Vlatko Stefanovski at Eketa Estate near Krnjevo on July 31 - the Leb i sol guitarist with his trio in an amphitheatre

Vlatko Stefanovski plays on July 31 at the amphitheatre of Eketa Estate near Krnjevo, in Serbia. The Macedonian guitarist performs with his trio, starting at 9 pm, and tickets start at 3,000 dinars through tickets.rs.

Stefanovski was born in Prilep in 1957, into a theatre family, and started playing guitar at thirteen. Still a teenager, he founded Leb i sol, the band that became one of the most important names on the Yugoslav scene and recorded fourteen albums. What set them apart was the fusion of Macedonian irregular rhythms with rock and jazz fusion, a sound later named ethno-rock and one that has more followers than Stefanovski himself ever admits.

He opened his solo career in 1994 with Cowboys and Indians, an album that showed his interests running from deep ethno roots to ambient and blues pieces. Since then he has also written music for film, theatre and ballet, worked with guitarists of Tommy Emmanuel's calibre and with Gibonni, and holds an honorary doctorate in the arts from a Macedonian university. It is a career that long ago crossed the region's borders and yet stays recognisably Macedonian in its rhythm.

The amphitheatre at Eketa Estate is an intimate stage near Krnjevo, far from Belgrade's halls and from the festival crush. For a guitarist playing with a trio, that is a format where every note is heard. The audience that travels there knows what it is after.

Sales go through tickets.rs, starting at 3,000 dinars. The Macedonian audience that wants to hear him at home will have to wait, but for those travelling toward Serbia this is one of the closer chances this year.