Kaliopi

Kaliopi, born Kaliopi Bukleska on 28 December 1966 in Ohrid and raised in Kičevo, is a Macedonian singer-songwriter. She went from singing lead with her own band in 1980s Yugoslavia to a long solo career as a vocalist and composer in North Macedonia and across the former Yugoslavia, and she represented Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest twice.

She started young. In 1976 she won the children's festival Zlatno Slavejče with "Mojata učitelka", then toured with Zapro Zaprov's choir Razvigorče between 1978 and 1980. She studied solo singing with Marija Nikolovska for four years and in 1984 went on to the Music Academy. That same year she founded the band Kaliopi with Romeo Grill. They won best interpretation at the Opatija festival with "Leo", the best debut award at the 1986 Split Festival with "Da more zna", and released the albums Kaliopi (1986) and Rodjeni (1987), whose hit "Rodjeni (Bato)" was written by Grill. When Kaliopi and Grill moved to Switzerland, the band faded and was later dissolved.

Her solo comeback began at Skopje Fest 1996, where "Samo ti" won both the jury and the audience vote, making her Macedonia's first chosen Eurovision entrant, although the country was then eliminated in a non-televised pre-selection. Her debut solo album Oboi me followed in December 1999, and in 2000 she founded her own label, Kaliopi Music Production. Ako denot mi e nokj (2001), made with producer Darko Dimitrov, gave her the title track, "Na pat do Makedonija" and "Mesečina". Ne mi go zemaj vremeto (2003) included the duets "Bel den" with Esma Redžepova and "Purpurni dozdovi" with actor Vasil Zafirčev.

In 2004 she played the lead in "Čija si", the first Macedonian musical. In 2007 she signed with Croatia's Aquarius Records, and the Serbo-Croatian album Želim ti reći came out in 2008. She wrote "Dajem ti sve" for Tamara Todevska, sang "Za tebe čuvam sebe" by Alka Vuica at the Split Festival, and appeared as composer and singer on an album by Massimo Savić. Oblivion (2009), recorded with lutenist Edin Karamazov, was followed by Poraka (2010) and its Serbo-Croatian twin Poruka. She also recorded "Zasekogaš" for the posthumous album of Toše Proeski's own songs.

At Eurovision 2012 in Baku she sang "Crno i belo", her lyrics on Romeo Grill's music, and finished 13th in the final with 71 points. The renewed partnership produced the album Melem (2013). Four years later she returned to Eurovision in Stockholm with "Dona", which placed 11th in its semi-final. In 2011 Kaliopi was a judge on the first Macedonian Idol, and in 2024 she released a new studio album called simply Album.