A Bulgarian New Year Celebration

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Will 2017 be a better year than 2016?  I certainly hope so. There was the loss of Lyubka Rondova and Esma Redzepova in the world of Balkan music.  They will be missed.

Today's post features two Bulgarian New Year celebrations.  The first one has dancing and singing; the second, fireworks and music.

Video #1 features Nikolina Chakardakova, a Bulgarian folk singer from the Pirin region. Here she leads a New Year's celebration in 2014 with a medley of danceable folk songs.

The beauty of this is that she gets everyone up and dancing, even though it's cold outside (it is a good way to keep warm).

The event was broadcast on Bulgarian TV.



Video #2 is quite noisy because Bulgarians get a bit crazy with the pyrotechnics for Nova Godina. There are three pieces traditionally played at midnight: the Bulgarian National Anthem, Mila Rondino, (0:20),  Diko Iliev's Dunavsko Horo (1:44), and a Russian hymn sung by Boris Christoff (last name also spelled Hristov) Mnogaya Leta  Grant, O Lord, Many Years (6:27).

Boris Christoff was best known for his operatic performances, especially in  Boris Godenov.   He was born in Plovdiv. He left Bulgaria for Italy in 1945 and never went back for the rest of his life. When he died in 1993, his body was returned to Bulgaria and given a State funeral.

The Bulgarian National Anthem has undergone a number of changes over the years.  The version currently in use glorifies the beauty of the country. You can find the lyrics in the original language, transliteration and English translation here.

Notice: you won't find Auld Lang Syne anywhere in this video.  In my humble opinion it's a sappy song suitable only for those drunk enough to sing it.

Happy New Year 2017!



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Best of The Alien Diaries 2010-2015

Now That We've Survived The End of the World (next prediction is for August 2017)

Happy New Year 2014: Same Dance, Different Music: Dunavsko Horo

In memory of two great singers who passed on in 2016:

A Tribute to Esma Redzepova

A Tribute to Lyubka Rondova


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Three variations on the Bulgarian Folk Song: Ripni Kalinke

We have a secret project at Third Man where we want to have the first vinyl record played in outer space. We want to launch a balloon that carries a vinyl record player.
Jack White

Today's post is about one of my favorite Bulgarian songs, Ripni Kalinke from the Rhodope region. It is about a couple who try to get close at a dance while their parents are watching. The parents are opposed to them being together.

Video #1 is the original version by Nadezhda Hvoineva, who lived from 1936-2000. This recording is used at folk dances. She was born in village near the town of Smolyan and performed as a soloist in The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices.

The dance for this is Pravo Horo.



Video #2 is Ripni Kalinke performed by Valya Balkanska, best known for the song Izlel e Delyu Haidutin. This was one of the songs on a golden record that NASA launched into outer space in 1977.

In this version, Valya Balkanska is accompanied by a kaba gaida, a traditional instrument from the Rhodope region.



Video #3 is the children's group Hopa Trop from Seattle singing and dancing to Ripni Kalinke.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

A Golden Record, Rhodope Folk Songs, and Valya Balkanska in Concert

Hopa Trop: Children's Ensemble from Seattle, Washington

Merry Christmas to all!  Enjoy some Bulgarian Christmas songs.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Tribute to Esma Redzepova

Čajorije, šukarije,
ma phir urde pala mande,
ma phir urde pala mande, čaje!
Esma Redzepova

Esma Redzepova passed away on December 11, 2016, after a short illness. She was 73.

One of my biggest regrets was that I never saw her live in concert. In April of this year she did a tour of the United States, which included performances in New York City and Washington, DC.

This week's post is a tribute to the great singer and humanitarian who was an advocate for the Romani people and women's rights.  She was the first performer to make Romani music popular with non-Romani people.  Everyone knows her by her first name.

Video #1 is Djelem, Djelem, the anthem of the Romani people. You can find the original lyrics and a translation here. It is the song of a people who have traveled all over the world.  It is the lament of those who have suffered persecution.



Video #2 is her best-known song, Chaje Shukarije, a love song about a beautiful girl.



Video #3 is a performance in the studio of  KEXP in Seattle, in April 2016. Here she appears at 8:23 after the Folk Masters play.  She talks about her music through a translator, and performs both Macedonian and Romani songs.

She made a trip to India to a festival in 1976 and was crowned by the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. (The Roma people originally came from India.)



If you have an hour to spare, here is a performance of Esma with her band Folk Masters which took place at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. in April, 2016.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

A Romani Potpourri

A Romani Potpourri Part Two


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Dances from Oltenia

The saddest country I went to was Romania, years ago, during Ceausescu's rule.
Christopher Lee

Before the revolution of 1989, Romania was a totalitarian regime ruled by an autocrat who wouldn't let people leave the country. Food and clothing shortages were commonplace. There were also orphanages full of children whose parents couldn't afford to raise them, many who got AIDS from unsterilized needles. Birth control was forbidden in Ceausescu's Romania. The situation was so bad that people froze in the winter because the government exported heating oil for foreign currency. It was a terrible place to live until 1989, when on Christmas Day, Ceausescu and his family were assassinated.

Although the situation in Romania is much better than in the past, poverty and discrimination against the Roma population are still social issues. Despite the problems, the country has a rich folklore tradition that has survived World Wars and totalitarian rule.

Today's post features three southern Romanian dances from the province of Oltenia, on the northern side of the Danube from Bulgaria.

Video #1 is a dance very popular in one of my groups: Hora Lautareasca din Dolj. Dolj is a county in the province of Oltenia. The dance is named after the Lautari, the term for a band of Roma musicians.

There is a review of the dance at the beginning of the video.  The dance teacher is one of those "crazy" instructors and keeps a running monologue going throughout the dance. Her group consists entirely of senior citizens (old enough to remember Communist Romania).

Dancers tend to live longer and are less likely to suffer from dementia than non-dancers.



Video #2 is another dance from Dolj and one of the numerous variations of Trei Pazeste.  There are Trei Pazeste de la Goicea Mare,  Trei Pazeste Batrinesc, and others.  You can read about them in one of the posts below.



Video #3 is a Japanese group dancing Rustemul Oltenesc. This is a different variation with different music than the Rustemul we usually do (although some of the steps are similar). Notice that the young woman in the line wears a man's costume.



If you enjoyed this, you may also like:

Variations on a Romanian Folk Dance Tune:  Hora Lautareasca

Variations on the Romanian Folk Dance: Trei Pazeste

Crazy Dance Instructors


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.