Blagojche Tushe: From Selling Cassettes in Australia to a Top‑Paid Folk Singer

Blagojche Stojanovski "Tushe" told the story of his rise from a struggling newcomer in Australia to one of North Macedonia's best‑paid folk singers during the opening episode of the new season of Glamur TV's Kafe Muabeti.

From refugee to recording an album

He said he went to Australia in the early 1990s because of the war in the former Yugoslavia, not to pursue music. Arriving with almost no money — “not even for a basic microphone,” as he put it — Tushe says a chance performance changed everything: he met people who invited him to perform and helped him record his first album.

He recalled that the debut record contained eight newly composed songs and sold very well among the Macedonian community there. As he explained, he and his colleagues were about 20–21 years old when they invested significant funds to release the album but had few ways to recoup the costs.

He translated that memory into action by carrying a shoulder bag full of cassettes and selling them table to table at restaurants and private celebrations — baptisms, birthdays and similar events. He says he sold 2,000 cassettes in Australia and that those sales covered their initial expenses.

Today Tushe is frequently booked by Macedonian communities across the world and has built a successful career, but he emphasized that his family life has been central: he met his future wife in Macedonia, they married in 2004 and their two sons were born in Australia. The family later returned to North Macedonia so grandparents could enjoy the grandchildren.

He also spoke about a painful moment: despite being a native of the Prespa region, he has been invited to perform at the well‑known Prespa festival "Jabolkober" only once. For the fee he received at that single appearance he said he donated the entire amount to a home for children with special needs.

Photo: press material from the event