Dances from Spa Towns

Hot water is my native element. I was in it as a baby, and I have never seemed to get out of it ever since.
Edith Sitwell

Spa towns are known for healing thermal and mineral springs, used to treat many different ailments. Doctors in Europe often prescribe spa treatments; unfortunately this practice is not commonplace in the United States. The name "spa" originated from a town of the same name in Belgium.

Today's post features music and dance from spa towns in Bulgaria and Serbia.

Video #1 is of the Bulgarian folk dance Staro Bansko Horo (old dance from Bansko).  Bansko is a town in southwestern Bulgaria (Pirin region).  It is best known for its ski resorts, however the nearby village of Banya is the place where you find the spa and the hot mineral springs.

The music is typical of the Pirin region, in 7/8 meter (pineapple-apple-apple) with vocals and tarambuka accompaniment.



Video #2 is another dance from Bulgaria: Sandansko Horo, from the town of Sandanski, also in the Pirin region.  The rhythm alternates between 9/16 and 13/16.

Sandanski is a popular resort town with many mineral springs and is one of the warmest places in Bulgaria.



Video #3 is the popular dance Niska Banja from Serbia (from the town of the same name) Banja means "bath" in Serbian, and you can wash away your aches, pains and worries at the local spa.

Niska Banja is another odd-rhythm dance.  It is in 9/8. Although there is a choreography specific to this dance, we dance Devetorka to it.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Bulgarian Dances Named After Cities and Towns

Dances With Compound Rhythms


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Boozing it up in the Balkans, via Song and Dance

Part of the experience of visiting a foreign country has to do with the food and drink and the fun things you get to do while mingling with the natives. You can get into the heart and soul of a culture and it's a great way to make new friends.

Today's post is about folk songs and booze. In the Balkans booze is big, and there are many different alcoholic beverages: Greek Ouzo, Bulgarian Rakia, and Serbian Slivovitz to name a few.

Then there is the ubiquitious fruit of the vine. Wine is one of the oldest drinks known to man. When the ancient peoples discovered wine it opened up new horizons, especially when primitive societies found that grape juice not only tasted good after it was fermented, but that it made people happy and sociable. A few drunken individuals entertained the rest of the group by doing really stupid things, this became known as "partying."

An enterprising individual found that he could make the wine stronger by distilling it into brandy, from that, rakia was born. And a very clever woman discovered that by planting a few grape vines, she could create a beverage that could knock a man out. He drank the wine, the rakia and the horse!



You can read about rakia here:
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia

Can you count backwards from ten after a few shots of Slivovitz (the national drink of Serbia)? Niška Banja is a drinking song from Serbia, and that is exactly what they do after a day spent at the thermal baths in town; sing and drink slivovitz. Slivovitz is plum brandy and its taste and effects are nothing like prune juice :) I tried some on an freezing cold day in Germany, it warmed up those insides quite a bit.



Here are the lyrics in case you want to sing along. Make sure to pick up some slivovitz at the local liquor store first. If you have a Serbian neighbor who makes the stuff, it's probably much better than anything you can buy.

http://www.dunav.org.il/lyrics/niska_banja.html

Everything you always wanted to know about slivovitz can be found here:

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

Unfortunately too much of a good thing has its drawbacks. Poor Gino! Don't drink the wine! Now he has an enormous headache. Or is he in pain from the loss of the one he loves?



The dance to the previous video was a lesnoto (galloping-apple-apple), which is a rhythm common in Bulgarian and Macedonian dances.

When I die, drink some red wine and break the glasses. Now that would be a fitting tribute to a life well lived. This beautiful and poignant folk song, Ako Umram il Zaginem, is from Macedonia. This song is also in lesnoto rhythm.



Here are the lyrics (and the music score) in case you want to sing along. We often do Ako Umram as a sing-along at the Sunday night dances, the description, in Bulgarian, for singing while dancing is called "horo na pesen."

http://balkanarama.com/ako_umram.htm

If you enjoyed this, you may also like Days of Wine and Roses, Balkan Style

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/05/days-of-wine-and-roses-balkan-style.html

The Bulgarians have a patron saint of wine. Read about St. Trifon the Pruner here:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/02/blessed-wine-cursed-drinking-look-at-st.html

Wine has a very important significance in Bulgarian folklore.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/05/significance-of-wine-in-bulgarian.html

If you'd like something stronger, there's always Rakiya, the band from the Boston area who plays electric Balkan dance music.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-electric-balkan-music-rakiya.html

If you're a teetotaler, this post may be more to your taste. Reading this will definitely stimulate the appetite.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/08/folklore-food-and-fun-at-festivals.html


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Dancing to the Rhythm of a Different Drummer, or Why I like music in odd time signatures

Part of the fun of Balkan dance is learning the rhythms. People who are accustomed to "western" music often find that Balkan dancing and the assymetrical rhythms take a little getting used to.

Many years ago, I took a band class in school. Nearly all the music was in common time signatures, such as 4/4, 2/4, 6/8, and the occasional waltz (in 3/4 time). I found the waltz intriguing because it has an odd number of beats in each measure. When I first heard a rachenitsa from Bulgaria, I was totally smitten, by both the sound and the rhythm. It was beautiful and different!

In the Balkans, musicians like pieces with odd meters, such as 7/8 and 11/16, although in the villages, they played by ear, and sheet music to them was a foreign concept. They didn't let little things like quick-slow beats concern them, and the dancers had a lot of room for improvisation. If you're into music theory you may find this link of interest.

http://www.debone.com/MasteringOddComplexTimeSigsAndRhythms.html

One of my favorite dances is the kopanitsa, popular in Bulgaria and Macedonia. It has 11 beats to the measure. It's one of those rhythms that's a little tricky to internalize. The accent is on the 4th beat.



I have internalized the kopanitsa to the point that at a Bulgarian event I went to last year, no one got up to lead the dance. Whatever possessed me at the time commanded me to lead, and I did. Before I knew it I had about 50 people dancing in a line behind me, many of them exchange students from Bulgaria. The song lasted about 10 minutes, and I was exhausted when the music ended. This is the poem I wrote about the experience:

http://www.helium.com/items/1811432-kopanitsa-bulgarian-folk-dance

Dances often cross borders. Here are two dances from Serbia in 7/8 time which look and sound like Bulgarian rachenitsa. There are two versions of 7/8 rhythm: the rachenitsa is "apple apple galloping."

The drummer is amazing, he's playing and dancing at the same time. How many people can do that?



For more on the rachenitsa (the national dance of Bulgaria), read:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/07/flavors-of-bulgarian-rachenitsa.html

Here is the other version of 7/8 rhythm, which makes for a completely different dance, the Lesnoto or Pravoto. This dance is from Macedonia. The beat is "galloping apple apple."



One of the first dances I learned many years ago was this lively Serbian number, Niska Banja, which is in 9/8. (This time signature is also used in the Bulgarian dance Daichovo Horo).

Niska Banja is a very catchy drinking song. This link will take you to the lyrics, and an English translation, so you can sing along :)

http://www.dunav.org.il/lyrics/niska_banja.html



This is a Daichovo, also a 9/8 dance, (quick-quick-quick-slow). Although the first beat has the accent, the fourth is the longest.



Since music is related to math, and since many people who take up Balkan music and dance are often math and physics people, here is an unusual take on that subject:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/balkan-folk-dancing-and-its.html


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