ZAFIR HADZIMANOV

ZAFIR HADZIMANOV

Zafir Hadzimanov was born at Kavadarci (Macedonia) on 25th December 1943, from father Vasil and mother Vera. In 1967 he enrolled the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade and graduated as an excellent student in the class of Professor Mata Miloševic in 1967. Even as a student, he achieved extraordinary success in theatre, in the world of film and show business. He won prizes at all festivals of the time: Belgrade, Zagreb, Opatija, Split, Skopje, but also at the international festivals in Sopot (Poland) and Varadero (Cuba). He played the main roles in the films The Knife by Ž. Mitrovic and Macedonian Bloody Wedding by  T. Popov, as well as in several other films and at the theatre  stages in Belgrade (Theatre on Terazije, Atelje 212), Skopje (Drama Theater), Novi Sad (Serbian National Theatre) and Boston (Forum Theatre).

He was more popular among broad audience as the singer-songwriter dominant in the world of chansons, of his own creation, as well as the works of many other leading poets. Unlike anybody else in Serbia and  Macedonia, he composed tens of chansons and ballads to the verses of anthological poets, such as: Konstantin Miladinov, Kosta Racin, Blaže Koneski, Aca Šopov and Radovan Pavlovski, as well as of such celebrities as Miloš Crnjanski, Duško Radovic, Desanka Maksimovic, Brana Crncevic... He received all kinds of awards, starting from Struga Poetry Evenings in 1975, all the way to the International Chansons Festival in Zagreb in 2002 and in 2003. Alone, or together with his wife, Senka Veletanlic-Hadžimanov, he recorded many records, discs, TV shows. He performed at the stages such as Olympia (Paris), Opera House (Sydney), Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow)...

He was awarded the annual actors’ prize of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, the special award for high accomplishments in the domain of acting by the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia, the Yugoslav Show Business Award The Distinguished Artist of Serbia, Lifetime Achievement Award by Skopje Radio Ladybug (in 2002), Lifework Award granted by the voting of the spectators of TV Jesenjin (in 2003), and the Golden Masque Award for spreading of Macedonian culture all over the world (in 2006).

Zafir Hadžimanov writes poetry in two languages: Serbian and Macedonian: Chansons in Paper, Dog Singer (Recognition Award Stražilovo), Asylum, National Poet, Brother, but he also wrote a book of short stories Sour-Merry. In 2007 he published a CD named There Was May, with his greatest festival successes.