Iva Damjanovski
- North Macedonia -
Iva Damjanovski, born on 09.01.1996 in Skopje, N. Macedonia, is a recently graduated Piano Performance student at the Faculty of Music, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, class of prof. Todor Svetiev (2014-2019) and is currently studying at the Free University of Bolzano, at the Master of Musicology Program.
She is the author of “The performance of the future – the contemporary performance phenomenon in music and theatre, it’s development and communication with the audience.”, published in the fourth edition of the scientific journal “Ars Academica” by the Faculty of Music and Faculty of Dramatic Arts – Skopje (2016) and ““ELEORP 76”: MUSICA NOVA MACEDONICA: Macedonian Electroacoustic music, her development and characteristics“, published and presented at the fourty-second conference of the annual Struga Autumnal Music Manifestation by SOKOM (2017).
Her first poetry book “Тие” was published by “Blesok Publishing“ and the book is the winner of the “Igor Isakovski” award for best debut poetry book by a young author (2017). In 2019 the second and broadened edition was published by PNV Publications and in 2020 her second poetry book “Двоумење” was published by the same publisher and was recently awarded the prestigious national award “Браќа Миладиновци” at the Struga Poetry Evenings. Her poetry has been published in the anthology poetry book “Rukopisi 40” (2017), the anthology poetry book “32 Macedonian Poets. Voices of the new Century” (PNV Publishing) and an Anthology of Young Poets from N. Macedonia publushed by Vakxikon. Her poetry has been translated in serbian, croatian, slovenian, greek and english.
She is part of the experimental electro-acoustic project “Improof” (piano, vocals, theremin) as well as director and part of the organization and performing team of “No Hay Banda”, a series of concerts dedicated to film music, in collaboration with the Faculty of Dramatic Arts – Skopje and the interdisciplinary concert-couple “Monochromatica” and “Monologues” dedicated to contemporary Macedonian classical music. She has worked actively with theatre and is the author of the score for the play “The White Disease“ by Karel Čapek, directed by Gorjan Arevski, which premiered in 2018. She is also a member of the “Pro Ars” choir (conducted by Maestro Sasho Tatarchevski) and actively participated in the projects and concerts organized by the University as well as student-organized events.
Currently works as an accompanist at the Faculty of Music, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje and on an album as part of the experimental duo “Alembic”.
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translated by the author.
Iva Damjanovski writes with surgical precision, and treats the text with military discipline. Every sound and every silence in her poetry are well-calculated; her words are meticulously chosen as if mosaic stones. Every possible meaning rising from them is a result of careful deliberation, and everything in her poetry is subdued to the poetic idea and message. The lyrical subject swings like a pendulum: from me to you, from us to you, they… Her poetry resounds philosophically and yet, it is full of emotions. Her thought is meaningful, clear, and focused. The poetic eye of Iva Damjanovski possesses such rare capacity that enables her to see both sides of a coin at the same time.
Julijana Velichkovska
Iva Damjanovski is one of those authors who you regard with joy while reading their work. You are happy to see a person with so much talent to have chosen to write. She is a musician by vocation, so it goes without saying that her poetry abounds in music. It is full of rhymes, half-rhymes, para-rhymes, and word-puns. Her poetry is written in a simple, common, colloquial language, but her style is austere and she lucidly peers into the reality she lives in. This power of comprehension is the most important talent in the spectrum of talents that Iva Damjanovski possesses.
Her poems give off a feeling of disappointment in the physical reality and in the chaotic world that surrounds us. One can sense both, her anger and her helplessness to change anything in the world full of wars and apparent injustices, but also her need to withstand that chaos with dignity by means of her art, if anything else. She does not hesitate to tell the world that we are here and we can bear witness of the atrocious deeds and in the process of doing so she spices up her message with subtle humor, with sour-sweet irony and a discrete smile.
Gjoko Zdraveski
Poetry
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Without Beginning / Без почеток (18)
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We Begin / Почнуваме (43)
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Abortion / Абортус (24)
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Slavic Sorrow / Словенска тага (29)
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Control / Контрола (107)
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A Tenant / Потстанар (41)
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Freedom in You / Слободата во тебе (24)
