Songs and Dances About Brides

Even the most understated ceremony involves a certain respect for ritual and pageantry. No one plays more of a significant role than the bride's attendants.
Vera Wang

Today's post features songs and dances from the Balkans about brides.

Video #1 is a bride's dance from Macedonia played by a Romani band.  The dance is a Čoček.



Video #2 features a duet by Vaska Ilieva and Aleksandar Sarievski.  The song, Nevesto Crven Trendafil  is about a man who returns home to see his beloved after working abroad.  I read translations for the song in both Bulgarian and Macedonian, and both versions are ambiguous as to what happened to the woman.  Either she married another man, or she was unfaithful to her husband.  There is a mention of the woman's children, and a strange man behind the door.

This version of the song is in Macedonian, and it is also popular in the Pirin region of Bulgaria. There is a dance to this as well.



Video #3 is from a wedding that took place in either the United States or Canada.   I have included it here because it is bilingual (Romanian/English) and features a Romanian wedding tradition: kidnapping the bride.

The groom pays a ransom with two bottles of whiskey. I'm surprised that the bride survives the bouncing while the wedding party brings her into the room.  The entire video is fun to watch!



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Romanian Wedding Videos from the Universe of YouTube

Wedding Dances and Bloopers from Romania and Bulgaria

The Alien Diaries will be taking a break for a few weeks.  My daughter's wedding will take place in mid September.  Wish them luck!


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

Black Sea Folk Songs from Romania and Bulgaria

 "Seagull Flying in a Blue Sky"by Michael Haddad (from Wikipedia)

There comes a time in a man's life when he hears the call of the sea. If the man has a brain in his head, he will hang up the phone immediately.
Dave Barry

Today's post features folk songs about the Black Sea. Seagulls are part of the seaside experience, and people tend to romanticize them (especially those who have read the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. They are obnoxious birds that are a big nuisance at the beach and they will eat just about anything.  Seagulls especially like to hang around while you're eating a sandwich; the smell of meat attracts them. A friend of mine used to feed them (bad idea!) and they never left us alone after that.  They got into the potato chips while we were in the water. My husband saw one eat a spare rib bone, whole!

The Black Sea coast is a big resort area, and there are places that have a reputation for being party towns overrun with human seagulls :) especially Sunny Beach (see Video #1).



Video #2 is a song from Romania in an uneven rhythm (9/8): Cantec de la Marea Neagra (song from the Black Sea). The Black Sea region of Romania, Dobrogea, is an area known for music in odd rhythms. The dance to this is cadeneasca, similar to Bulgarian daichovo.



Video #2 is of a Roma song from Bulgaria, Karavana Chajka. The lyrics (in Bulgarian) are about the group Edessa, who have been invited to play at the Café Seagull on the Black Sea coast. You can find the lyrics here, along with an English translation. You can sing and/or dance along to the music (the dance is a cocek).



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Quirky, Odd and Unusual Folklore Videos from the Universe of YouTube

More Songs from the Romanian Folklore Region of Dobrogea

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

Variations on the Bulgarian Folk Dance Chichovo Horo

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
Desmond Tutu

Today's post is written in memory of one of my favorite uncles. He passed on March 8, 2016 at the age of 85. He suffered from lung cancer during the last few years of his life and when the time came, he was ready. He had traveled extensively through Europe and Latin America and used to tell fascinating stories. I will miss him very much.

The featured dance is Chichovo Horo (Uncle's Dance). It is one of my favorites and the basic version is easy to learn by watching. I don't see too many folk dance groups in the States do it nowadays, although it is very popular in Bulgaria.

This dance can be done to different music, and in that respect it has much in common with another dance from the northern folklore region, Dunavsko Horo.

Chichovo is a member of the Čoček family of dances. I have seen Čoček danced to this piece during Balkan Music Night, a festival of music and dance celebrated every March in the Boston area.

Video #1 is a group of professional dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes.  The melody is the one most commonly associated with the dance.



In video #2 Daniel Spassov sings the song that goes with the music: Davai Chicho. This is an excerpt from a longer video Ide Duhovata Muzika (Here Comes the Brass Band).  If anyone out there can find me the lyrics and translation to the song it would be much appreciated.



This is one of the best versions of Chichovo I have seen on YouTube. The music for this dance is usually played by a brass band, but here the gaida (bagpipe), tupan (drum), and tambura (string instrument) dominate, along with singing. There is only one man performing with the women and he does all the fancy moves.  The actual dance starts at 1:38.



Video #4 is of a kids' group from Canada: Dimitrovche. They dance a different variation to music played by a brass band. Brass bands are very popular in Northern Bulgaria, and the composer, Diko Iliev, created many dance pieces for them.

The little girl is the real attention grabber here.  These kids have remarkable energy!



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Same Dance, Different Music: Dunavsko Horo

Here Comes the Brass Band!

Three Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Dance: Chetvorno Horo

Having a Blast with Diko Iliev

The Alien Diaries will be taking a short break for the rest of March.  I will be posting again in early April. You can catch up on the other 300 posts :)  Enjoy!


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

Variations on the Bulgarian Folk Dance Chichovo Horo

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
Desmond Tutu

Today's post is written in memory of one of my favorite uncles. He passed on March 8, 2016 at the age of 85. He suffered from lung cancer during the last few years of his life and when the time came, he was ready. He had traveled extensively through Europe and Latin America and used to tell fascinating stories. I will miss him very much.

The featured dance is Chichovo Horo (Uncle's Dance). It is one of my favorites and the basic version is easy to learn by watching. I don't see too many folk dance groups in the States do it nowadays, although it is very popular in Bulgaria.

This dance can be done to different music, and in that respect it has much in common with another dance from the northern folklore region, Dunavsko Horo.

Chichovo is a member of the Čoček family of dances. I have seen Čoček danced to this piece during Balkan Music Night, a festival of music and dance celebrated every March in the Boston area.

Video #1 is a group of professional dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes.  The melody is the one most commonly associated with the dance.



In video #2 Daniel Spassov sings the song that goes with the music: Davai Chicho. This is an excerpt from a longer video Ide Duhovata Muzika (Here Comes the Brass Band).  If anyone out there can find me the lyrics and translation to the song it would be much appreciated.



This is one of the best versions of Chichovo I have seen on YouTube. The music for this dance is usually played by a brass band, but here the gaida (bagpipe), tupan (drum), and tambura (string instrument) dominate, along with singing. There is only one man in this ensemble and he does all the fancy moves.  The actual dance starts at 1:38.



Video #4 is of a kids' group from Canada: Dimitrovche. They dance a different variation to music played by a brass band. Brass bands are very popular in Northern Bulgaria, and the composer, Diko Iliev, created many dance pieces for them.

The little girl is the real attention grabber here.  These kids have remarkable energy!



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Same Dance, Different Music: Dunavsko Horo

Here Comes the Brass Band!

Three Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Dance: Chetvorno Horo

Having a Blast with Diko Iliev

The Alien Diaries will be taking a short break for the rest of March.  I will be posting again in early April. You can catch up on the other 300 posts :)  Enjoy!


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

Balkan Dances That Are Often Confused.....

What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.
Salvador Dalí

Confusion sometimes reigns in the world of Balkan dance.  Today's post shows some examples of dances that can be mixed up because the names sound alike.

The first example is here is a Serbian dance called Čačak. There is also a Romani dance called Čoček. Čačak is in 2/4 and čoček in 9/8. They are two different dances in two different time signatures that sound very much alike.

The dance shown below is Zaplanski Čačak. Frequent readers will also recognize the dancers from the Dunav group from Jerusalem, Israel.

There are also many varieties or "flavors" of čačak; some examples are the Five Figure Čačak and Godecki Čačak, a dance that has dual citizenship in Bulgaria and Serbia. They are also more challenging dances than the basic čačak shown here.



The second dance is of Romani (Gypsy) origin: čoček. There are many varieties of čoček as well; two examples are Skopski Čoček and Indijski Čoček. This dance is very popular in Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia, where it is often played by brass bands.

To do a really good  čoček, you need to wiggle those hips.  The bigger the hips, the better the effect (see video below of the dance Merak Čoček.) The music is Karavana Chajka (sung in Bulgarian).  You can sing along if you like, the lyrics are provided as well.



The third dance is Sej Sej Bop, a rachenitsa from the Bulgarian region of Dobrudja.  Rachenitsa is the national dance of Bulgaria  and there are different regional variations.

The rhythm for rachenitsa is 7/8 or 7/16 depending on the speed: apple-apple-pineapple. This one is medium speed with lots of stamping, which is characteristic of dances from Dobrudja.



Why this dance is called Sej Bop, I don't know. It is another rachenitsa from Dobrudja with different choreography and music. Both dances have something to do with planting beans, a staple in Bulgarian cuisine.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Serbian Čačak

The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa

A Romani Potpourri


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