jovanovski is categorical.
Until the summer of last year, he worked at the Customs Administration, where he occupied several positions for 19 years. At the latest “Golden Ladybug of Popularity” Džafer received an award for lasting values.
He recalls that when he was a member of the band Most, they had an interesting rivalry with the members of the band Leva Patika.
– Even today I work with other musicians. I mention them during my whole career, even those who did not do much. At one point, in the band Most, we were rivals with Leva Patika. If we bought speakers, they would buy an entire sound system, and on top of it, the best one! With the band Most (Kokan, Zorica, Garo, Vlado, Nonte, Panta) we played gigs along the sea shore. At the beginning, you cannot easily play in the center of Skopje, so we played on dance nights in ” Korčagin”, “Josip Broz”, I played the drums and sang. They wondered how I could do that. I was a fusspot, I would get rid of band members, and even to this day I’m a perfectionist. I do not want to work with people who do not want to work on themselves. The band is like a company, one has to work – Džafer is categorical.
