Ferus Mustafov (20 December 1950 – 22 May 2023), also known as King Ferus Mustafov, was a

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

saxophonist and clarinetist of a

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

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

Balkan folk Balkan folk music is the traditional folk music within Balkan region. In South Slavic languages, it is known as narodna muzika () or folk muzika () in Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbo-Croatian, and alternatively narodna glazba in standard Croati ...

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 was also credited as one of the artists from the

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

region to have made this type of music internationally popular.

Biography

Mustafov was born on 20 December 1950 in

Štip Štip ( ) 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 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, into a

Xoraxane Xoraxane (also spelled as Khorakhane, Khorakhanè, Horahane, Kharokane, Xoraxai, etc.) is a historical umbrella term to refer to the Muslim Romani population in the Balkans, and those that have dispersed to other parts of Europe. They are typical ...

family of musicians. He was 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 referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

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 ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, 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 ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

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

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

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. His music, which features "

ast AST, Ast, or ast may refer to: Science and technology * Attention schema theory, of consciousness or subjective awareness Computing * Abstract syntax tree, a finite, labeled, directed tree used in computer science * Anamorphic stretch transform, ...

sax playing", has been acclaimed as "a fantastic symphony of joy". He died in the early morning of 22 May 2023, at the age of 72.

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 ( sh-Cyrl, Продукција грамофонских плоча Радио телевизије Београд, translit=Produkcija gramofonskih ploča Radio televizije Beograd ) was a major state-owned record label and chain record ...

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 of ...

'' (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" competi ...

References

External links

Balkan World Music Management
management agency biography
Ferus Mustafov
on discogs.com *

King Ferus Mustafov King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by fi ...

on allmusic.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafov, Ferus 1950 births 2023 deaths Macedonian composers Macedonian violinists Macedonian clarinetists Macedonian male composers Macedonian saxophonists Macedonian male musicians Macedonian Romani people Macedonian songwriters Male songwriters People from Štip Romani musicians