~John Wain
In the past I have featured folk ensembles named Horo. Here is another group with that name from Kozloduy, Bulgaria.
The town of Kozloduy is best known as the place where Hristo Botev landed after hijacking the Austrian steamship Radetsky on his way to Bulgaria from Romania to organize an anti-Ottoman uprising. He was shot and killed on June 1, 1876 near Vratsa.
Hristo Botev was one of the key figures in the overthrow of Ottoman rule in his country, and is much revered by the Bulgarian people. He left a legacy of revolutionary poetry.
There is a replica of the Radetsky docked in Kozloduy, now used as a museum ship. It houses memorabilia of Hristo Botev. The Austrian
shipping company destroyed the original Radetsky in 1924. Forty years later, a group of school children raised money to build a replica, to be used as a museum, which opened in 1966.
In video #1 the group dances on the deck of the Radetsky. They wear dresses instead of traditional Bulgarian folk costumes. (How can they dance so well on those high heels?) It looks like they're doing a dance from the northern folklore region; if anyone out there can name that dance, please post it in the comments section.
In video #2 the dancers remind me of bees in their yellow T-shirts and black pants. The dance is Sitno Selsko za Poyas (za poyas means belt hold) from the Shope folklore region. It's similar to another dance from that area: Graovsko Horo.
Video #3 is a medley of two dances: the Vlach Trei Pazeste and Sitno Selsko (same dance as the previous video.)
There is also a group of dances from Romania with the name Trei Pazeste; there are different variations depending on the town they originated. The steps in Bulgarian Vlach dances are similar to dances in Romania.(See my post on Vidinsko Horo).
The ensemble is decked out again in yellow and black; in fancier costumes this time. If you want to skip the introduction and the logo, the dancing starts at 2:14.
If you enjoyed this, you may also like
Folk Ensembles Named After Dances
Folk Ensembles Named Horo
Orchestra Horo: Modern Bulgarian Folk Songs, Traditional Rhythms
Hristo Botev, Poet and Revolutionary (short bio of Hristo Botev with links to his poetry and the story of the Radetsky.)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
