Although he tirelessly ran a four-decade career as a journalist, primarily in the field of culture, Ljupco Jolevski, even after his retirement, is still running everywhere, with the same youthful élan that dates back to his beginnings in “Mlad Borec”. He recently published his second book, “Irregular Rhythm”, and at the end of last year, for his journalistic contribution to the affirmation of Macedonian culture, above all, music, he was awarded the award “13^th of November”

– My dream was to be who I am. Here, thank God, I reached some level. To this day, I get fired up like a teenager when I see a new album that I don’t have and I die until I manage to get it – says Ljupco.

His new book “Irregular Rhythm” contains interviews, reviews, recensions… It is divided into 5 chapters. Rock and roll-past, newer bands, reviews related to jazz, but also classical music. There are also texts about big concerts – Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Clapton…, and about people who are part of the scene as documentarians, like Žiga Koritnik, Tatjana Rantasha… Simply put, more than twenty years of history on more than 500 pages!

When I heard “Bis Bez”, I thought the world was opening up in front of me

Enchanted by music as a child, Jolevski began filling his brain’s music file very early through the constant playing of the radio in his family home. The purchase of the first record, the single “Children of the Revolution” by Marc Bolan and T-Rex, helped to start the path of a music addict.

– I came to Skopje when I was eight years old. I remember that first encounter with that urban Skopje, and the meeting with MKC is the most fresh for me. The radio played all day long and you listen to and absorb practically all the music that was broadcast, whether on Radio Skopje, Radio Belgrade, and later Luxembourg. When I heard “Bis Bez”, I thought the world was opening up in front of me. Deep Purple, David Bowie, T-Rex… They were my musical beginnings. I bought music magazines from the stores that sold music newspapers in the square, and when I became a teenager, I went to all the discos, “Musandra” at DJ Mice, “Tourist” at Kostic and “Skala” where the PU group also played – says Jolevski.

Even more interesting than playing for me was to organize concerts and dances

In addition to such a love for music, it was inevitable that Ljupco would start playing an instrument. He played guitar and bass, and for a while as a high school student he was part of some bands, but his true love was on the other side of the stage.

– As a high school student in “Karev”, I found it interesting to play, but it was even more interesting for me to organize concerts and dances. Every second week we had dances. Many Skopje bands played at those dances, and I even think that it was the beginnings of “Leb I Sol”, which I remember with Miki Jovanovski-Jafer as a singer, performed at our prom. I wrote in high school, but I still didn’t think about journalism. When it came time to enroll in college, I decided on economics, somehow most people enroll there, so let’s go too. But, after a year and a half I saw that I had nothing to do with economics, I finished the first semester and at the second I decided to enroll in journalism studies, which had just opened – Jolevski recalls.

Journalism beginning at “Mlad Borec”

In parallel with his studies, Jolevski started his journalistic career, in the then progressive newspaper “Mlad Borec”. After a short time there, he immediately focused his journalistic radar on culture with an emphasis on the music scene.

– We were a whole young team as internal collaborators in “Mlad Borec”. It was a newspaper of the Union of Socialist Youth of Macedonia. I was part of an excellent newsroom with experienced journalists, such as Tomislav Osmanli, Hristo Petrevski, Aleksandar Sholjakovski, Dusko Kralevski. First, they “made” me follow up on “youth”, that is, actions, what is happening and so on. It was a magazine and I followed such events. That was not very interesting to me, so I switched to cultural events, primarily music. At the same time I started collecting records. Back then, through “Yugoton” we received current world music very quickly. I started writing about what was happening in the music world. I was the person who was interested in what was new and interesting on the scene. That’s when bands like Mizar, Arhangel, before that the Padot na Vizantija and many others came out that marked my musical youth – adds Ljupco.

My dream job since I was a child was to work on radio

Jolevski also got a regular job in “Mlad Borec”, where he later became the editor of the cultural section. He proudly remembers the moment that “Mlad Borec” became the first newspaper that was then sold independently, and even the journalists themselves sold it in the role of colporteurs. After ten years spent in the newspaper, he made a transfer to the medium that had been his dream since he was a child – the radio.

– In the meantime, I started cooperating with Macedonian Radio and they transferred me from “Mlad Borec” to the second program of Macedonian Radio. I was a regular employee, journalist-editor. I had a nightly program – “Positive Vibrations”, where I presented new music from Yugoslavia and beyond. I have always loved the radio. My dream was to work in radio. As a child, I pretended to host a radio program at home. I had no problem adapting from written media to radio. I didn’t even need to go to speech therapy exercises because I was ready to start hosting a show. I was employed there for 12 years – says Jolevski.

You should live the concert, sleep on it, then write about it

Although he had already entered the radio at full steam, for a certain period, parallel to his involvement in the Macedonian Radio, he was also a kind of editor of Channel 103. It was in order to get that urban and progressive radio back on its feet. Of course, Ljupco did not stop flirting with the written media.

– Although I worked in radio, I did not stop writing in periodicals – “Nas svet”, “Detska radost”, “Nova Makedonija”. I learned the school of review writing from what I read from other magazines. That is, we learned from each other in Yugoslavia, as we read reviews in foreign magazines. You have to live the concert, sleep on it, and then write about it. For a record/album when I’m writing, I’ve never sat down at the keyboard for weeks of listening, comparing and looking for materials. I needed to be affirmative. To support a certain scene that is on the rise. I don’t have a spitting style of working, but always with arguments. By doing so, you will help and motivate the artist to be better. We especially strengthened the avant-garde because no one supports it. If the few of us didn’t put them on the air or didn’t write something, no one else would – explains Ljupco.

I wanted to offer something new

Always trying to offer something new, fresh and different, Ljupco came to every show with a bag full of records with new music. This is how his love for collecting developed, and at the same time it gives an excellent description of his endlessly enthusiastic approach to his profession and to music in general.

– I am constantly upgrading and changing my style. I tried constantly to give something more of myself, to offer one more story. I am a collector of about 5,000 records. I don’t even count discs and recordings. I used to go to a show with my music, with whole bags full of records and CDs. I wanted to offer more information, other music, which is not in the radio library. It helped me a lot to be the host and author of a show, but also a person who has his own music – concludes Ljupco.

Prepared by: Nikola Petrovski

Photo: Private archive