Kaliopi

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Kaliopi (in Macedonian: Калиопи, born December 28, 1966) is a Macedonian singer, song-writer, and musician.Kaliopi Bukle is one of the most popular Macedonian pop singers in Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia.

Kaliopi

Country	Republic of Macedonia
Years active	1984–present
Genres	Pop, Classical

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life and education
2 Success
- 2.1 Comeback
3 Final single
- 3.1 Macedonian Diva
4 30 year jubilee
5 Trivia
6 Albums
7 Singles
8 Awards
9 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and education

Kaliopi showed her interest in music at a young age and in 1976 she participated in the Macedonian children's festival "Zlatno Slavejce" and secured first place.

Kaliopi continued her road to stardom by touring with the choir of Zapro Zaprov "Razvigorce" through Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria from 1978, until 1980.

She then joined class of Marija Nikolovska, studying solo singing for four years and continued her training in the Music Academy in the class of Blagoja Nikolovski in 1984. Kaliopi placed third in the 1984 Yugoslavian solo singing contest and was youngest classic music singer in the festival. Kaliopi joined a new group, which adopted her name as the name of the group, and began to record their first two songs for the Macedonian Radio, titled "Tomi" and "Nemoj da me budis."

Kaliopi participating in the children's festival "Zlatno Slavejce".

[edit] Success

With the new group, she received the best interpretation award from the journalists of Yugoslavia in the "Opatija Festival 1985" with the song "Leo". In the same year, the group was awarded with first prize at the "Video Spot Festival", with the song "Leto e avantura." The group was chosen to represent Yugoslavia at the 1985 International Mediterranean Festival in Tunisia and gained a respectable second place.

With more fans and popularity, the group "Kaliopi" easily won first prize at the "1986 Video Spot Festival", with the song "Ostani vo mene."

In 1986, the self-titled album, "Kaliopi", was released by RTV Ljubljana. Following the release, there were various types of promotion such as a participation at the "MESAM "Festival", "Split Festival", and a television special which was broadcasted on TV Sarajevo, TV Titograd, MKTV, TV Beograd, and TV Zagreb.

In March 1987, the group went on a Soviet Union Tour, which lasted for two months. After the success of their first album, a second album was recorded, titled "Rodjeni – Bato". This time the production was in Zagreb and the album was released by PGP RTV in 1987. The group released the song "Bato" as their first single off the album and also recorded a music video, which was directed by Anton Marti.

After using festivals to launch their career, the group announced that they would no longer participate in national festivals. In the 1987 Yugoslav Eurovision selection, Kaliopi was present and with the song "Emanuel", the group came in 10th. The promotion for the second album was similar to the first, with a television program broadcasted all over Yugoslavia in 1988. By the end of 1988, the group Kaliopi ceased to exist and Kaliopi Bukle gave her first solo concert in the Universal Hall in Skopje on December 1988. She then went on hiatus and decided to move to Switzerland in 1989.

[edit] Comeback

Kaliopi made a strong comeback in 1996 when she decided to take part in the Macedonian Eurovision selection "SkopjeFest", with the song "Samo Ti" and was awarded with first place from the jury and the audience. Kaliopi was suppose to be the first representative of the now separate Macedonian nation at the European festival, however a controversial regulation semi-final restricted her from ever performing the song on the Eurovision stage. Kaliopi continued her comeback in 1997 with another first place in the Macedonian "Eurofest Festival" wit the song "Ne Placi". Kaliopi tried her luck again at the Macedonian Eurovision selection, however she was a less successful this time with her song "Ne Zaboravaj" finishing in the 9th place.

Kaliopi's talent flourished in Macedonia and because of this, she decided to start composing and writing songs for other artists. In 1999, Kaliopi wrote and composed "Bidi Ti" and "3 x Ne" for Mersiha, who successfully reacher No.1 at the Macedonian Top Ten Charts with both songs. Kaliopi released her first solo album on December 1999, titled "Oboi Me" released only in Macedonia and with promotion focused mainly on the Macedonian audience. A television special promoting the new album was broadcast on MKTV, and the video clip for title song "Oboi Me" was released. In 2000, Kaliopi started her promotional tour in January for three months and released the next single from her album titled "Daj da Pijam" in March. For the rest of 2000, Kaliopi created another song for Mersiha, had a summer tour, and began the prperation for her next album.

Kaliopi's promotional album images.

On January 2001, Kaliopi officially announced a her next album and cooperation with producer, arranger and composer Darko Dimitrov, with the release of the single and music video for the song "Ako denot mi e nok." The success of her first single from her upcoming album, Kaliopi released the video clips for the songs "Na Pat do Makedonija" in May and "Dali me sakas" in June. Coinciding with the release of her second solo album "Ako denot mi e nok", a documentary was aired on Macedonian television stations called "Kaliopi Again" in June. In July, Kaliopi gave an Unpluged concert at the ancient Heraklea amphitheatre in Bitola where 4,000 people attended. In November, Kaliopi began her tour called "Na pat do Makedonija" in which she gave eleven concerts, three of which were held at the sport halls in Skopje. Kaliopi rounded off the year with the release of her fourth single called "Mesecina," also in November.

[edit] Final single

In 2002, Kaliopi released her final single from her second solo album called "Za samo eden den." In February, Kaliopi submitted a song to Macedonian Television for the Eurovision selection called "Pesna Za Nas." Her song made the final cut and was set to be performed by the popular Macedonian singer Gorgi Krstevski. On the night, Kaliopi was present on stage with Gorgi Krstevski, providing the backing vocals and giving her support, which led to 5th place finish. In July, Kaliopi released a new singled called "Najmila," which became an instant hit. In October, the album "Najmila - Kaliopi Live and Unreleased" was released and contained live versions of Kaliopi's greatest hits and also contained 2 new and unreleased songs. Kaliopi released "Zasluzena Zemja" as the next single from this album.

[edit] Macedonian Diva

In 2003, Kaliopi took a small break at the beginning of the year, but then released her next big single titled "Ne Mi Go Zemaj Vremeto". This single gained lots of media interest over the next album that Kaliopi was going to release. She announced that she was going to record a duet with popular Roma singer Esma Redzepova and Macedonian actor Vasil Zafirchev. Her next single in November, titled "Za Kogo Postojam," created more media buzz around the new material Kaliopi was planning to release. The video for the single contained various themes and was one of the most popular videos of 2003. Kaliopi told media that her next album would contain songs in Macedonian and the Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian language. At the end of December, Kaliopi officially released her new and third solo album "Ne Mi Go Zemaj Vremeto."

With her new album released, Kaliopi released her first single in the Ex-Yugoslavian market, titled "Smeh". The reaction of the audiences in those countries were very positive and well received. Kaliopi toured Macedonia promoting her new album and released her new single "Toa Sum Jas" in the first half of 2004. In the summer, Kaliopi and Vasil Zafirchev performed in a play present in the programs for promoting Macedonian culture. This partnership also led to the release of Kaliopi and Vasil's duet, "Purpurni Dozdovi" as a single. The song became a summer hit and was included in many compilations. Kaliopi and Vasil became engaged and later married. As 2004 came to an end, Kaliopi and Esma released "Bel Den" as a single and then later recorded a video for the song.

Kaliopi singing "Silna" at the Macedonian Eurovision selection.

In 2005, Kaliopi was selected along with five other artists for Macedonia's Eurovision selection process. However, Kaliopi opted out of the selection in the beginning stages because she received false information about the process of elimination and song selection, which she did not agree with. Kaliopi's absence from the selection was not for long when the final was scheduled for a face off between Aleksandra Pileva and Martin Vucic. Kaliopi supplied Aleksandra with one of four songs each artist was allowed and Aleksandra delivered a powerful performance with "Ne". Overall, the song came in 3rd. In May, Kaliopi gave two concerts in Sweden and also performed in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Kaliopi also composed a song for popular Macedonian singer Karolina Goceva titled "Se Lazam Sebe", which became an instant hit. In September, Kaliopi released an album called "Me, Isadora", which contained musical pieces that Kaliopi composed herself based on the impression of the love story from the Russian poet Sergei Yesenin and American ballerina Isadora Duncan. In November, Kaliopi released her final single from her third solo album, called "Koga prokleto ti trebam".

In 2006, Kaliopi released her new Christmas song titled "1000 Bozji Cvetovi" in February and gained media interest because she did her own backing vocals for her own song. For the music video, Kaliopi dyed her hair blond and decided to keep her hair that colour for an extended period of time. Kaliopi gave numerous concerts in Split and Zagreb, Croatia where she had full house concerts. Kaliopi officially showed interest in participating in Macedonia's Eurovision selection as a performer in a one-night competition with 20 other songs. Kaliopi wrote and composed not only her own entry titled "Silna", but also new singer Eva Nedinkovska's song "Taan i med." Kaliopi gave a strong performance, but only ended 6th. On July 12, Kaliopi performed at the Montenegrin festival "Suncane Skale 2006" with the Serbian version of the song "Silna" and reached a respectable 3rd place. It was also revealed that Kaliopi is preparing a new album set to be released at the end of this year. The first single from her upcoming album, Zivotot e Jabe, has already become an overnight success with constant radio airplay and music video airing on television channels. Kaliopi was featured on Massimo Savic's album as a composer and a singer. Kaliopi lent her vocals to the song "Melankolija". At the end of September, she travelled to Zagreb to perform in Massimo Savic's concerts. While in Croatia, Kaliopi signed a record deal with Aquarius Records, which will be releasing "The Best of Kaliopi" CD, in which Kaliopi recorded all of her greatest hits in the Croatian language. Kaliopi was included in the filming of a documentary on the Republic of Macedonia by the BBC and Michael Palin.

Škoda billboard layout with Kaliopi.

Kaliopi has composed and wrote songs for several Macedonian artists such as Elena Risteska, Maja Grozdanovska-Panceva, and Verica Pandilovska in late 2006.

[edit] 30 year jubilee

In 2006, Kaliopi is celebrating her 30 year jubilee as an artist, which took place in the form of a huge concert given in Skopje at the Universal Hall. Kaliopi sang some of her greatest hits and had guests such as Esma Redžepova and Edin Karamazov join her on stage. The concert was released during the Winter of 2006 as Kaliopi's first DVD, with high demand from the Macedonian public.

The song "Probudi Me" ("Wake Me Up") will be the first single from Kaliopi's Croatian album called "Zelim Ti Reci" ("I Want Your Words")who she is working with Darko Dimitrov like all previous albums from 2001. The song and the album will be promoted and released in Croatia under the record label, Aquarius Records. In addition to her future album, she will prepare a "Best of" album and she is currently working with Edin Karamazov on new material that will be marketed internationally.

[edit] Trivia

Kaliopi, along with Bohemia Automobiles (the dealership of Škoda cars in Macedonia), are promoting the Škoda Octavia car as part of the contract, which makes Kaliopi the new face of Bohemia Automobiles and Škoda. One of the goals of the company was to release a high-quality photo shoot by international standards, which features the car and Kaliopi. The billboards have already been graced with this advertisement around Macedonia, with the slogan "Silna" (Strong), which comes from Kaliopi's hit in early 2006. Television commercials and radio spots will also be rotating on these media outlets. Kaliopi's agreement lasted until the end of 2006.

[edit] Albums

2007 - Zelim Ti Reci	2005 - Me, Isadora	2003 - Ne Mi Go Zemaj Vremeto	2002 - Najmila - Live and Unreleased
2001 - Ako Denot Mi E Nok	1999 - Oboi Me	1987 - Rodjeni	1986 - Kaliopi