Angele Dimovski
Angele Dimovski is the Republic of Macedonia's best and most renowned kaval
(shepherd's flute) player. He was born in the village of Zelenikovo in the Skopje region in 1948.
Dimovksi's involvement with music spans four decades, and for 33 of those years he has been
employed by Radio-TV Skopje as a member of their Orchestra of Traditional Folk Instruments, both
as a kaval player and as Director. As such, he has recorded more than ten thousand minutes of
diverse musical material.
Angele Dimovski was born into a musical family, which preserved a large number of musical instruments of the izvorno musical tradition, including the kaval, gajda (bagpipe), zurla (shawm) and tapan (large drum). The Dimovskis' musical talent has been passed down from one generation to the next for over 200 years. Mr. Dimovski also studied with the legendary kaval player Mile Kolarov, and as one of his last students he has carried the responsibility of continuing his legacy.
Mr. Dimovski has performed at festivals in Macedonia, the former Yugoslavia and other parts of Europe, where he has received the top awards and recognition. He has played for audiences all over the world, including Australia, Canada, Scandinavia and Japan.
He has made a large number of recordings which were released on audiocassette, both as a member as the Orchestra of Traditional Folk Instruments and as a solo artist. Some of his best-known tapes include Kavalsi Odglasi (“Sounds of the Kaval”), Anthology of Traditional Macedonian Music, and, for the foreign market, the album Saren Kaval, produced by Tod Garfinkel.
Mr. Dimovski has also participated in festivals of popular music, and has received first place with a number of dance orchestras, rock-and-roll groups and other ensembles. His family's band, “Saren Kaval,” which consists of himself, his wife and three of his children, has been playing together for over 20 years and is considered to be the best musical ensemble of its kind.
A crowning accomplishment of Angele's lifelong musical career was the founding of a private music school for the the study of traditional instruments, directed by Angele and his son Goce. The Dimovskis are currently in the process of founding a festival of traditional Macedonian instruments and songs to be held in their native village of Zelenikovo.
Sound Sample: Ezgija.mp3 (4.2 MB) from “Kavalski Odglasi So Angele Dimovski”