Another Odds and Ends Post from the Universe of YouTube

The things that stand out are often the oddities.
Pierre Salinger

Every so often I like to do an "odds and ends" post.  They are best categorized under "miscellaneous" and feature something unique about Balkan folklore. There have been a number of them in the past (see links at bottom of page), but I have never made a numbered series of them.

Video #1 is best described as a jam session with Macedonian folk musicians.  They play traditional and modern instruments: tupan (drum), kaval (flute), accordion and guitars, and make beautiful music.

This is a medley of dance tunes in 7/16 (galloping-apple-apple): Ratevka and Sitna Lisa. Pay attention to the little girl at the lower left hand corner of the video at about 1:00.  She's got rhythm!

If you want to see the dances done to these melodies, please check out the posts listed at the bottom of the page.



Video #2  shows the group Formatsia Iliev from Bulgaria. The aerial views are fantastic. The scenery is surreal.

I don't know how all these musicians can fit in a small boat and not capsize. They are also boating in an area that looks like an obstacle course with dead trees sticking out of the water. The river is the Danube, River of Many Names (and many obstacles.) The rocks appear later in the video.

The video begins with a man fishing, and the musicians pop up and surprise him. The next scene takes place on the riverbank, with the guys playing an upbeat Bulgarian Vlach tune on accordions, clarinet, keyboard and drum.  Behind them is the obstacle course with sunken trees. At 2:15 and 3:35 a group of young female dancers in northern Bulgarian folk costumes appears.  At 2:58 the musicians are on a rocky shore at sunset.  It's best to watch the video in its entirety to get the full effect of weird. I would like to know where the really BIG rock came from.

At 4:05 the name of the town, Marten, appears and shortly after that the musicians leave in a donkey cart.

Although Marten is a small town numbering about 3,000 people, somehow I found it in English Wikipedia; it is not far from the large city of Ruse and was once a Roman fortification.  The town is also known for a large meteorite crater.

The name of the tune translates to "Martenska Teaser."

This is one of the most unique music videos I've ever seen and the music is great.



If you enjoyed this, you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Macedonian Oro (includes Ratevka)

Dancing in Sevens, Part Two (includes Sitna Lisa)

The Alien Diaries Presents: Odds, Ends, Bits, Pieces and Even More Cool Stuff from the Universe of YouTube

More Odds and Ends from the Universe of YouTube

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


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

The "Flavors" of Macedonian Oro

Today's post features several dances from another former Yugoslav republic, Macedonia. The word for dance in Macedonian is similar to the Bulgarian (oro in Macedonia, horo in Bulgaria).

If you are looking for oro, as in gold, you have come to the wrong place. Do a search on Spanish conquistadors instead, they had an obsession about finding gold in the New World. But before you go, spend a few minutes here, you may find this blog more interesting and a lot more fun than Latin American history :)

Bavno Oro is familiar to folk dancers worldwide. The name comes from the slow part in the beginning of the dance, which speeds up at the end. This vintage recording, still played at dances today, was made by Boris Karlov, Bulgarian accordionist.  His repertoire included music from Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia, and unfortunately, he died at a very young age from a kidney infection.

The performers are the Surrey International Folk Dancers from British Columbia in Canada.



If you are a frequent visitor here you have seen these people before.  They are a part of a "bonding folk dance class" in China.  Their instructor is very good because I can follow him even though I don't understand a word of Chinese.  Balkan folk dance is very popular in China, judging from the number of videos I have seen posted by this group on YouTube.  The dance is Berovka and its time signature is 2/4. 



The next video was from the New England Folk Festival 2012, and features an excellent group from Brooklyn, NY who sing "Macedonian roots music."  I had the pleasure of listening and dancing to Niva recently at  Balkan Music Night 2014. 

Ratevka, the dance shown here, is usually played as part of a medley that includes Berovka. It has a different time signature than the previous dance:  7/8 or 7/16 depending on the speed.  This live version is a little slower than the recording. It's the same rhythm as the Bulgarian dance Chetvorno Horo (pineapple-apple-apple).



The Tanec ensemble is well-known all over the world for their performances of music and dance from the Republic of Macedonia. This is a men's dance, Teskoto, played on two zurnas and a tupan. The zurna is an instrument that resembles a horn.  It has a double reed, like an oboe, and finger holes and it is loud enough to wake the dead. The Turks introduced these instruments during their occupation of the Balkans.  They later became part of the musical fabric of Macedonia as well as the Pirin region of Bulgaria.

If you haven't noticed previously, Macedonian folk dances tend to start off slow and pick up speed as they progress. 



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Legacy of Boris Karlov, Bulgarian Folk Accordionist

The Bagpipe in Macedonian Folk Music

Two Variations on a Macedonian Folk Dance: Bufcansko

If you're interested in music from former Yugoslav republics click these links:

The "Flavors"of Serbian Kolo

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


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