Turli Tava plays traditional Macedonian wedding music. The group takes its name from the meat and vegetable stew—the Macedonian gumbo—that accordionist and vocalist Sasho Dukovski ate back home in Bitola. Through that city, along the ancient trade road called the Via Egnatia, history brought waves of travelers and settlers who created Macedonia’s unique cultural blend, a mix reflected in Turli Tava’s repertoire. The musicians in the group have been playing for Macedonian and other Balkan communities in North America and Europe for decades.
Bitola-born Sasho Dukovski (accordion, keyboard and vocals) first learned Macedonian music at the knee of his grandfather, a traditional clarinetist, and from his parents, both professional singers in Europe and the United States. Sasho’s father’s family is from Bitola, and his mother’s family was from Aegean Macedonia. From age seven, he lived in two worlds—Akron and Bitola—and soon was performing in both. He graduated from Bitola’s music school and is a veteran of the five-night-a-week hotel and restaurant gigs, weddings, military send-offs and other private parties that, on a good night, fill Bitola and the surrounding villages with music. He has played with Heraklea, Elita, Pelagoniski Biseri and many other well-known Macedonian groups, and accompanied the vocal duo Selimova/Zhelcheski, Zoran Josifovski and clarinetist Slave Naumovski.
While still in high school, Sasho began playing with Turli Tava’s clarinetist, Walt “Vlado” Mahovlich (clarinet and saxophone), an accomplished multi-instrumentalist in a variety of Eastern European styles who also currently leads the East European folk group Harmonia. Walt has played for Macedonian and other Eastern European communities since his teen years. He began playing clarinet with traditional musicians from the Lake Prespa region of southwest Macedonia. Early on, he seriously studied and began playing the music of the old-time Macedonian master clarinetists, particularly the late Kime Nachoff. In the 1970s, he performed with such noted old-timers as Paul “Spaso” Vangeloff and Chris Athans. He has appeared on concert stages throughout North America and Europe, including performances with the Taleff Macedonian Orchestra at the Smithsonian’s 1976 bicentennial Festival of American Folklife, Smotra Folklora in Zagreb, and festivals in Sofia and Zlanite Piasotsi in Bulgaria. All that said, Walt is really in his element playing for dancing late at night at Macedonian weddings and vecherinki.
Percussionist Mitko Nikolov (tapan and tarabuka) was born in Skopje, Macedonia, where he was very active in traditional Macedonian music and dance. He also attended the folk music seminars in Berovo, where he studied with Milo Destanoski. He came to the United States to be part of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, where he was a featured musician and dancer. Mitko is a master of the large traditional double-headed drum called the tapan, a key element of traditional Macedonian dance music.
Justin Greenwald (keyboard, accordion and vocals) grew up in Pittsburgh immersed in Balkan music from his teenage years on. An alumnus of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, he is renowned as a singer and accordionist performing Balkan music throughout North America.
Turli Tava’s music is strongly rooted in Macedonian dance traditions and filled with energy and creative surprise. Rooted and free yet traditional, Turli Tava is bona fide Balkan gumbo!
