Without a doubt, it can be said that he initiated the great revival of the traditional music in Macedonia, sometime in the mid-nineties of the last century. That is prof. Dr. Dragan Dautovski, who, with the founding of the now legendary band “DD Synthesis” in 1995, opened the musical eyes and ears of the domestic and international public, making them aware of the rich cultural past that we possess. With “DD Synthesis” and other ensembles in which he was a member, he managed to hold over 2,000 concert performances around the world.

As an ethnomusicological expert, he plays more than 20 folk instruments. Only Dautovski plays the unique terracotta spherical flute – ocarina, which dates from the Neolithic period and whose age is estimated at over 7000 years, and was found in 1989 at the archaeological site “Mramor” near the settlement of Chaska near Veles.

As a teacher, Dautovski has performed a large number of performances with the students of his class and is the initiator of the opening of the department for folk instruments in the music high schools in Skopje and Shtip and in the elementary music schools in Strumica, Shtip, Prilep, Kavadarci, where professors that teach have graduated in his class at FMU, where he is still a full professor in the group of teaching subjects in the field of folk instruments.

In the column “When I was a student”, which we create in cooperation with Fakulteti.mk, we revisited the university lectures, social gatherings, challenges.

The mandolin was my first instrument and it allowed me to dream of new dimensions

Born in the village of Rusinovo, which is a natural source of singers and actors, Dautovski moved to Berovo at the age of five, where he finished elementary school. Although being a policeman or priest was considered the standard at the time in those parts, Dragan had a clear goal and desire to become a musician, which resulted in his enrollment in the high school of music in Shtip.

– I started playing the accordion at my father’s request. I didn’t like that, so sometime in the fifth grade I asked them to buy me a mandolin because most of my peers played the mandolin then. My father did not give it to me, however, my uncle surprised me and bought it for me. The mandolin was my first instrument that opened the doors to the musical world and with the sounds of the mandolin I traveled to other dimensions. I was more known for sports. I played football, I was a big kid and when my classmates and friends found out that I wanted to play the mandolin, they all laughed at me. However, there was no doubt that I wanted to go to a music school. Against my father’s wishes and with the help of my uncle, I enrolled in the high school of music in Shtip, in the theoretical department and the trombone instrument. I wanted a flute, but when they saw me so big, they told me that I was better suited for the trombone – says Dautovski.

He spent a year at Faculty of Pedagogy before transferring to FMU

The choice to study the trombone turned out to be a good one, because in the fourth year of high school Dragan already had the second and third prizes at the federal level in Yugoslavia at the time. However, the desire to continue studying the same instrument did not come true, partly due to faculty personnel policies, so Dragan decided on a more radical step.

– When it came time for college, there was no place for a trombonist at FMU in Skopje, so I sent the enrollment documents to Belgrade. I was accepted there without playing, with the degrees I had. However, I didn’t go to Belgrade, all my friends were here, and just so I wouldn’t return to Berovo, I enrolled at the Faculty of Pedagogy. I studied there and, fortunately for me, I attended classes with exceptional professors such as Kiril Makedonski and Gjorgi Smokvarski, whom few can boast of having attended classes with. I spent that first year there and I was already preparing for the entrance exam for FMU, where I was admitted the following year to the theoretical department – recalls Dragan.

My wife, then girlfriend, Limonka forced me to enroll at FMU, otherwise I would have left

Skopje was merciless to the provincials at that time, Dragan says, but thanks to his dedication to the guitar, he managed to support himself financially in order to finish his studies with his daily evening performances. By the way, it was his wife, and then girlfriend, Limonka, who made him enroll at FMU in Skopje

– My wife Limonka and I are a university couple, otherwise we met when she was a high school graduate in music high school in Skopje, and if it wasn’t for her, I think I would have left the country. We were seniors when our son Ratko was born – adds Dragan.

He says that he was lucky to attend classes with giants of Macedonian music, who were also the founders of the faculty and Macedonian culture. He studied from Vlastimir Nikolovski or solfège from Nadezhda Mishchenko, whom he says loved him very much as a student.

– I was the best student in solfège, and when I came to her for an exam, she knew how to say: “Let’s finally have someone sing an exercise for me without a mistake.” Everyone who taught me left a great impact on me and my work as a teacher. Above all, they were principled, they were not malicious, but with the intention of imparting knowledge and making young people literate. I am one of the last Mohicans who attended classes with them and here I am among the oldest professors now at FMU – explains Dautovski.

His wife motivated him to attend lectures regularly

Without any problems during his studies, Dragan passed the university quite easily, although almost every night he returned early in the morning after performing in the bars of Skopje. Again thanks to his wife, he was a regular at the lectures and thus easily mastered the subject.

– After graduation, I joined the army, and my wife got a job as a music teacher in a secondary school in Skopje. In the army, they offered me apartments and employment to stay there, but I wanted to return because my wife was already working, and we already had Ratko. So when I came back, I got a job at the elementary school “Gligor Prlichev” as a music teacher, but after 5-6 years I realized that it was not a career that I would pursue until retirement. During that period, in 1992, I opened a department for folk instruments in the secondary music school in Skopje, and the teaching was optional at the beginning.

After 2 years, I received an invitation from FMU, from the then dean, prof. Dr. Dimitrie Buzharovski, to open a department for folk instruments (1994). I was already ready to leave Macedonia, but I still decided to accept the invitation and, of course, I was not wrong. At the end of the 80’s, I started intensively researching traditional music. I started collecting materials, going to the field, and later preparing for a master’s degree at FMU on the subject of folk instruments, that is, the kavalo in Macedonia – Dragan tells.

Then follows his encounter with the 7,000-year-old spherical clay flute (2005) and he began working on his doctoral dissertation on the topic of musical archaeology, and precisely for that flute. His scientific work is considered a major contribution to world musical archaeology, as one of the youngest scientific disciplines.

– Then I started to upgrade myself scientifically, that is, to engage in scientific activity, that was my obligation as a university professor. To this day, I carry out the lectures inspired by the advice of my great professors, and I always point out to my students that returning to the national, cultural identity will make them recognizable as artists everywhere in the world – concludes Dautovski.

Prepared by: Nikola Petrovski