with a goat?
I would not,
could not.
with a goat!
Dr. Seuss, from Green Eggs and Ham
You could, if the bagpipe is made from an entire goat, including the head. Read on, you'll find this week's post very entertaining.
I'm not a fan of Sports Illustrated, especially the Swimsuit Edition. The magazine version comes out every February, mainly because people are bored of winter and dream of escaping to tropical beaches where beautiful women abound. Real women don't look anything like the ones in Sports Illustrated, that's for sure.
Here is something much more fun to watch: the Accent Swimsuit Video. It features the ladies from the Bulgarian folk dance club Accent on vacation in Lake Orhid, Macedonia. You can find their website here (in Bulgarian). Here they ham it up for the camera with Opas, sans elaborate embroidered costumes.
As soon as I saw this video, I thought of a Facebook friend who regularly reads my blog. He likes the belly dancers and the sexy female folk singers. Will, this one's for you :)
A group from China dances Geampara, a dance from Romania. It's amazing how Balkan folk music has traveled around the world. This particular group focuses on Balkan and Israeli dance and they have many videos on YouTube. They have been featured on this blog numerous times and describe themselves as a "bonding folk dance class." The teacher reminds me of a drill instructor; according to the notes on the video, he is a guest teacher from Taiwan. His choice of music suits his personality; it is a very macho piece.
The rhythm for geampara is the same as Bulgarian rachenitsa: apple-apple-pineapple. Just don't call it that in Romania.
Video #3 features a group of Roma musicians, also known by the politically incorrect term Gypsies.
Unfortunately I've read too many disparaging comments on YouTube about the Roma. They have been targets of discrimination for centuries.
Their ancestors originally came from India and migrated west into Europe. Some of the best artists in the world of Balkan music are Roma; famous examples include the singer Esma from the Republic of Macedonia, and the accordionist Boris Karlov from Bulgaria.
These guys are fun to watch, although I think they had a little too much whiskey at the Christmas party :) What is really odd is that there's no audience here, nor are there people dancing. The rhythm for this piece is a čoček, a dance popularized by Roma people in the Balkans.
Finally here's one of the most unusual videos I've ever seen. Risto Todoroski, a Macedonian living in Sydney, Australia, makes, sells and plays bagpipes made from an entire goat, including the head. If you're looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for your favorite musician, you can contact him via e-mail at sirulsko@gmail.com.
If you enjoyed this you may also like
A Romani Potpourri One and Two
Two Variations on the Bulgarian Folk Dance Opas
The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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