[4] Redžepova was also noted for her extravagant attires and her turbans, as well as the use she made of typical stereotypes about Romani women, such as sensuality and happiness.

[15] Her father Ibrahim,[16] who had lost a leg during a German bombing in Skopje in 1941,[17] worked variously as a porter, circus strongman and shoeshiner.

[17] At age nine, Redžepova was introduced by one of her brothers to a local Romani music organisation where she was able to quickly learn complicated rhythms.

Nonetheless, their daughter was emancipated and would wear fashionable dresses instead of dimije, the traditional attire for Romani girls at that time.

[20] Stevo Teodosievski, an ethnic Macedonian musician and band frontman, was impressed by Redžepova's performance at the contest and hoped she might join his musical ensemble.

[21] As part of the local establishment, Teodosievski was somewhat of a visionary in holding the belief that Romani music could one day become esteemed and popular among non-Romani people.

"Makedo" is inspired by cha-cha-chá, "Kod Kodak" shows heavy pop influences, and "Pesma Šeher Sarajevu" makes use of psychedelic organs.

Some of these songs are duets recorded with Macedonian singers, such as "Blagujno Dejče", "Biljana platno beleše" and "Zošto si me majko rodila".

[22] In Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, Romani people were officially recognised as a national minority and were granted linguistic and cultural rights.

On the other side, institutions, including Radio Skopje and the League of Communists of Macedonia, were very critical about Teodosievski and reproached him for working with "Gypsies".

Media often characterized her with traits considered typical to Roma people: she was portrayed as hot blooded, happy and easy going, and genetically talented.

Among the most prominent members were the singers Muharem Serbezovski, Usnija Redžepova and Enver Rasimov, and clarinetist Medo Čun.

The link that Tito created with Jawaharlal Nehru and India was very important for Yugoslav Gypsies because their culture and history were publicly enhanced.

[24] In addition to performing for Indira Gandhi, Redžepova also sang for Josip Broz Tito, Reza Pahlavi and Muammar Gaddafi.

[12] Together with her husband's ensemble, she performed for public audiences in several countries, including the United States, the Soviet Union, Mexico, Australia and Canada.

On the international scene, she contributed towards the establishment of Romani music as a non-mass-market good, pleasing an urban and cultural elite.

She made her debut as an actress in Krst Rakoc, a Yugoslav film released in 1962 and featuring Bata Živojinović in the main role.

She appeared in four documentary films during the decade, starting with the German Im Herzen des Lichts – Die Nacht der Primadonnen in 2002.

It was followed by When the Road Bends… Tales of a Gypsy Caravan in 2006, a documentary about five Romani music acts on their tour through the United States.

[42] Ansambl Teodosievski, which Esma Redžepova performed the most with, is composed of traditional instruments, used both by Roma and Macedonians, such as the oboe, accordion, zurna and davul.

Most of Esma's songs were either in the line of Roma or Macedonian folk tradition, with various influences ranging from Turkish, Middle Eastern to Central European.

[45] On stage and in her music videos, Esma Redžepova played with stereotypes linked to Gypsy women and used traditional attire and dancers.

For instance, some videos showed Hungarian or Russian costumes, to match the expectations of the non-Roma about Romani culture and traditional dresses.

Although Esma used sensuality and seduction in many of her early songs, such as her numerous čočeks, she limited this aspect of her performance by not wearing immodest belly dance outfits.

In the early performances, musicians swayed left and right to the rhythm with their instruments, as did Western pop groups of that period.

[21] When Esma Redžepova settled back in Skopje with her husband in 1989, she started to work on an ambitious project: a Museum of Music and House of Humanity.

[49] Esma Redžepova became politically engaged in the 1990s, when she was close to the Romani leader Amdi Bajram and to Vasil Tupurkovski, founder of the Democratic Alternative.

The municipal opposition, led by the SDSM, was hostile to the donation because the museum was not officially registered as such, and the building served at that time as Redžepova's house and hosted a local VMRO-DPMNE office.

[52] Finally, the same year, when she rehearsed the Macedonian entry for Eurovision, the song, "Imperija", caused controversy because it appeared to be a promotion of the Skopje 2014 urbanism project, led by the VMRO-DPMNE.

[40] Redžepova is one of the principal subjects of the essay collection No Man's Lands: eight extraordinary women in Balkan history, by the British-Kosovan writers Elizabeth Gowing and Robert Wilton.