Dancing Through the Alphabet, Letter G: Ginka

The dance of the week is Ginka, from the southwest (Pirin) region of Bulgaria.


For some reason Ginka is more popular in Bulgaria than it is in the Western Hemisphere, although I found the notes for it on an American folk dance camp website.  It's done to a different song, Mitro le Mitro.

The first video features dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes and they are from the Philip Kutev ensemble. You can find this dance and many more on the website horo.bg  which has videos of dances from all the folklore regions of Bulgaria.Click on the English flag on the upper right hand corner of the website if you're Cyrillically challenged :)

If you're familiar with the song Dobra Nevesto, you'll hear a bit of it at the end (minus the singing).  The rhythm is 7/8 (pineapple-apple-apple).



Ginka #2 is from a Bulgarian dance class; same dance with modern music.



This week's bonus is some gaida (bagpipe) music, since gaida beings with the letter G.  The Chinese New Year starts on February 19th.  It will be the year of the sheep (or the goat, depending on which Chinese Zodiac sign you prefer.)  Both animals share two things in common: they chew their cud and are made into Eastern European bagpipes in the Afterlife.

Someone at the Uncyclopedia got really creative with this gaidasheep. If you enjoy satire, check out a few of their articles.



A man from Macedonia who lives in Australia makes bagpipes from the bodies of goats, including the heads. He sells them over the Internet. They are a one-of-a kind product, although some people might be uneasy listening to dance tunes coming from dead goats.

I don't being reincarnated as a gaida is a bad thing. This goat can be happy in the knowledge is that he's creating beautiful music (with the help of Risto Todoroski) for the world to enjoy.

The tune is Pajduško, a dance very popular in Macedonia and Bulgaria.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Bulgarian Folk Songs Reincarnated

Modern Versions of Traditional Bulgarian Folk Songs: Part One and Part Two

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music


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

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

Could you, would you,
with a goat?
I would not,
could not.
with a goat!
Dr. Seuss, from Green Eggs and Ham

You could, if the bagpipe is made from an entire goat, including the head.  Read on, you'll find this week's post very entertaining.

I'm not a fan of Sports Illustrated, especially the Swimsuit Edition. The magazine version comes out every February, mainly because people are bored of winter and dream of escaping to tropical beaches where beautiful women abound.  Real women don't look anything like the ones in Sports Illustrated, that's for sure.

Here is something much more fun to watch: the Accent Swimsuit Video. It features the ladies from the Bulgarian folk dance club Accent on vacation in Lake Orhid, Macedonia. You can find their website here (in Bulgarian). Here they ham it up for the camera with Opas, sans elaborate embroidered costumes.

As soon as I saw this video, I thought of a Facebook friend  who regularly reads my blog.  He likes the belly dancers and the sexy female folk singers.  Will, this one's for you :)



A group from China dances Geampara, a dance from Romania. It's amazing how Balkan folk music has traveled around the world. This particular group focuses on Balkan and Israeli dance and they have many videos on YouTube. They have been featured on this blog numerous times and describe themselves as a "bonding folk dance class." The teacher reminds me of a drill instructor; according to the notes on the video, he is a guest teacher from Taiwan. His choice of music suits his personality; it is a very macho piece.

The rhythm for geampara is the same as Bulgarian rachenitsa: apple-apple-pineapple. Just don't call it that in Romania.



Video #3 features a group of Roma musicians, also known by the politically incorrect term Gypsies.

Unfortunately I've read too many disparaging comments on YouTube about the Roma. They have been targets of discrimination for centuries.

Their ancestors originally came from India and migrated west into Europe. Some of the best artists in the world of Balkan music are Roma; famous examples include the singer Esma from the Republic of Macedonia, and the accordionist Boris Karlov from Bulgaria.

These guys are fun to watch, although I think they had a little too much whiskey at the Christmas party :) What is really odd is that there's no audience here, nor are there people dancing.  The rhythm for this piece is a čoček, a dance popularized by Roma people in the Balkans.



Finally here's one of the most unusual videos I've ever seen.  Risto Todoroski, a Macedonian living in Sydney, Australia, makes, sells and plays bagpipes made from an entire goat, including the head.  If you're looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for your favorite musician, you can contact him via e-mail at sirulsko@gmail.com.



If you enjoyed this you may also like

A Romani Potpourri One and Two

Two Variations on the Bulgarian Folk Dance Opas

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music


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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!)


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Two Variations on a Macedonian Folk Dance: Bufcansko

One of my favorite folk dances is Bufcansko, from the Republic of Macedonia. The first variation is the one most commonly performed by recreational folk dance groups. It was one of the first dances I learned in Balkan class many years ago. If you listen closely to the music you can hear the clarinet played in the upper register. Some people consider the clarinet an "instrument of torture", but I happen to like it, and even took lessons many years ago.

The video mentions that the dance is from Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists since it split up into individual republics during the 1990's. Macedonia declared its independence in 1991.



The second video is a performance by a childrens' folk ensemble from Macedonia. Bufcansko is a women's dance (here it's done by a group of girls). They add a bounciness to the dance that is more pronounced than in the previous video, and they are a joy to watch. The instrumentation is different as well, it has a uniquely Macedonian sound in which you can hear the kaval (open-ended flute) the gaida (bagpipe) and the tambura.  The tambura is a string instrument, related to the mandolin. It's also popular in the Pirin region of Bulgaria, which shares a border with Macedonia.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music

The Tambura in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Croatian Folk Music

Two Variations on a Romanian Folk Dance, Hora de Mina

Two Variations on a Bulgarian folk dance, Opas

You can also listen to music from two former Yugoslav republics here:

The River of Many Names, Part 5: The Danube in Serbian Folk Music

The River of Many Names, Part 6: The Danube in Croatian Folk Songs

Some Traditional (and not so traditional) Serbian Folk Instruments

You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.
Theodore Bikel

Today's post features some traditional (and not so traditional) instruments in Serbian folk music.

The first group plays a kolo on an accordion (the national instrument of Serbia) accompanied by two men on frula (a high-pitched flute). What I find strange is that these guys are wearing business suits instead of traditional clothing. Kolo in Serbian means "circle dance" but you can dance kolo in a line as well. It depends on the whim of the leader.



The next video features some eye candy for the guys. Sandra Milosevic on accordion plays Stara Vlajna with some violinists as backup. I'm trying to figure out why at the beginning of the video there's a woman dancing in high heels...that is very bad for the feet, but I've seen women dancing in all sorts of uncomfortable shoes: high heels and flip-flops are the worst.



If you thought you were going to escape the bagpipes this time: you won't. Although the bagpipe (gaida) is more closely associated with Serbia's neighbors, Bulgaria and Macedonia, they like it in Serbia as well.

If you follow this blog regularly, you have seen this group before....this piper and his band play Serbian Vlach melodies on the gaida. This is an ad for the band complete with dancers as backup dressed in traditional folk costumes, and the Iron Gate Gorge as a backdrop. Give him a call next time you're in the neighborhood :) His phone number is on the video.



This tamburitza ensemble from the Vojvodina region of Serbia has not one, but three "instruments of torture", a gaida and two accordions. The gaida is the dominating sound here. If you want to read why some people consider bagpipes and accordions instruments of torture, check out the links at the end of this post.



At this party, the musicians play something called Gaida Kolo. Where is the gaida? The keyboard player actually does a pretty good imitation of a bagpipe, though. It certainly gets people up on the dance floor.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Bagpipe and Bulgarian Folk Music (and why it's an instrument some people love to hate...)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

The Accordion in Bulgarian Folk Music (and why it's considered an "instrument of torture" by some)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/accordion-in-bulgarian-folk-music.html

The River of Many Names, Part 5: The Danube in Serbian Folk Music (some beautiful scenery, music and thoughts on dreams and the mutability of time here)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/05/river-of-many-names-part-5-danube-in.html


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More Odds and Ends: Misconceptions About the Cyrillic Alphabet, Bagpipes, and Bulgarian Geography

This old T-shirt, which reads "Koprishvitsa 2005" was one of the first items I received in the mail from Bulgaria, along with a CD of songs by Kostadine Gugov. (I have never been to the Koprishvitsa festival, which is one of the places on my bucket list.) I got it back in the days when the website, http://balkanfolk.com/ gave a monthly prize in a drawing that the site used to have. In order to enter it, you had to vote on your favorite Bulgarian folk song.

The Cyrillic lettering aroused my daughter's curiosity, since she had taken Russian in elementary school. So she asked me:

"Is that the Russian alphabet?"

I explained to her that it wasn't Russian but Bulgarian.

"It's Russian."

"It's the Cyrillic alphabet. It's used both in Bulgaria and Russia." (there are other countries that use it too, but I wasn't going to get into that.)

"Oh." She had a bemused and confused look on her face. She still didn't get it. So much for explaining азбука (azbuka) to my daughter.

From what I've seen Americans don't see much of the Cyrillic alphabet except in old spy movies which took place in the former Soviet Union, which is why they automatically associate Cyrillic with Russian.

People are often surprised when they first hear Bulgarian folk music played on the bagpipe. In the States, bagpipes are associated with Scotland, men wearing kilts, parades, and sometimes funerals.



In this commercial, men play a Bulgarian folk tune on Scottish bagpipes. This is a cleverly crafted ad for rakia (brandy).
,


The Bulgarian bagpipe (gaida) is a totally different species from the Scottish. It's made from the stomach of a goat or sheep which gives it a distinctive sound. Although Scots have been known to dance to bagpipe music, Bulgarians sing as well as dance along to it. In this case it's the entire village, and there's a surprising display of firepower near the end.



Another question I've been asked is if Bulgaria has a seacost. Americans, in general, know little of European geography unless they've actually traveled around the Continent.

I lived in Germany for four years, so ignorance of geography was not an option, especially when guiding my husband with the map (yes, we actually used those in the days before the GPS!) And we did sometimes get lost!

Bulgaria not only has a seacoast, it is a very popular vacation spot for Western Europeans, especially those from cooler, rainier climes like Germany and Holland. The North Sea is too cold (even in summer) and the main attraction of the Black Sea towns, so I've been told, is the endless party, especially for the under 30 crowd. Then of course, there's the beach.



Judging from the travel ads I've received in the mail, Bulgaria is not a very popular tourist destination in the United States (except for people involved in folk music, who see visiting this country as a pilgrimage of sorts.) Friends of mine who actually been there have told me their visit was religious experience of the musical kind, especially that aforementioned Koprishvitsa festival.

The problem with a tourist destination becoming popular is that it loses the local flavor. I'm for traveling off the beaten path, which I was able to do when I lived in Germany; living in a foreign country is a lot different than visiting during a short vacation.

Maybe it's a good thing Bulgaria isn't infested with tourists from the United States :) Otherwise the entire country would resemble Sunny Beach.

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Bagpipe and Bulgarian Folk Music (it's an instrument some people love to hate)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

The Cyrillic Alphabet: Cracking the Code (have you ever wondered is there is such as thing as Cyrillic alphabet soup?

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/05/cyrillic-alphabet-cracking-code-and.html

Listening to Bulgarian folk music can induce altered states in susceptible people.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-bulgarian-folk-music-induces.html


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Yet Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Greek Folk Music

“Men are like bagpipes. No sound comes from them until they're full.”
Irish proverb

Bagpipe music is prevelant throughout Eastern Europe. Since one of the main occupations in these countries (back in the old days, before industrialization) was sheep or goat herding, when an animal was slaughtered or died from natural causes, the first thing on the mind of the pastoral peoples was "what use can I make of the hide?" The gaida was a logical as well as a creative use for what was left of the dead critter.

When the shepherds created bagpipes and found they could make music with them they were delighted. Of course, not everyone appreciated the sound, but then the bagpipe is one of those instruments people either love or hate.

Most people don't associate Greek music with bagpipes. They are actually quite popular in that country, especially in the northern regions bordering Bulgaria and Macedonia.

The Greek bagpipe, or gaida, is similar to the bagpipes in the other Balkan countries, made from the hide of a sheep or goat, and fitted with chanters, a blowpipe, and a drone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaida

http://www.greekfolkmusicanddance.com/instruments.php#gaida

The first video is of a Greek dance which looks and sounds Bulgarian, Troiro, from the region of Thrace. (The dance Triti Puti from Bulgaria is very similar to this one.) By the way, there is a Thrace in Bulgaria, too.



Zonaradikos, a traditional Greek folk dance, is also from the Thracian region and related to the Bulgarian Pravo Horo. These dancers performed at a Greek Festival that I went to during the late summer of 2010. You can hear the gaida loud and clear here.



The next video is a dance from Greek Macedonia, also played on a gaida. I noticed comments have been disabled for this particular video. Unfortunately, there is a lot of contention among the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians over what constitutes "Macedonia." If everyone realized how similar their music and dances were they wouldn't be fighting so much.



For those who want to know why the name Macedonia has been contested, here's some food for thought from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_naming_dispute

If you liked this (and I hope you did :) you may also enjoy Bulgarian Folk Dances and Their Greek Relatives.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/07/bulgarian-dances-and-their-greek.html

If you like the gaida as much as I do these posts are must reads:

The Bagpipe and Bulgarian Folk Music (it is, after all, the national instrument of Bulgaria)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music (you will see some interesting bagpipes here, including one with the head still on!)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/11/bagpipe-in-macedonian-folk-music.html

Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-country-heard-from-bagpipe-in.html


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

Stamp it Out....Vlach Dances from Serbia

"Their way of Dancing, is nothing but a sort of stamping Motion, much like the treading upon Founders Bellows."
John Lawson

I don't know what kind of dancing John Lawson was referring to, but he could have been referring to the Vlachs.

The Vlachs also known as Wallachians, had wandering ways and settled all over the Balkans. They were most likely descendents of the Romans, a Latin-speaking ethnic group. The Roman influence lives on in the country of Romania, whose language is based primarily on Latin. The word "Vlach" is a Germanization of "Wallachian", from "Wlaha" which means foreigner or stranger. Wallachia is located in what is now southern Romania (the provinces of Oltenia and Muntenia).

Today's post will feature Vlach dances from Serbia. They are very lively and have lots of stamping, a good way to get out your frustrations on bad days. And the music will lift your spirits, too.

Speaking of spirits, stamping while dancing was supposed to drive away evil spirits.

The first group, Dunav, from Calgary in the province of Alberta, Canada performs a medley of Vlach dances.



Gaida (bagpipe) music is popular in Serbia, although they prefer the accordion. Instruments of torture seem to vary by country. The Macedonians and Bulgarians like the gaida, the Romanians the panpipe, and the Greeks the bouzouki.

This video looks like an promotion for a piper named Bulgjigič Tomaslav. He has dancers and musicians here as a backup to make sure you know his music is good. (By the way you can't dance if the music is no good!) If you want to call him, let's say to play for your next party, his phone number is on the video, although if you lived far away, let's say, in North America, it would get rather expensive to pay for him and his group to travel across the Pond :)

His speciality is Vlach melodies and circle dances (the plural of kolo is kola). The backdrop is the Iron Gate gorge, along the Danube, River of Many Names. Here we go with that Dunav thing again....



Now it's time for another Dunav group, this time from Israel. The dance is Vlaško Serbsko.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:
The River of Many Names Part 3: Folk Ensembles Named Dunav

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/10/river-of-many-names-part-3-folk.html

The bagpipe (gaida) can be used as an instrument of torture. The same can also be said about the clarinet. Follow these links and find out why.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/01/clarinet-in-bulgarian-folk-music-third.html

A Jamaican proverb takes on a life of its own in Those Who Can't Dance Say the Music is no Good. http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/09/those-who-cant-dance-say-music-is-no.html


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The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music

"Gaidasheep", photo from Uncyclopedia

These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.
Alfred Hitchcock

If Alfred Hitchcock had lived in Macedonia, the pig probably would have been replaced by a goat.

Today's topic is the bagpipe in Macedonian folk music, also known as a gaida. The gaida plays a very important part in the music of Macedonia, and they love it as much as the Bulgarians, if not more.

If you are a regular reader of The Alien Diaries, you've probably noticed that I'm fond of music played on the gaida (Eastern European bagpipe). It has a unique sound, and can be haunting and annoying at the same time. For example, when one or more members of my family start to get on my nerves I find the loudest and most obnoxious piece of gaida music and play it from my computer. That usually keeps them in line. They think of it as an instrument of torture. To some people, it is.

Traditional instruments in the Balkans are created from the skins of animals; sheep, goats, or pigs. For example, the gaida is made from the hide of a sheep or goat, and the tupan (double headed drum) is often made from a pig's hide.

Balkan cuisine is very heavy on the meat; the farmers utilized just about every part of the animals they slaughtered. The skins came in very handy in the creation of musical instruments.

What really caught my attention in the first video is that the man plays a gaida made from the body of a goat, with the head still attached. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would not approve, despite the fact that these instruments are very much part of the cultural fabric of Macedonia.

The musician is a Macedonian living in Australia who makes his own bagpipes, tupans, and kavals and advertises them on YouTube. If you're looking for a one of a kind gift that stares back at you send Risto Todoroski an email at sirulsko@gmail.com. If you order one soon, it just may get to the recipient in time for Christmas :)



This eponomous piece is Gaidarsko Oro. It is also known as Narodno Oro, which means simply "folk dance." The piper is accompanied by an ensemble of traditional instruments; the tambura (lute), the tupan (drum) and the kaval (flute).



The Tanec folk ensemble of Skopje are ambassadors of Macedonian folklore. They have given numerous performances in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas since the group was founded in 1949. In this video, there's a great gaida solo (sans goat head). This video is a part of Tanec's 60th anniversary celebration in 2009. The group performs Osogovka Oro, a men's dance. Notice the men wearing short skirts, these are called "fustanella" and are part of the traditional costumes of Macedonia and Greece.



You can read about Tanec here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanec

If you liked this you may also enjoy:

The Bagpipe and Bulgarian Folk Music:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-country-heard-from-bagpipe-in.html

More Interesting and Unusual Instruments in Balkan Folk Music

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-interesting-and-unusual.html


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

"Those Who Can't Dance Say the Music is No Good" (Jamaican Proverb)

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
~Kurt Vonnegut

There are times I find myself dancing in the living room, usually when no one is home. My husband and daughters don't appreciate Bulgarian folk music, especially when it's played on loud "obnoxious" bagpipes and accordions. You couldn't pay them to dance to what I listen to which is why joined a group of like minded friends who dance on Friday (and sometimes Sunday) nights.

I enjoy dances from all over the Balkans, but am particularly partial to those from Bulgaria. Here a few of my favorites, complete with the aforementioned obnoxious musical instruments.

I originally learned Mitro from watching it on YouTube. I was delighted when one of the leaders of the Sunday night group introduced this dance, since I already knew it! Mitro is a modern version of Pravo Horo (the most popular dance in Bulgaria). It's from the Rhodope region, where they can get a little crazy with the bagpipes, the introduction will certainly get your attention. And the stamping is one way to get your frustations after a rough day.



Another of my favorite dances is Vlaško. This was originally a men's dance, complete with stamping and fast footwork (so the guys could show off their stuff), but nowadays, women get in the line (and even lead!) since the macho dances are much more fun. The name Vlaško comes from the Vlachs (Wallachian) people who were originally from southern Romania. They got around, and there are signficant numbers of them in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. There are many dances in the Balkans with the name Vlaško:  this one is from Bulgaria.



The lesnoto, or pravoto is very popular, especially in the Pirin region of Bulgaria, which shares a border with Macedonia. The lesnoto is one of those dances in an odd rhythm (7/8 for your music theorists out there); "pineapple-apple-apple", and it's very easy. It's basically walking with a few step-lifts thrown in. Even little kids can do it.

This band does an excellent job with Idam ne Idam; the dance that goes with the song is a lesnoto variation. The gaida player is fantastic, and so is the singing, although I know some people who would disagree with that. Bulgarian folk music, especially when played on bagpipes, is something people either love or hate. A Jamaican proverb describes it best: "those who can't dance say the music is no good."



For more on lesnoto read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesnoto

If you enjoyed this you may also like my series on the clarinet, the accordion and the bagpipe in Bulgarian folk music.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/01/clarinet-in-bulgarian-folk-music-third.html

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/accordion-in-bulgarian-folk-music.html

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

If you're looking for a socially acceptable way to rid yourself of stress, read:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-stamp-out-your-frustrations-and.html


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

Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

Bagpipes are the missing link between music and noise. E. K. Kruger

The Eastern European gaida, or bagpipe, is an instrument that gets around the Balkans. It's extremely popular in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Greece. Believe it or not, the Romanians like it too.

Romanian music is usually associated with panpipes (also called panflutes), and with another unusual folk instrument, the cimbalom. A cimbalom is also known as a hammered dulcimer, and belongs to the percussion family of instruments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalom

You can read about the panpipes and Romanian folk music here.

http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaMusic/nai.htm

In this video is some traditional Romanian music played by a bunch of Dutch guys in Amsterdam on clarinet, accordion, violin, cimbalom and panpipes, and they are pretty damned good. This instrumentation is typical for folk ensembles in Romania.



I don't know if the Romanians got their liking for the bagpipe from their Bulgarian neighbors across the River of Many Names, but you'll find that the music of southern Romania is very big on the cimpoi (Romanian for bagpipe). Don't confuse it with the cimbalom, the cimpoi is a totally different animal. (Just so you know, the cimpoi is made from either goat or sheep hide). Both panpipes and bagpipes have been used as instruments of torture on susceptible people (but not on Bulgarians). I'm sure that the Bulgarians are flattered that their friends across the Danube have taken up the gaida.

Last year, I wrote about the bagpipe in Bulgarian folk music, you can read the post here:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagpipe-and-bulgarian-folk-music.html

Now it's time to hear those bagpipes in action, along with cimbalom and panpipes, the "unholy trinity" of instruments of torture :) This dance is Hora de Mina. Hora means "dance" in Romanian, and can be easily confused with horo, the Bulgarian name for the same thing.



Sârba pe Loc, a dance from the region of Muntenia in southern Romania, is another example of the gaida (oops, cimpoi) in action. Sârba is a generic name for energetic dances from Muntenia and Oltenia (another province in southern Romania) with lots of stamping. This dance is extremely popular among folk dance groups, probably because it's a socially acceptable way to get your frustrations out.



This hora from the Oltenia region of Romania is titled simply Cimpoi. You'll understand why when you hear it.



The dance notes for Cimpoi can be found here:

http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/dances/cimpoi.htm

If you're interested in more interesting and unusual Eastern European folk instruments, including the kaval, the gadulka, and the panpipes you may enjoy this post:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-interesting-and-unusual.html

If you've had a bad week, here are some socially acceptable ways to relieve stress:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-stamp-out-your-frustrations-and.html


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

The Bagpipe in Bulgarian Folk Music

(photo from Wikipedia)

This is the musical instrument some people love to hate, and my daughter calls it music from Hell. The bagpipe is strident and loud, and you do not want to hear one the morning after a night of drinking! Most people associate the bagpipe with Scotland, where it is called the Great Highland Bagpipe. It takes a lot of lung power to play one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Highland_Bagpipe

Here's a traditional Scottish tune played on the Highland bagpipe:



Bagpipes are common to a number of cultures: the Scots, the Irish, the Bretons of northwest France, Macedonians, Greeks, and Bulgarians, to name a few. Here's some information about the Eastern European gaida (bagpipe) with some pictures, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaida

An ad for Bulgarian rakia (brandy) cleverly combines Scottish bagpipes and kilts with Bulgarian music and dance:



In Bulgaria, the bagpipe is called the gaida. It is the predominant instrument in the Rhodope Mountains, near the Greek border, but common to all the folklore regions of Bulgaria. Most folk ensembles have a gaida player. You can really hear it in this performance of Kabile, a Bulgarian wedding band that toured the United States in 2008 and 2010.



This is what happens when 100 Bulgarians play the gaida at the same time. You will either be totally delighted by the performance or running to the medicine cabinet looking for a headache remedy. The fireworks add a nice touch!



When a female voice accompanies a gaida, you have a formidable combination. The song is Izlel e Delyu Haidutin, performed by a young lady named Nevena on the show Music Idol (the Bulgarian counterpart to American Idol). Her performance is on a par with that of Valya Balkanska, whose version of the song was launched into outer space in 1977.



There is no middle ground with bagpipes. You can love them or hate them, but they are pretty damn hard to ignore!

I love gaida music.

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