On January 2nd, I went to a dance party featuring the band Rakiya. Their high energy electric music was very intoxicating, and the endorphins generated by dancing to them more than made up for the fact this was an alcohol-free event.
The first time I saw them perform was at Balkan Music Night in Concord last March. I was so taken by their dynamic musical style that I took this video, which is also on their web site. The song is Zajko Kokarajko from Macedonia.
http://rakiya.com/
For more on Balkan Music Night, which takes place in Concord, Massachusetts every March (this year the date is March 19), click here http://www.forsyths.addr.com/bmn/
Last year's recap of Balkan Music Night can be read here: http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-madness-balkan-style.html
The band is from Boston. Most of their gigs are in New England, except for the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival in New York City, which is a huge Balkan event with numerous bands, now celebrating its 26th year. The festival will be held in Brooklyn on the 14th and 15th of January. It is definitely worth a visit.
This video of Rakiya is from a recent party in Wethersfield, CT. Here they perform a Serbian pop-folk song, Gori Mori. I love the way the singer dances and gets into the music, is she having fun yet?
Besides Balkan, Rakiya plays Roma (Gypsy) and Middle Eastern music. This is a mellow Armenian song: Sweet Girl.
It was an enjoyable event. I was tired and a little sore the next morning, with happy memories of the night before.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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