The Best Macedonian Music Part 1 – Anastasia

Anastasia (band)

Anastasia (Macedonian: Анастасија, transliterated Anastasija) is a Macedonian music group. Formed in 1990, their members are:

• Goran Trajkoski (ex Saraceni, Padot na Vizantija, Mizar, Aporea)
• Zlatko Origjanski (ex Lola V. Stain)
• Zoran Spasovski (ex Mizar, Aporea)

Their music is a blend combining Byzantine past, through Eastern Orthodox Church music with a rich gamut of ethnic Macedonian music rhythms.

Anastasia have written several music scores for films, theater performances and TV programs. Their soundtrack for the Academy Award nominated movie Before the Rain was released in 1994 by Polygram and sold thousands of copies worldwide. In the same year, the Thessaloniki-based label Poeta Negra released a 12″ EP ^[1] containing the tracks “By The Rivers Of Babylon” and “Pass Over.” In 1997, they released “Melourgia” on the Greek label Libra (cat. no. L.M.007);^[2] the record included a reworked version of “By The Rivers Of Babylon.” This was followed by their last album to date, “Nocturnal,” on the same label (cat.no. L.M.013); this record saw the band including electronic elements in their music as well.

Lester “Bo” McCalebb speaks Macedonian

McCalebb: Long live Macedonia!

Thank you Bo!

Lester “Bo” McCalebb (Macedonian: Лестер “Бо” Мекејлеб; born May 4, 1985 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American-born Macedonian professional basketball player. He is currently under contract with Montepaschi Siena and plays for the Macedonian national basketball team where he is the team’s key player.

McCalebb decided to play for the Macedonian national basketball team^[10] and he received a Macedonian passport. He is one of the key players on the national team with his teammates Pero Antić and Todor Gecevski. The “Macedonian MVP”, as Macedonians call him, was the second leading scorer for the qualifying for the Euro Basket 2011, with a strong showing against Great Britain and NBA star Luol Deng.

On August 31-st, Macedonia lost the first match in EuroBasket against Montenegro. McCalebb scored 17 points and 4 assists. On September 1st, Macedonian national basketball team beat Croatia with McCalebb scoring 19 points. He had another strong showing versus Greece in the third game in group play, scoring game-high 27 points and leading the team to a 72-58 win. McCaleeb scored 18 points against Finland in a 72-70 win. Then on September 8-th (Macedonia’s independence day) he led the team with 27 points in their 65-63 win over Georgia and placed Macedonia ^[11] in the quarter-finals. In the last two matches of the second phase he scored 19 points in Macedonian victory against Slovenia, and 16 in the dramatic loss against Russia. On September 14, Macedonia defeated the host nation Lithuania to qualify in the EuroBasket semifinals. McCalebb scored 23 points. In the semi-finals Macedonia was defeated by Spain 80-92, McCalebb scored 25 points. In the battle for the bronze medal Macedonia was defeated by Russia, in another epic, dramatic match. McCalebb scored 22 points and 4 assists, but Macedonia lost unfortunately 72-68. McCalebb was the best player on the position 2 in the EuroBasket. The rest of the best five were Tony Parker, Juan Carlos Navarro, Andrei Kirilenko and Pau Gasol. With 235 points, he was also the best scorer on the tournament. He averaged 21.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game and over 34 minutes per game.