Esma Redzepova-Teodosievska (Macedonian: Esma Redzhepova-Teodosievska Macedonian pronunciation: ['esma re'dZepova teo'dosiefska]; 8 August 1943 - 11 December 2016) was a Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian of Romani ethnicity. Because of her prolific repertoire, which includes hundreds of songs, and because of her contribution to Roma culture and its promotion, she was nicknamed Queen of the Gypsies.
Career after the independence of Macedonia
During the 1980s, the musical career of Esma Redzepova slowed down. In 1989, she settled back in Skopje with her husband. After independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia went through difficult times. Stevo Teodosievski died in 1997 at 72. However, Esma Redzepova toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts. She also released a selection of duets with Usnija Jasarova in 1994.  The 2000s where very fruitful and marked a slight shift in the singer's career. In Macedonia and former Yugoslavia, Esma gained a more modern image and redefined herself as a worldbeat artist. For instance, she made several collaborations with young pop singers. In 2002, she recorded a song with the Croatian band Magazin and a duet with the Macedonian singer Todor Proeski. She also recorded a song with the Bosnian band Crno Vino in 2005 and made a collaboration with Kiril Dzajkovski in 2010. On the international scene, Esma Redzepova contributed towards the establishment of Roma music as a non-mass-market good, pleasing an urban and cultural elite. However, many of her new songs were not widely accepted by Western audience because they did not match its expectation about Roma music. For instance, some songs featured synthesizer, an instrument that is not used in traditional Roma music. Esma was even booed at a concert in Spain, but defended herself saying that Roma music has always adapted itself and borrowed external features.  Her best known single, Caje Sukarije, is the feature song on the 2006 Borat movie soundtrack, which she claims was used without her permission. Together with Naat Veliov from Kocani Orkestar she sued the producers of the film for 800,000 euro (USD 1,000,000). Afterwards, Redzepova won a EUR26,000 compensation, since it turned out that Cohen got permission from her production house to take the song, which she was not notified about. Esma was particularly upset because her song was used to illustrate backwardness, something she always fought. However, Borat contributed towards the expansion of her fame internationally.  Esma Redzepova was selected together with Vlatko Lozanoski to represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Their song, "Imperija", was unveiled in March 2013, but it caused controversy in the country as its clip featured many monuments of the controversial project Skopje 2014. The song was thus viewed as a nationalist act. Macedonian Radio-Television requested the singers write a new song. Eventually, "Pred da se razdeni" was released a month later. The song failed to advance from the second semi-final of the competition on 16 May 2013, placing 16th in the field of 17 songs, scoring 28 points.
What was the first thing Esma did after the independence?
Esma Redzepova toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts.
Esma Redzepova toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts.