On December 17, the Macedonian American Alumni Association (MAAA) organized for friends, supporters and music lovers a like a concert, livestreamed through Facebook, as they celebrated the 20^th anniversary of their organization. The concert featured Ohio State Doctoral of Music Arts in Composition candidate Andrew Aycoth and the famous Macedonian ethno-rock jazz fusion guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski, who each performed in separate segments.

The MAAA was created to connect the different alumni from government funded exchange programs between North Macedonia and the United States, such as Fulbright exchange scholars. Ohio State professor Macdonald Wick and Zoran Popovski of St. Cyril & Methodius University in Macedonia were organizers and the U.S. Embassy in North Macedonia provided support for the concert as well.

Andrew Aycoth gave the first of the two performances on his 6-stringed, acoustic guitar. By video, viewers were able to marvel at Aycoth’s dexterity closer than would be possible in a concert hall. He played three pieces, one of which was his own composition that he wrote specially for the event, “Na zdrave”. One of the most interesting aspects of Aycoth’s performance was his dynamic use of the instrument including percussive tapping, knocking of the guitar sound board and striking of the strings.

Vlatko Stefanovski played second with a virtuoso performance live from his studio in Skopje. He played several traditional Macedonian pieces, all of which featured gypsy melodies and chromatic sequences with Eastern flavors and exotic time signatures reminiscent of Greek and Turkish folk tunes with jazz overtones. He also played and beautifully sang a composition, “Gypsy Song,” which he wrote and performed for the film “Gypsy Magic”. Stefanovski ended his portion of the concert with another of his own compositions, “Chista voda” (clear water), a shimmering piece that started reflective, revved up into rock licks, and ended with the peaceful imitation of dripping water.

A recording of the performance is now available through the MAAA’s Facebook page for those who may have missed it.