Synthesis

Synthesis is a Macedonian ethno band that sets traditional folk songs in modern arrangements, long known abroad as DD Synthesis. According to the band, it was founded in 1994 to dig deep into the traditional music of Macedonia and first appeared in public in 1995. The name stands for the idea behind it: a synthesis of traditional sounds and contemporary arrangements, played on the full range of Macedonian folk instruments, the kaval, gajda, zurla, tapan, tarabuka and tambura.

The first CD was recorded in 1996 and released early in 1997 by SJF Records, a division of the Skopje Jazz Festival, and the band's music was included on the American compilation Unblocked: The Music of Eastern Europe. Concerts abroad began in 1997, at Druga godba and other festivals in Slovenia, a folk festival in Budapest and an EBU festival in Krems, Austria. In 1998 Synthesis played the Dionysia Festival in Rome, the Tanz & FolkFest in Rudolstadt, Germany and the Akko Festival in Israel, and in May 1999 the band toured Japan.

In those years the line-up had three singers, Aneta Šulankovska, Biljana Ristovska and Mirjana Joševska, all from the Mile Kolarovski band, with Vančo Jovčev on piano and keyboards, Marjan Jovanovski on tambura, Goce Uzunski and Radoslav Šutevski on percussion and Goce Dimovski on kaval, gajda and zurla, who had taken the place of Dragan Dautovski, the only change in the early line-up. The second CD, Swinging Macedonia, mostly recorded in Ljubljana and fully acoustic with a symphony orchestra on a couple of pieces, came out on 1 July 2000. Its first concert was at Druga godba in Ljubljana, on a bill shared with Goran Bregović, and in 2001 it was the best-selling album in Macedonia.

Synthesis has worked with Bilja Krstić and the Bistrik Orchestra, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, Mauro Pagani, Plavi orkestar, Toše Proeski, Vlatko Stefanovski and Naum Petreski, and with orchestras from the Macedonian Philharmonic to the Niš Philharmonic and the National Opera of Vietnam. In 2006 the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce named the band an honorary ambassador of Macedonian culture, and in 2008 it received an award for its contribution to cultural tourism in Split.

On 25 September 2024 Synthesis celebrated its 30th anniversary with a concert in the great hall of the Macedonian Philharmonic in Skopje, a journey from its earliest songs to the present, with Vlatko Stefanovski and Naum Petreski among the guests. Its best-known songs include "Vo naše selo", "Pomolila boga Mača", "Me fatije", "Sam legnuvam" and "Oj devojče", recorded with Toše Proeski.