Balkan Dances That Are Often Confused, Part 11: Kulsko Horo and Kulskoto

May the forces of evil be confused on the way to your house.
George Carlin

We know that dancing keeps evil forces away, and that confusion helps.  George Carlin was definitely on to something.  After you finish reading and dancing to this week's post check out some some of his comedy routines. (WARNING: do not listen to Carlin when there are small children around!)

Kulskoto is the dance also known as Arap.  There are a number of tunes for Arap, the best known is Zaiko Kokoraiko from Macedonia. Neveno Mome, a Bulgarian song, is also used, as well as Katerino Mome by Tatiana Sarbinska.  And then there's Kulskoto, a song and a dance without words.

Arap and its variations are popular in southwestern Bulgaria, Macedonia, and northern Greece.



Video #2 is Kulsko Horo, a dance from the Severnjashko (northwestern) region of Bulgaria. It is not to be confused with Kulskoto!

The Vlach people are a sizable minority in this part of Bulgaria, and their dances are known by their stampiness.  Kulsko Horo is from the town of Kula in the Vidin area.  Kula means "tower" and the tower is a leftover from a Roman fortress.  The Romans left structures all over Bulgaria which used to be a part of the Roman Empire.

The Vlachs were decendents of Romans who lived in the Balkans, and they settled all over the place, including Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece.

The version shown here is the one taught by Yves Moreau.



Video #3,  Kulsko Horo Version #2, is a dance from the same region, but with different choreography and different music.  Are you confused yet?



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Three Variations of the Bulgarian/Macedonian Folk Dance: Arap

Vlach Dances from Bulgaria and Serbia

Balkan Dances That Are Often Confused (link leads to entire series, going backwards, starting with Part 10.)


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

Bring on the Border Crossers!

The question of the value of nationality in art is perhaps unsolvable.
Edward Hopper

Today's dances have a reputation for crossing borders. There are elements of one or more country's influence in all of them.

The first is Arap .Although it is often listed as a dance from Macedonia, it is also very popular in Bulgaria.

Most groups dance Arap to a familiar song about a rabbit headed for Thessaloniki to find a bride. There are other tunes for this dance as well, some with singing and some without.

The Bulgarian version is done to different music, with no vocals.



Recently, one of the ladies in the Sunday group requested Bregovsko Horo.  It is a dance from northwestern Bulgaria near the Serbian border. We hadn't done that one in a long time.

This dance is part Bulgarian, part Vlach and part Serbian.  The steps are similar to Serbian čačak and the music sounds Serbian as well! There is also Vlach influence in the stamps.  The Vlachs in Bulgaria originally came from Romania and influenced the music and dance of the Vidin region. They traveled far and wide all over the Balkans because they often worked as shepherds.

This dance probably has dual or even triple citizenship from all those border crossings :)



Here is a čačak from Serbia for comparison; it is also known as the Five Figure Čačak.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Travels of Padjusko Horo

The "Flavors" of Serbian Čačak

Three Variations of the Bulgarian/Macedonian Dance Arap


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

Three Variations of the Bulgarian/Macedonian Folk Dance Arap

Today's featured dance, Arap, has dual citizenship, according to the notes I found on the Internet.  The reason for this is that it is popular in both Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Unfortunately, Macedonia happens to be one of the most contested names on the map. There are three places which share this name. One of them is the Republic of Macedonia where the people speak a language closely related to Bulgarian.  The languages are similar enough that Bulgarians and Macedonians can understand each other.

There is also a Macedonia region in northern Greece. The Pirin region of Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad Province, which borders the Republic of Macedonia is also known as Pirin Macedonia.

The first version of Arap is the one familiar to most folk dancers.  It is Zajko Kokorajko, about a rabbit who's off to Salonika (in Greek Macedonia) to marry a fox.  The wedding guests are as unusual as the couple: a female bear, a female wolf, a hedgehog to play the drums, and a frog to play the zurna, among others. At the end the rabbit is pursued by hunting dogs!

The dominant instrument in this song is the bagpipe (gaida).

The original Macedonian lyrics with English translation can be found here:



The next  Arap is from Bulgaria.  It's called Kulskoto and done to different music. Near the end you can hear the zurna. What makes the zurna so distinctive is its loud, piercing sound, even louder than the bagpipe.

My group dances this version to the music for Zaiko Kokorajko (except for the turns).  I guess different villages do different variations.  It's all good.



The next Arap is also from Bulgaria and very similar to the previous version.  They don't do the turns and they swing the arms, but the footwork is the same.  The music is also different, with bagpipe accompaniment.  It's very pleasing to watch and the costumes are beautiful.

The song is Neveno, Mome, Neveno  which I like very much.  Does anyone out there have the lyrics and/or translation for it?



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music

The Bagpipe in Bulgarian Folk Music

A Dance By Any Other Name

The Zurna in Bulgarian Folk Music (it was originally used to intimidate enemies of the Ottoman Empire!)


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