Dancing in Nines: Daichovo, Dzanguritsa and Svornato

Today's post features three dances from three different regions of Bulgaria.

Video #1 is Daichovo Horo.  It is a dance originally from northwestern Bulgaria, and the musical accompaniment to this is usually a brass band or an accordion.

The style is pure northern Bulgarian, with arm swinging, bounciness, and crossovers (typical of Vlach dances). The rhythm is in 9/16: quick-quick-quick-slow. The accent is on the first beat, although the fourth is the longest.  This variation uses some of the Zizaj Nane steps, but none of the calls.

What makes this particular daichovo interesting is the music:  It has a strong Macedonian accent. The most emphasized instrument is the tambura,  more typical of southwestern (Pirin) region and Northern Macedonia.  You can also hear gaida (in the introduction), kaval (at 1:20), and tambura (at 1:57).  The tupan keeps the rhythm going, although it's hard to hear it in the background.

The group, Gergiovden, is from Barcelona, in Catalonia (an autonomous province in Spain).  Bulgarian culture is alive and well in that part of the world.



Dzanguritsa is a dance from the Pirin region.  It is also in 9/16 and the same rhythm as Devetorka, but a totally different choreography. Rhythm is quick-quick-quick-slow. You can hear the tambura in the background in this piece, too. It's not as strong as in the previous video.



Video # 3 is Svornato Horo from the Rhodope region in southern Bulgaria.  The music is played on the kaba gaida.  The dance begins with the devetorka step and there is an up and down arm movement at the end of each sequence.



Video #4 is a more basic version of Svornato, and it's the one we use at our dances. It's nice to have a dance room in which to practice, but I don't know how this lady can stand that awful shade of pink.  It reminds me of Pepto Bismol.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Dancing in Sevens (the series)

Mandolins, Marimbas, and Bulgarian Folk Music



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

Call and Response: Daichovo Horo

Call-and-response is a time-tested technique for getting attention, not just in classrooms but in the military, in churches, at sports events, and in traditional cultures in various parts of the world. Instead of repeating yourself, train students to respond to a fun or inspiring statement!

From teacher website The Cornerstone

Last week at dance we reviewed the dance and the calls for Daichovo Horo. It is a dance in 9/8 or 9/16 from northern Bulgarian and supposedly named after a rich cattle merchant from Pleven named Daicho.

The "village Daichovo" is an easy dance that anyone can do. Read a description of it here.

Video #1 is an example of a "village" Daichovo.



The version that we did was more complex with different calls and responses.  A member of our group wrote them down (in transliteration, since very few of us can read or write Bulgarian Cyrillic) and posted them (see photo at beginning of post.)

After researching further, I found that there were even more calls and responses.  See complete list here from Dick Oakes' Phantom Ranch website.

I check Google searches on this blog and I found that "Daichovo calls" was often requested.  The choreographed version of the dance is in Video #2.  The music is from an old recording by Bulgarian accordionist, Boris Karlov (1924-1964). The dance is sometimes known by the name Zizaj Nane.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Daichovo, Plain or Fancy; Take Your Pick

The Legacy of Boris Karlov, Bulgarian Folk Accordionist


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

Mandolins, Marimbas, and Bulgarian Folk Music

Today's cross-cultural adventure explores Bulgarian folk music played on instruments from Italy and Central America.

The first piece is by Diko Iliev, who composed music based on folk dances from northwestern Bulgaria. This dance is a  Daichovo Horo titled Bilka.  Daichovo has an odd rhythm: quick-quick-quick-slow. The accent is on the first beat, but the fourth is the longest. For you music theorists out there the top number in the time signature is a nine.  Balkan music is well-known for its irregular rhythms with a combination of quick-slow beats. 

Here's the traditional orchestration for brass band to use as a frame of reference:



The next video is the same piece played by the group Prima Visione, and arranged for mandolin orchestra.  The mandolin is an instrument most commonly associated with Italian music; this is quite an unusual combination.  This version of Bilka has a quieter, gentler sound than the brass band.



The marimba is a a percussion instrument related to the xylophone.  It is commonly associated with the folk music of the indigenous Maya people of the Yucatan in Mexico and the country of Guatemala.

Now things really start to get interesting. This video is of the Via Nova Percussion Group playing Bulgarian horo on several marimbas. Horo is a generic name for a folk dance from Bulgaria, in this case this one is a Pravo Horo.



The second set features three Bulgarian folk dances: Lesnoto, Kopanitsa, and Pravo. The first two have odd time signatures; Lesnoto is in 7/8 (pineapple-apple-apple) and Kopanitsa in 11/8 (quick-quick-slow-quick quick).  The Pravo can either be in 2/4 or 6/8, this version is in 6/8.  If you look off to the side, you'll see the tupan player.  The tupan is a double-headed drum used throughout the Balkans.  He is the all-important rhythm section and keeps everyone else in line :)



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Having a Blast With Diko Iliev: a short biography of the composer with lots of music!

Daichovo, Plain or Fancy: Take Your Pick (Several versions of a Bulgarian folk dance)

Variations on a Theme by Petko Stainov (a contemporary of Diko Iliev who also used folk motifs in his music). In this post, you'll hear different versions of his piece, Rachenitsa, along with some folk music from Guatemala.


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