Selimova-Želčeski

Selimova-Želčeski was a Macedonian folk duo of husband and wife: Kevser "Keti" Selimova, a Macedonian Turk from Resen, and Đorđe Želčeski from Prilep. Singing Macedonian folk songs in two voices, they became one of the best-known groups in Macedonia and were just as well known in the other republics of the former Yugoslavia.

They met in 1959 at Partizanske vode on Zlatibor, at a festival of folk ensembles. Skopje had sent the cultural society KUD "Orce Nikolov", in which Kevser performed, while Đorđe, seven years older than her, was already an established solo singer with Radio Skopje. They were a couple from 1961 and later married; Keti has said that in those days a Macedonian marrying a Turkish woman was not easy. Besides music school, where he learned singing and several instruments, Đorđe held diplomas from a secondary medical school, a higher pedagogical school and the Faculty of Science, which made him a qualified chemistry teacher.

Their first EP, "Kaljo, Kaljino devojče", came out on Jugoton in 1964, and more EPs on Jugoton and PGP-RTB followed through the 1960s, among them Včera mi pismo pristigna (1966) and Vodeničare (1967). PGP-RTB remained their label until 1991. The 1973 album Selimova-Želčeski gathered songs such as "Vrati mi se milo libe", "Mojto libe na pečalba odi", "Brala moma kapini" and "Pieme, peeme", and an LP under the name Duet Selimova-Želčeski followed in 1974.

In the 1980s the duo released the single "Ljubi me, ljubi me" (1981) and "Molim te vrati mi se" (1985), and their songs appeared on PGP-RTB's folk hit parades and on the Folk Fest Valandovo records of the mid-1980s. Later came the cassettes Zlatni godini (Mister Company, 1996) and the triple CD Zapisano u vremenu (PGP-RTS, 2007).

The couple made their home in Belgrade, and they sang together for about sixty years. Keti has described the duo as one of the last symbols of Yugoslavia, and her own favourite of their songs is "Jovano, Jovanke". Đorđe Želčeski died on 24 February 2020, aged 82. Keti Selimova lives in Belgrade and has said she would love to sing again, but without Đorđe it makes her too sad.