Trpko Bicevski

Trpko Bicevski, born on March 5, 1938, in Gorno Požarsko, Meglen region, is a Macedonian ethnomusicologist, melographer, composer, and researcher of Macedonian vocal folk music. During the Greek Civil War, his family left their native village and settled in Erdželija, near Sveti Nikole. He completed primary school there, continued his music education in Skopje, and graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade in 1967.

After working for two years as a music teacher in Sveti Nikole, Bicevski spent most of his professional career at the “Marko Cepenkov” Institute of Folklore in Skopje. He worked in the Department of Folk Music and advanced from professional associate to scientific adviser. In 1983, he earned his doctorate with a dissertation on two-part singing in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, focusing on its structure, rhythm, and musicological features.

His work is important for the preservation and scholarly study of Macedonian folk music. Bicevski transcribed more than 15,000 Macedonian folk songs and published monographs and song collections from several Macedonian regions, including Meglen, Voden, Kukuš, Drama, Lerin, Ser, Demir Hisar, and Kostur. His research remains a valuable source for the study of Macedonian musical tradition, especially vocal singing, two-part singing, and the regional forms of the folk song.