Bulgaro-Macedonian Sing Along Songs

The world has only one border. It is called humanity. The differences between us are small compared to our shared humanity. Put humans first.
Nadia Murad

Today's post features the Bulgarian singer Nikolina Chakardakova with a medley of Bulgaro-Macedonian folk songs. There are links to them in the same order as in the video.  I was able to find translations for most of these  (some in German, some in English) and transliterations via The Songbook for Nearsighted People compiled by Birgitt Karlson.  Songs that weren't in the Songbook I found at various websites including Wikipedia, where you can find almost everything.

These songs are excellent examples of songs that cross borders.  They are popular both in Bulgaria and in Northern Macedonia. Sing along with Nikolina!

Makendonsko Devojce
(Macedonian transliteration with German translation)

Zemi Ogin, Zapali Me
(Bulgarian Cyrillic lyrics)

Nazad, Nazad Mome Kalino
(Bulgarian to English translation and transliteration)

Ako Umram il Zaginam
(Macedonian transliteration, translations in German and English)

More Sokol Pie
(English translation)

Jovano Jovanke
(Macedonian to English, no transliteration)

Ludo Mlado
(Bulgarian transliteration and German translation)

We have sung and/or danced to all of these at one time or another. Usually our dances end with a lesnoto in 7/8 time.  The dancers here do a ten minute lesnoto sing-along that is fun to watch. 



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

A Bulgarian New Year Celebration (with Nikolina Chakardakova)

Dancing in Sevens, Part Two (there is a link to Part One in this post)


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

Dancing by the Numbers, Part Two

Numbers constitute the only universal language.
Nathaniel West

Today's featured dance is the 16 Count Tsamiko.  It's slightly more complicated than the basic Tsamiko that is usually done at Greek festivals.  We do it at the Sunday night dances.

The dance is sometimes called Tsamikos.  In Video #1 the spelling is "Chamiko." This dance and its variations may have originated with the Cham people; ethnic Albanians who lived in Greece.



This is the Tsamiko dance that we do when we're not dancing the 16 count version. It is often done at Greek festivals. Notice that it's the same music as video #1. At 1:54 the leader introduces a variation.  She also does a few turns: some leaders embellish the basic dance with turns, jumps and acrobatics.  Male leaders tend to do this more than women, but there are exceptions.



Since The Alien Diaries is an equal opportunity blog, the Tsamiko in Video #3 shows a female leader in an all female line doing some masculine moves that include turns, jumps, and knee bends. She spices it up with shouts.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Dancing by the Numbers


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