I first heard Esma in the film "Gypsy Caravan" and was enthralled immediately. This CD is a wonderful sampling of Macedonian and Romani songs. It should please anyone interested in gypsy music. I would highly reccomend it.

I discovered Esma by way of the World of Gypsies Vol. 2 CD, which I highly recommend. It includes fourteen different performers from all over Eastern and Western Europe, including Esma Redzopova of Macedonia, Vera Bila of Czech Republic, and Lida Goulesco and Valentina Ponomareva of Russia, who are all remarkable female vocalists. Esma, however, possesses the most brilliant and versatile voice of them all, and her album Esma, Queen of the Gypsies is a wonderful collection of both Macedonian and Roma songs.

Initially, I fell in love with the Roma songs on disc 2. Fun, jazzy, with clarinet, synthesizer, drums and cymbals, it shows off the range of her voice in the best way. In Hajri Ma Te Dike she almost sounds like she's crying even though she's singing. Ma Ker Tu, on the other hand, is rather pop and swinging. Both Mojlo Chindila and Ciganta Je Malena start with what sounds like Mariachi music. Esma Cocek, track 7, is very haunting and beautiful.

Disc 1 is quite different. Singing Macedonian songs with her husband, Stevo Teodosievski, this collection of 12 songs is dominated by traditional Eastern European accordion. In fact, Blagunjo Dejce is a superlative example of the most haunting of songs you might find on Latcho Drom or from the band Kroke. On Kalesh Ando, Esma shows off her voice in the style of the Bulgarian Women's chorus.

Her Cinderella story is narrated in the CD booklet included. Not a little like Selena, I can't but help to think that Selena must have seen Esma at a concert on one of Esma's tours in the US. Their styles are curiously similar. And like Selena, she is married to a member of her band. But when all is said and done, her true Prince Charming is her voice. It has truly singled her out.