Alan Dershowitz
Today's dance is Ripna Maca. It is related to Chetvorno Horo in that it uses similar steps and has the same rhythm (pineapple-apple-apple). For the musicologists out there, the time signature is 7/16. There are several border crossing dances, for example: Godecki Cacak, that have dual citizenship. The jury is still out as to whether it is Serbian or Bulgarian, but to most of us dancers, it doesn't really matter.
Ripna Maca #1 is from East Serbia. There is a Shope region in Serbia, and also across the border in Bulgaria. Dances from this area tend to be fast and done with a belt hold.
The lyrics describe a cat who steals sausage from the pantry. I've lived with a number of cats and they are always getting into trouble. One of their vices is stealing food meant for humans, especially meat. That is usually not a problem unless they get into the roast that was designated for company. Nobody wants to eat Kitty's leftovers.
Ripna Maca #2 is from Bulgaria. . The leader calls the steps (in English). They have some interesting names: cross step, hop and horse.
Ripna Maca #3: same dance as the previous video with different music. It's heavy on clarinet and brass and I like it very much.
Recently, the Bulgarian National radio featured The Clarinet in Traditional Bulgarian Folk Music. They have some really good vintage recordings from their archives.
You can also read my post The Clarinet in Bulgarian Folk Music and why some people consider it an "instrument of torture."
If you enjoyed this you may also like
The "Flavors" of Serbian Cacak
Three Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Dance Chetvorno Horo
Bulgarian Folk Music for the Year of the Horse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
No comments:
Post a Comment