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Teofilovic Brothers

Teofilovic Twins, Ratko and Radisa, are, in every meaning of the word, unique performers of ancient Serbian and Balkan music. During their fifteen years of preparations - before they finally decided to break the silence and appear on European scene - they have solved the "mystery of the second voice," and found long lost harmonies of traditional singing. Their debut album "Cuvari sna" ("Dream Keepers"), released 1998 was the first one of the future series of four albums, that would complete the initial circle. Teofilovic Twins have been making recordings for the National Radio and Television since 1994 and up to now have recorded 4 CD's. They also took part in all great spiritual and secular festivals and music gatherings in their country. The music of Teofilovic Twins anticipates more than two centuries of traditional musical heritage and evokes the spirit of the entire region. Many songs have been buried deep in the collective memory of the people, many others forgotten, or in pieces. They have searched for them, found them and put them back to life, giving them back their original meanings and feelings, enriched with contemporary influences. The songs are arranged and performed with deep respect not only for yesterday, but for today and tomorrow as well.

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Teofilovic Brothers: Songs Belong to Those Who Sing Them Better

Read "Teofilovic Brothers: Songs Belong to Those Who Sing Them Better" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


The Teofilovic brothers (Radiša and Ratko) are two of the most popular performers of traditional songs from Serbia, as well as other parts of the Balkans. In their repertoire they always have wonderful traditional songs that time has forgotten, or that are not always widely known or present in other performers' repertoires. Their wide choices and unique approach are best represented on last year's collaboration with the renowned American/Serbian guitarist Miroslav Tadic, titled Vidarica (Nine Winds, 2012).Tadic is ...

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Two Serbs that are brothers, at last. When brothers - the Serbs, twins, intertwine their I through their singing, and then they intertwine their YOU, a harmony develops. Ratko and Radiša are adventurers same as any true singers. They are aware that their instrument is within themselves, they try their skills, they dance, intervene unassumingly respecting the personality of the author of a folk song. They prove that a folk song is not a fetish, not a relic, but perpetual liturgical progress of spirit through times. Those brothers are neither global peasants nor citizens of the world. They are one folk singer reflected in the mirror that, as a duplicated monolith, stands amidst a desert. With their two-part singing they build up a signpost towards the authentic that presumably had to be created somewhere. Naturally, an excitement is audible. It is heard that we are the Euro-Asians, that our mother tongue pertains to the Indo-European languages, and that Europe is just a peninsula of a huge piece of the globe called Asia. Finally, the multicultural feature of the Balkans casts out the caprice on the local level. Attractive in their congenerousness, those two musical men know perfectly well that a song is same as speech in weightless conditions, popular speech in this case. Clear-eyed, with somehow windy hair, they beat about Serbia and listen. Passionately inquisitive, they have composed the map of a country. Kosovo is delineated there, too.

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