On the verge of authenticity and transferring cultural heritage into self-expression, Macedonian artist Zarina Prvasevda found her own voice on her long-awaited debut album, Eho, a release that amplifies a unique approach over 11 traditional songs in 4 different languages.
Released by Croatia Records, the regionally acclaimed historical label that still defines the cultural diversity of the Balkans, the album summarizes Zarina’s artistic vision through freedom and roaming between all the impressions that inspired her through the heritage of folklore both in music and dance as self-expression.
As a result, she gained 9th position on Balkan World Music Chart as one of the most listened to World Music Artists in Q3 2022.
She was nominated for the UPBEAT Best New Talent Award of 2023, and she is the winner.
This year she took a part of WOMEX 2024, that happened in Manchester UK.
While her vocal techniques rely on Eastern-European and oriental traditions, the instrumental and rhythmic diversity breathes through the whole record. This level of maturity cannot be labeled as world music only – thanks to her social sensitivity, her deep bonds with the nature that surrounds her besides previous collaborations with identical musicians and filmmakers in the region, Zarina is still keen to gather and share the stories she meets with. She took part in participating in the fight of declaring Shar Mountain to become a National Park, and she also travels from village to village to meet Macedonian grandmothers to explore and record their songs and stories they share.
Zarina’s body of work already defines Macedonian heritage: she sold out the Macedonian Philharmonic in advance for her album release show, played events as OFF Fest – MК, D-Festival – MK, Budapest Ritmo – Budapest, Hungary, Saint Croix Volvestre – France, SHIP Festival – Croatia , A38 – Budapest, Hungary , BALKAN: MOST festival – Vesprem, Hungary , SoAlive Music Conference – Sofia, Bulgaria, Pin Conference – Skopje, Oslo, Norway, Goulash Disko- Croatia, WOMEX 2024 and she deploys further plans to bring her music to broader audiences while she constantly works on new songs and new stories to tell.
Her latest music release is the collaboration with Natacha Rogers (Ti frlije Jano eftirije), while she also contributed with her voice in the forthcoming Netflix docu-drama, Alexander the Great, set to be released in 2024, and she’s currently preparing her upcoming European tour besides her performance ‘Fairies and Demons’, a contemporary performance choreographed by Jovana Zajkova and Boban Ruseski, where Zarina sings, dances and plays percussion. She is currently working on her second album, while preparing for the upcoming projects, concerts and festival for the next year.
LIVE VIDEO
Bitola’s sold out show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik1gD3fvqEM&t=5s
Album release at Macedonian Philharmonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUo__QlWmBI&t=536s
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@zarinaprvasevda
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zarinaprvasevda
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zarina.prvasevda/