BIOS & BACKGROUND
Ismail Lumanovski (clarinet) is an international star, known for his mastery of both Western Classical and Balkan/Romani/Turkish music plus his dazzling improvisational skills. He regularly tours nationally with the Gypsy All-Stars and The Secret Trio and has recorded several albums with them. Born in Bitola North Macedonia in a Turkish-speaking Romani musical family, he began studying clarinet at the age of eight, attended Interlochen Art Academy and received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Julliard School of Music. He plays regularly for Macedonian, Turkish, and Romani celebrations in the NYC region, where he lives. His successful classical career includes performing with top international symphony orchestras and winning numerous clarinet competitions around the world. Ismail has also performed and taught for the EEFC Balkan Music Camps, VOR International Roma Day 2009, and Inspector Gadje.
Chris Bajmakovic (accordion, keyboard, and vocals) was born in 1973 in Gary, Indiana, and grew up surrounded by Balkan music. His mother, of Romani heritage, is from Bitola and his father is from Ohrid, North Macedonia, both from families of professional musicians. He was classically trained from the age of 5, but taught himself folk music, and played his first wedding at the age of 14. He regularly plays for Macedonian and Serbian events in Gary, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, West Palm Beach, Tampa, etc. Chris has performed and taught for the EEFC Balkan Music Camps and for 2009 VOR International Roma Day.
Hristina Ilioska (vocals) was born in 1996 in Prilep and raised in Bitola, North Macedonia in a family with several professional folk musicians. She studied flute for many years in school and started singing Balkan pop-folk after she moved to Chicago in 2019. She has performed at Romani weddings in St. Petersburg, St. Louis, Des Moines, Fargo, and Atlanta, and at Macedonian events in Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey, Indiana, and Iowa, and in Australia. In 2025 she toured across the US with renowned Bosnian singers and performed with Chris Bajmakovic at Balkan Night Northwest.
Balkan Ensemble Merkalii &
Rumen Sali Shopov. They pick you up and spin you around with their energetic Balkan and Romani dance tunes! Featured band members at this performance include
Rumen Sali Shopov - tambura, vocals;
Ivan Velev - tupan;
Daniel Goldberg - saxophone;
David Solnit - clarinet;
Sharon Grodin - accordion;
Mike Margulies - trumpet;
Janie Cowan - bass.
Rumen “Sali” Shopov (drums, tambura, vocals), director of the Berkeley based Balkan Ensemble Merkalii, was raised in the Turkish-speaking Romani neighborhood of Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria. He was immersed in many genres of Balkan music during his childhood, played professionally from the age of twelve, and also served as concertmaster of the folk ensemble Nevrokop. Since emigrating to the US in 2001, he has performed and taught in numerous Bay Area venues as well as in many international music camps and VOR events and has mentored many local musicians. His work has been supported by the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission and ACTA. In 2006 VOR released Shopov’s album Soul of the Mahala.
Benji Rifati (trumpet) has spent many years learning trumpet from Balkan Romani masters such as Zahir Ramadanov and Demiran Ćerimović and more recently with Džambo Agušev, focusing on Turkish and Tallava styles. The son of VOR founders Sani Rifati and Carol Bloom, he grew up in California immersed in Balkan music. Benji has spent summers playing weddings in the Balkans with Ork. Aguševi. He recently moved to New York, where he plays with Novi Hitovi. He has also taught trumpet and brass band at the EEFC Balkan Music Camps.
Janie Cowan (bass) performs multiple genres and has toured widely in Europe. Born in 1988, now living in southern California, she studied Suzuki method from the age of four, started bass at the and graduated from Oberlin Music Conservatory. She has played Balkan music at Stockton Camps and with Chris, Hristina and Rumen at Macedonian events. She released three albums on her label Asinine Records.
Carol Silverman (panel co-leader) is award-winning Prof. Emerita of Cultural Anthropology/Folklore at the University of Oregon, VOR Board member, and music curator for RomArchive.eu. She has supported Romani culture in the Balkans and the American and West European diasporas for 40 years as a researcher, teacher, activist, and performer. She teaches Balkan singing internationally and toured and recorded extensively with the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble. Her 2012 book, Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora won the Book Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology.
Sylvia Sawislak (panel co- leader) serves on the Board of Directors of VOR; she was born in 2000 in Bulgaria and is of Romani descent. Sylvia was adopted at the age of two and raised in the Bay Area. As a Research Assistant in Harvard University's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, she is currently working with Dr. Margareta Matache, Head of the Roma Program, on a multi-country European initiative on Romani feminist leadership and climate justice; she is contributing to research design, data collection, and community-engaged work with Roma women and girls. Sylvia earned her B.S. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and soon will begin a Master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania to further her goal of becoming a Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner.
Ioanida Costache (panelist) is Asst. Professor of Ethnomusicology and affiliate of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. Of Romanian Romani heritage, she explores the legacies of Romani historical trauma, and the feminist critiques of the present, inscribed in Romani music, sound, and art. Her writing has been published in EuropeNow, RevistaARTA, Critical Romani Studies, and European History Quarterly. She has held visiting and postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation.
Voice of Roma is a California based non-profit that promotes the rich cultural heritage of Roma dating back a thousand years, through festivals, workshops, performances and educational presentations. Voice of Roma works to heighten awareness of human rights issues faced by Roma in today’s world, and to support efforts by Roma to build and maintain their communities and improve their lives. In its 27-year history, Voice of Roma has supported many educational programs about Roma as well as several national tours of esteemed artists, such as the final American tour of superstar vocalist Esma Redzepova.
