Dace: We lived in a 26 m² flat with mold and couldn't afford diapers

Singer Dragan Nikolovski — known as Dace — told a personal story on the talk show "Kafe muabeti" about the moment when his family barely made ends meet. He described the first rented flat he and his wife moved into with their older son: a single 26-square-metre space that had to serve as bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining area at the same time.

From a single 10-denar coin to a life-changing audition

Speaking frankly, Dace recalled the everyday inconveniences of that small apartment and how pressure mounted after the birth of their younger child. "When we moved out of my parents' to rent, it wasn't hard for me to leave my mum and dad, I call my parents every day and tease them like they used to tease me. When I went as a tenant with my wife, we lived in a small 26-square-meter flat; there was the bathroom, the dining area, the living room, the fridge and the kitchen..." he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

He went on to paint a scene of cramped living and mounting costs: "And the sofa we slept on was a pull-out; we changed the child's clothes here, you entertain the child here, guests waited here. There was no central heating, we lived with mould, and then the little one was born and we had too many expenses... Those are diapers that cost a lot, and as the child grows there are fewer in a pack, there weren't so many weddings, I wasn't that in demand."

Dace also described a period of acute scarcity when he says he had only a single 10-denar coin in his pocket for a week. "There is one moment I will never forget. For seven-eight days I went to work with one iron 10-denar coin in my pocket. Colleagues, after finishing tasks, every day we sit for a coffee and they kept calling me 'come on, one macchiato.' 'No, no, no, I have work,' I lied that I had work, but I didn't have work," he admitted.

At his lowest, he seriously considered leaving music to find steady income abroad. He stressed he never contemplated illegal activity or gambling, but that he had been ready to take almost any legal job. He said he had even signed a preliminary agreement for a high-paying job in dollars in an area that was being bombed at the time, yet fate intervened: a vacancy appeared at the national ensemble Tanec. He applied, was the only male accepted as a bass vocalist, and ultimately paid penalties to cancel the foreign contract — a turning point that kept him in the country and on stage.

Today Dace performs regularly and credits that audition and the choice to stay with music as decisive. The full interview and the episode of "Kafe muabeti" where he shared these memories were broadcast recently.

Photo: press material from the event