Why do we believe that in all matters the odd numbers are more powerful?
Pliny the Elder
Odd number rhythms are prevalent in Balkan dance. Today's post features dances in 11/8 and 11/16 (the 11/16 is faster).
Video #1 is the dance Isu Bialo Nedo. This is a slow 11/8. The rhythm isn't obvious, but if you listen carefully it's there.
Video #2 is the familiar Boris Karlov version of Gankino Horo. This dance uses the basic kopanitsa step. The rhythm is a fast 11/16 and a lot less subtle than in Video #1.
Video #3 is a dressed-up Thracian Kopanitsa. It starts with a slow, synchronized walk, then a running step that reminds me of the dance Jove Male Mome followed with some fancy footwork. The dancers make it look easy. The rhythm is 11/16.
Music is the melody whose text is the world.
Arnold Schopenhauer
Today's post features several versions of Gankino Horo as interpreted by the composer Diko Iliev. He lived from 1898 - 1984 and is best known for the piece Dunavsko Horo, danced at just about every celebration in Bulgaria, especially during the New Year.
To get an idea about what the dance is about (since I couldn't find anything on YouTube with people dancing to Iliev's Gankino Horo) watch the video below. If you are familiar with The Alien Diaries, you will recognize the Dunav group from Jerusalem in Israel.
The rhythm is 11/16 ( quick-quick-slow-quick-quick). Gankino Horo is a dance in the kopanitsa family and there are many fancy versions of kopanitsa out there. The one in the video is the basic village dance. The slow beat is the "hiccup" in the middle.
The music arrangement is by Boris Karlov, an accordionist of Roma origin. (It is easy to confuse him with the movie actor with a similar name, Boris Karloff. If you're a fan of old movies, you may find this link of interest).
The melody is familiar to folk dancers around the world. Karlov made many recordings of Bulgarian folk dances for accordion and this one is extremely popular more than fifty years after his death in 1964.
Diko Iliev also used this melody in his Maisko Gankino Horo; there is a link to it at the end of this post.
Remember all Gankinos are kopanitsas, but not all kopanitsas are Gankino.
The next video is music by Diko Iliev: Dukovitsko Gankino Horo. My guess is that it's name after a village or town. Many Bulgarian dances are named after cities or towns. Some are named after people. Ganka is a female name in Bulgaria.
The CD cover pictured is from the album Spomeni (memories, not a fancy Italian ice cream called spumoni.) Confused? Look it up on Google Translate.
There is a picture of the composer, a score from one of his pieces and a bouquet of red flowers.It must be something connected with Diko Iliev. Does anyone out there know why?
This version of Gankino is actually named after a person named Gano. He is a winner (gano means "I win" in Spanish. Bad joke). In both Spanish and Bulgarian, female names usually end with the letter "a", male names with the letter "o".
If you like two for the price of one here is Rachenitsa followed by Gankino Horo. It is common in a horovod (medley of Bulgarian folk dances) to combine dances in different rhythms. Rachenitsa is in 7/8 or 7/16 depending on the speed; say the words "apple-apple-pineapple" and you have rachenitsa.
This album cover is a view from the town of Oriahovo, where Diko Iliev lived for 42 years. The town square is named after him. The Bulgarian National Radio compiled this CD, and you can hear the music from it on YouTube.
The reason that you dance and sing is to make the audience feel like they're dancing and singing. As long as you're having fun with it and giving it 100 percent, they're gonna feel that.
Heath Ledger
Today's post features music performed by Orchestra Horo from Ruse (Rousse), Bulgaria. Their specialty is modern renditions of folk songs and dances from the northern region of the country. The ensemble celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012. What I like most about them is how their repertoire displays the varied rhythms of Bulgarian folk music. This band compels you to get up and dance. The songs are upbeat, catchy, and take up residence inside your head. Earworms!
Horo means "dance" in Bulgarian, and as you will see in video #1, there was a large crowd dancing Pravo, Daichovo and Devetorka at the 50th anniversary party.
Video #2 shows a close-up of the musicians and their instruments: three accordions, a small kaval (shepherd's flute), a keyboard, tupan (double headed drum) and a vocalist. (The voice is also a musical instrument.)
Some people consider accordions instruments of torture and use them for that purpose. I am the only one who likes accordion music at my house. My husband would rather hear the smoke detector go off than listen to the accordion. Says it gives him a headache.
The accordion, which was invented in a German-speaking country, was originally not part of the traditional Bulgarian folk ensemble. Boris Karlov, who arranged many folk dances for accordion, was partly responsible for its popularity in Bulgaria.
The song, Tri Vecheri Na Dunava, translates into English as Three Evenings on The Danube, which explains why there is so much blue in the video :) The rhythm for this song is rachenitsa, (apple-apple-pineapple). It is the national dance of Bulgaria and the time signature for it is 7/8 or 7/16 depending on the speed. The larger the number on the bottom of the time signature, the faster the music.
The city of Ruse is situated on the banks of the Danube, River of Many Names, and for over fifty years had the only bridge that connected Bulgaria and Romania until the Vidin-Calafat bridge was completed in 2013.
Video #3 is the song, Moma Draganka, (girl named Draganka) also in rachenitsa rhythm. Notice the dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes, eye candy for those who love Bulgarian folklore. If you look closely, you can see a small red cloth on the tupan. I own a cloth similar to the one in the video. Mine has an evil eye pattern in several colors, but mostly red. Red is a lucky color in Bulgaria. The evil eye keeps the bad forces away from the person who wears it.
Next is Shirokata, with more eye candy :) The rhythm is 9/16 (devetorka).
Stari Dedo (Old Grandpa) is a folk song in 11/16 (kopanitsa) rhythm. Another dance from Northern Bulgaria, Gankino Horo, has the same rhythm. There are many tunes associated with Gankino Horo, the most famous being the version played by accordionist Boris Karlov.
If anyone out there can locate an English translation for the songs posted here this week, it would be very much appreciated!
Today's dance is the very popular Gankino Horo from the northwestern region of Bulgaria.
First, let's have a look at the dance. It's fairly easy once you get the feel of the 11/16 rhythm. That little "hiccup" in the middle takes some getting used to.
The 11/16 rhythm is also used in the dance kopanitsa.Gankino Horo is a kopanitsa, but not all kopanitsas are Gankino. Ganka is a female name in Bulgaria, and the dance may have been named after the woman who led it. This may or may not be true. There are a number of Bulgarian dances named after women or girls for example: Elenino Horo (Elena's Dance).
The dancers are from the Dunav group from Jerusalem in Israel (if you're a regular you have seen many of their videos on this blog). The music is from an old recording by Boris Karlov, a musician who died nearly 50 years ago. You can read more about him in one of the posts listed below. He created many arrangements of Bulgarian folk dances for accordion that are still used today.
Since the month of May is almost here, the next variation is Maisko Gankino Horo by Diko Iliev. You'll hear the same motif, but it sounds quite different played on brass instruments.
If you're not familiar with the name Diko Iliev, he was a composer from northwestern Bulgaria who composed many pieces based on folk dances. His most popular work is Dunavsko Horo, played during holidays and celebrations, and especially to welcome the New Year.
The next video of Gankino Horo uses different music. There is more than one tune associated with this dance, and I have found several versions on YouTube. In that respect it is like the dance Dunavsko Horo.
Finally, we have a duo of classical musicians. They play an rrangement of Gankino on piano and cello. This is the familiar melody you heard in the first two videos. Classical musicians can be sometimes intimidated by the unusual rhythms of Bulgarian folk music, but not these two. They do an excellent job with the piece and play it FAST.
I can tell by the way somebody walks if they can dance or not. Just by the rhythm. Bruce Forsyth
Today's post is more of a dance lesson than a math lesson. So don't let the numbers and the odd rhythms scare you. Many people find Balkan dancing intimidating for this reason.
Drăgăcuţa, a graceful and beautiful dance from Romania,is in 3/4 meter.. Most people associate this rhythm with waltz music. (1-2-3-1-2-3). This is a quick-slow (with the accent on the second beat). It's easy to follow (most of it is walking) but difficult to lead because of the quirky rhythm.
In Romania, women dance this at weddings to mourn the loss of the bride to the world of the married; in this instance it's an equal opportunity dance, since there are several men in the group.
The next number is five, and this Macedonian dance is Strumicka Petorka (pet is Macedonian for five). It's has a totally different feel from Pajduško Horo, another dance with a five in the time signature.
I skipped over seven and nine since they have been covered in previous posts (see links at the end). The next dance is Gankino Horo, a basic kopanitsa from Bulgaria. The rhythm for this is 11/16. (quick-quick-slow-quick quick).
Kopanitsa comes in different "flavors." Bulgarian dances are often named after cities and towns and sometimes regions, for example there is aPazardzhishka Kopanitsa and a Shopska Kopanitsa. This particular dance is Bistrishka Kopanitsa. As difficulty goes, I would rate this as a 9 on a scale of 10.
Perhaps the people who work at the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute taught these cute little penguins how to dance Bistrishka Kopanitsa. If the video looks familiar, you have probably seen the movie Happy Feet.
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 :)
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.
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
Maya Angelou
Bulgaria has seven folklore regions. Oftentimes the dances are named after cities and towns, and sometimes the region. Despite the fact that it's a relatively small country, Bulgaria has a lot of diversity in its music and dance.
For those who are not familiar with Bulgarian folk dancing, the two major groups of dances in this country are rachenitsa and horo. Horo simply means "dance." It can be any rhythm, and some of them can get quite interesting, especially the asymmetrical ones.
Radio Bulgaria's translation of horo is "chain dance." The dancers hold hands or each other's belts, the idea is being linked like a chain. Rachenitsa, on the other hand can be done in singles, couples, and groups. It's a dance in an irregular rhythm, apple-apple-pineapple. There are seven beats to the measure.
There is a well-known rachenitsa from the town of Kyustendil, a town in the Shope region (west central Bulgaria) near the capital Sofia. Here's a description of Kystendil from Wikipedia:
The video is of Kystendilska Rachenitsa, performed by the Bulgarian ensemble Accent. This is an example of "rachenitsa na horo", which means the dance is done in a group.
The next dance, Vidinsko Horo is a lively number from the town of Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria. In the dance notes below you can read about the Romanian influence in this dance; the steps include stamping and arm swinging. The dancers shout and make a lot of noise....that's Romanian too. There's a lot of cross-cultural pollination in the Balkans.
The shouts, or "calls" are known as "strigaturi" in Romanian, and they have crossed the border, however, I don't know the Bulgarian name for them. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this.
This very graceful and smooth dance, Varnensko Horo is from the seaside town of Varna, in the folklore region of Dobrudja, northeastern Bulgaria. Dobrudjan dances have also been influenced by nearby Romania in that a good number of them involve stamping (this will be covered in a future post). This one is definitely an exception to that rule.
Pazhardiska Kopanitsa is a another dance with the irregular rhythm pattern that Bulgarians are famous for. Pazhardik is in south central Bulgaria, in the region of Thrace. This dance is a Kopanitsa, a dance in 11/16, and the rhythm is like this: quick-quick-slow-quick-quick. I call the "slow" beat in the middle the hiccup.
For more on Kopanitsa and other related dances, this may be of interest:
If you love Balkan music and dance you have come to the right place! The Alien Diaries began in February 2010 and is updated at least twice a month.
This blog is dedicated to the memory of my cat Fatso (see avatar), who passed away on April 9, 2011 from congestive heart failure. He was the inspiration for several of my early posts.
Don't forget to check out my second blog, Light and Shadow, for some humor, satire, photos and poetry!
