Ferus Mustafov, also known as King Ferus Mustafov (born December 20, 1950), is a Macedonian

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

descent. He is a multi-instrumentalist and is highly popular in his home country for his repertoire of

Balkan folk Balkan folk music is the traditional folk music within Balkan region. It's also known as narodna muzika ( Bulgarian, Macedonian, sr-cyr, народна музика), also folk muzika (фолк музика) means folk music in the South Slavic la ...

and gypsy, or

Rom Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

, wedding music. He is also credited as one of the artists from the Balkan region to have made this type of music internationally popular.

Biography

Mustafov was born in

Štip Štip ( mk, Штип ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the city ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, into a

Xoraxane Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non-Vlax Romani language, Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of Hanafi madhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrah ...

family of musicians and is the son of Ilmi Jašarov who is credited with introducing the saxophone into the folk music of the area. His professional career began at the age of seventeen whilst studying

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and clarinet at his local junior music academy. During this time he was invited to go on tour with a band led by Toma Črčev, the tour's success led him to abandon his academic learning to become a working musician. Following a year of military service, during which he established his reputation playing at evening dances, he moved to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, where he took a leading role in the explosion in popularity of folk music taking place there at the time. Later he became a director of musical programming in the Rom language for Radio Television in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

, Republic of Macedonia, and gained an international audience through his album releases on world music

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s such as

Globe Style Ace Records Ltd. is a British record label founded in 1978. Initially the company only gained permission from the similarly named label based in Mississippi to use the name in the UK, but eventually also acquired the rights to publish their r ...

and Tropical.

Discography

Albums

* ''Ora i Coceci'' (Horas And Belly Dance Music) (1984), RTB * ''Ferus Mustafov & His Guests: 1 + 4'' (1989), Diskos * ''Najgolemi Hitovi'' (Greatest Hits) (1993), Falcon * ''King Ferus'' also known as ''Macedonian Wedding Soul Cooking'' (1995),

* ''The Heat of Balkan Gypsy Soul'' (2002), Tropical * ''Legends of Gypsy Music from Macedonia'' (2008), Arc

Singles

* "Митино Коло" (1978),

PGP-RTB PGP-RTB (abbreviation for sr, Produkcija gramofonskih ploča Radio televizije Beograd) was a major state-owned record label and chain record store in the former SFR Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia. After the breakup ...

Compilation appearances

*''Ring Ring 1996'' (1997),

B92 RTV B92, or simply B92 (stylized as b92, formerly BΞ92 and B 92), is a Serbian news station and broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade. Founded in 1989 as radio station, it was a rare outlet for Western news and informati ...

*''

The Rough Guide to the Music of Eastern Europe ''The Rough Guide to the Music of Eastern Europe'' is a world music compilation album originally released in 1998. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album gives broad coverage to the music of Central Europe and the music ...

'' (1999),

World Music Network World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" competit ...

References

External links

Balkan World Music Management
management agency biography
Ferus Mustafov
on discogs.com * King Ferus Mustafovon allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafov, Ferus Living people Macedonian composers Male composers Macedonian musicians Macedonian Romani people Macedonian songwriters Male songwriters People from Štip Romani musicians 1950 births