Slatkaristika in Bitola on August 21 - the rapper with 18 million views on "Terorista" at Gold Felicija

Slatkaristika comes to Bitola on August 21. Marko Marinkovikj, the man who made all of Macedonia learn the chorus of "Terorista" by heart, performs at Gold Felicija starting at 20:00. Tickets cost 700 denars.

Born in Skopje in 1986, Marinkovikj started making music at twelve. At fifteen he founded the hip-hop group Edinstvena Opcija together with Skit Skitara. The real breakthrough came in May 2009, when he signed with Jovanovikj Records and released his first solo album "Slatkaristika budalo". Since then his ground has been the meeting point of hip-hop and folk, a combination few in the region pull off without sounding like a joke.

The numbers speak louder than any description. "Tik Tak", the 2016 collaboration with Bulgarian rapper Krisko, has more than 12 million views. "Terorista" from 2017 passed that mark by another six million. These are not songs that rotated on radio for a month and then vanished, but choruses the crowd in front of the stage still sings, word for word.

Gold Felicija is not an arena or an ancient theatre. It is a hall where the distance between performer and audience is measured in metres, not in sectors. For an artist whose repertoire lives on interaction with the crowd, the smaller room usually works in his favour. Tickets are sold through karti.com.mk, and the number of places in the hall is limited.