The Boris Karlov Birthday Anniversary Post

 Music is the universal language of mankind. 

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 August 11 of this year marks the 100th birthday anniversary of Boris Karlov, folk musician and accordionist. (Please do not confuse him with the British actor Boris Karloff of Dracula movie fame; the name he took is a stage name.  His real name is William Henry Pratt and he wasn't Slavic. Enough said.)

Although Boris Karlov passed on much too soon, 60 years ago, in 1964, his music is played at folk dances today.

After I read the Bulgarian YouTube comments I noticed that he is held in high regard in his home country as one of the best folk musicians.  The people in Serbia are also fond of his music (there is a statue of him in Kraljevo, where he gave his final concert.) He created magic on that accordion.

Boris Karlov was born in Sofia in 1924 to a family of Roma musicians. Video #1 is a tune he wrote about his home town: Sofiisko Shopsko Horo. Shopsko denotes the western region of Bulgaria; the region is known as Shopluk.

 

Video #2 is another fast tune (Karlov was best known for really fast music).   The dance is named after another Bulgarian city: Vidin.  The name is Vidinsko Horo. The costumed dancers are from Japan (Bulgarian folk music is very popular there).

  . 

Video #3 is one of the best known Karlov tunes: Bavno Oro.  Bavno is Bulgarian for slow, but the last 40 seconds or so of the music is fast! (Note: this is a tune from North Macedonia that is  popular in

Bulgaria.)

The music changes from 7/8 to 7/16 very quickly.  See video below.

Most folk dancers will recognize Video #4 as the music for the dance Sedi Donka.  Here it is listed as Plovdivsko Horo (Sedi Donka is a dance from Bulgarian Thrace, where the city of Plovdiv is located.) This is a tune that flies at warp speed. Feet can hardly keep up with this especially since this dance alternates multiple meters: 7/16 and 11/16 (there are slower versions of Sedi Donka but this one is the best).  

    

  

Video # 5 is one of my favorite dances and quite challenging so I have included a teaching video by Jim Gold.  It is a fast rachenitsa (rhythm: apple-apple-galloping). Of course Karlov had to play the national dance of Bulgaria (there are several arrangements of rachenitsa by Boris Karlov on YouTube).  This one is  Gjuševska Rachenitsa. If you want to skip the teaching, the dance starts at 4:50)

This is dance named after a town: Gjueševo. The Bulgarians named it after another town: Pazardzhik.   It doesn't matter, this is a great piece of music!

   

Unfortunately, Boris Karlov died at the age of 40 from kidney failure while on tour in Serbia.  Extensive touring in former Yugoslavia, Austria, and Bulgaria may have contributed to his demise. Who knows what other magical tunes he could have written had he lived longer?  He left quite the legacy despite the brevity of his life on Earth.

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Bulgarian Dances Named After Cities and Towns

Dances to Music Arranged by Boris Karlov

You can read more about Boris Karlov's life, in Bulgarian, in an article by Nikolai Chapansky, announcer of several folk music programs on Radio Plovdiv. 

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

Dances to Music Arranged by Boris Karlov

I knew nothing of the real life of a musician, but I seemed to see myself standing in front of great crowds of people, playing my accordion.
Lawrence Welk

My mother used to watch the Lawrence Welk Show on TV. The show never interested me because Welk was not into Bulgarian folk music. He was more into polkas, waltzes and ballroom dances. Back in those days I thought an accordion was an instrument of torture.

Today's post features music and dances connected with the great Bulgarian accordionist: Boris Karlov, 1924-1964.

His music will live forever as long as there are people who like to dance Bulgarian horo played on the accordion. If you go on YouTube, there are numerous videos of his compositions.

Video #1 features George Terzieff leading Dudino Horo and Kyustendilsko Horo (not be be confused with Kyustendilska Rachenitsa,a totally different dance that Karlov also arranged). Both are from the Shope region of Bulgaria, and very fast.



I couldn't find any dance videos with Kyustendilska Rachenitsa. This tune is very popular at our dances, so here it is, played by Karlov himself:



Video #3 is another Karlov piece. The Bulgarians call it Pazardishka Rachenitsa; we know this dance as Gjuesevska Rachenitsa.  This is a particularly fast and difficult dance from the Shope region.You can always tell, with the Dunav group anyway, how difficult a dance is going to be by the number of people dancing.  Here there are only two: Yehuda and Mika.

The Dunav website is an excellent source for dances from the Balkans and the Middle East.



In Video #4 the dancers use Karlov's version of Eleno Mome, also known as Elenino Horo.  There are many different tunes for this dance, some for accordion, some for brass band (look up Diko Iliev on YouTube) and even vocal versions (see Songbook for Nearsighted People).  Although it's only 2 1/2 minutes long, it's very fast and requires aerobic endurance.

Remember what I said about the number of dancers?  This time there are five, so this dance is relatively easy.  It is also very popular.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Dances Inspired by Elena

The Legacy of Boris Karlov, Bulgarian Folk Accordionist

Variations on the Bulgarian Folk Tune Gankino Horo


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Dancing Through the Alphabet Letter W: A Waltz From Slovenia

Today's post is about a Balkan country that seldom seems to make the news: Slovenia. Slovenia used to be a part of the multi-ethnic, multicultural nation of Yugoslavia, which fell apart after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Before there was a Yugoslavia, Slovenia belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The folk music of Slovenia has been strongly influenced by its neighbor to the north, Austria.

The video features a waltz from Slovenia, played on an accordion,  which. according to some, is an instrument of torture. It was most likely invented in a German speaking country. Since accordions were easy for traveling musicians to carry around,  their popularity spread over Europe. 

Other Balkan countries have also included waltzes in their folk music, for example: Croatia and Bulgaria.  You can find them in one of the links below.

This piece sounds more Germanic than Slavic.



The bonus video features Cookie Monster and the Letter of the Day.  Guess what that is?



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Waltzing Through the Balkans

Classical Composers Inspired by Balkan Folk Dances

The Accordion in Bulgarian Folk Music


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

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane.
H.P. Lovecraft

May is Dance Month on The Alien Diaries, and today's post focuses on different "flavors" of the Romanian folk dance, Sirba or Sârba, as it is spelled in Romanian. The hora and the sirba are the two of the best known Romanian folk dances. There are many varieties of hora; with regional differences, and they are usually done in a circle. The hora is especially popular during festivals and weddings, big communal celebrations in which everyone is expected to get up and dance.

The sirba may have had Serbian origins because the name means "Serb like." This proves that the Balkans are a multicultural mish-mosh. Dances (as well as dancers) are notorious for crossing existent and non-existent borders. Sirba can be done in either a circle or a line, depending on the preference of the leader, and the dance is often punctuated by stamps and shouts.

The first group, from Denmark, performs Sirba din Cimpoi.  Cimpoi is Romanian for bagpipe (also known in Slavic-speaking countries as a gaida).  They like the bagpipe in Romania, too, almost as much as their friends across the Danube, the Bulgarians. The in and out step with the arm swinging reminds me of a dance very popular in Bulgaria, Dunavsko Horo.



The next video is of  Sirba Pe Loc, also played on a bagpipe, and a staple in the repertoire of folk dancers around the world.  It translates into "dance in place." Most of the steps here are stamping and heel clicks; there's just a little bit of lateral movement.  Notice the shoulder hold, this is very common in Romanian folk dances.



These guys take sirba to a whole new level.  Since this is a male only group at a party, they, of course, want to show off.  My guess is that they have been hitting the bar as well, which fuels the energy here.

The shouts you hear are called strigaturi, and they are a common feature of Romanian folk dances. If I were there I would have joined the circle, the men have more fun. Notice that the men try to outdo each other, it's most likely a contest to attract the women with their physical prowess; in that respect sirba is similar to Bulgarian rachenitsa.

The music here is also different, a brass band with accordion, accompanied by a singer.  Despite all the distractions (staff bringing plates to tables and little kids running around), these men are totally focused on the dance.  Maybe it's the booze.



This integrated (male-female) group dances an extremely lively and animated sirba at a wedding. My guess is that the craziness is related the the amount of alcohol consumption. This dance has lots of stamping (bataie),  and everyone circles around the accordion player.  Some people consider the accordion an instrument of torture. In Eastern Europe, however, they love it almost as much as the bagpipe. 



If you enjoyed this, you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa, Part 1

The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa, Part 2

Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

Stamping it Out: Vlach Dances from Serbia


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Deep, Dark Secrets (or things my daughters don't want their friends to know about)

There is a deep, dark, secret that my daughters don't want broadcast around their friends, and they don't want the neighbors to know, either.

They know I go to poetry workshops, and sometimes read at Open Mikes. At the end of this post you will find a link to one of my poems. There a number of poets I admire, like Langston Hughes, Hristo Botev (poet laureate of Bulgaria!) and Ogden Nash. Not to mention my daughters, who write some damned good stuff, and my poet friends on Facebook.

It's not the Zumba classes that I go to on Tuesday nights, although there have been a few times I've been tempted to ask the Zumba instructor to incoporate some Balkan music into our workouts. My youngest daughter, who goes to class with me, always manages to change the subject before I even say the "B" word...

Zumba keeps me in shape for Friday Night Rachenitsa. I danced this one last week and I was quite winded when the music ended, so obviously I need to exercise more, but then this is quite fast.



The big, bad secret is that I dance to folk music from Bulgaria. Only two of my daughters' friends know anything about Bulgaria.One is a musician, and the other an artist. The artist has an interest in folk costumes.

God forbid everyone else should know. Bulgarian folk dancing is too damned strange and the music we dance to is even weirder. The rhythms are downright crazy, who can move to this stuff? My girls think Bulgarians in folk costumes are aliens in disguise getting ready to take over the world. And that is what they fear most.

If you want to see some "aliens" singing and dancing check this out :) And they can take over the world anytime, IMHO. It would probably be a much better place.



Finally, there are a couple of poems about Bulgarian music and dance (yes, there are people who actually write about that stuff!)

The first one I wrote back in 2009. It's called The Sanctuary Within.
http://www.helium.com/items/1605744-my-santuary

The second is by Bill Holm, who passed on three years ago. He was a native of the state of Minnesota; he was a poet, essayist, and musician. I had never heard of him until this poem was sent to me by a friend who emails me periodically about dance events in the area.

Advice (by Bill Holm)

Someone dancing inside us
has learned only a few steps:
the "Do-Your-Work" in 4/4 time,
the "What-Do-You-Expect" Waltz.
He hasn't noticed yet the woman
standing away from the lamp.
the one with black eyes
who knows the rumba.
and strange steps in jumpy rhythms
from the mountains of Bulgaria.
If they dance together,
something unexpected will happen;
if they don't, the next world
will be a lot like this one.

If you want to see a performance of it on YouTube, check this out:



So, if you haven't tried Bulgarian folk dancing yet, maybe now is the time to give it a go. You need to get out and exercise, right?

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Hristo Botev, Poet and Revolutionary (some amazing but very sad and graphic Bulgarian revolutionary poetry in English translation plus music!)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/05/hristo-botev-poet-and-revolutionary.html

On Ethnic Dance and Exercise (much more fun than the gym!)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-ethnic-dance-and-exericise.html

What is rachenitsa? Find out here:

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

This is where an acronym will take you while doing Google searches (a post by a fellow blogger about Hristo Botev)

http://blogoftheeruptingvolcano.blogspot.com/2010/11/hristo-botev-our-poet-laureate.html


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

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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The Legacy of Boris Karlov, Bulgarian Folk Accordionist

“A writer doesn't dream of riches and fame, though those things are nice. A true writer longs to leave behind a piece of themselves, something that withstands the test of time and is passed down for generations.”
― C.K. Webb

Writers as well as musicians want to be remembered after they die; although material success is important it won't follow you into the afterlife :)

If you came here looking for Boris Karloff, the actor who played Frankenstein's monster in vintage movies, you've just been hijacked to a blog about Balkan folk music. The Boris Karlov mentioned here is a musician, and even if that wasn't exactly what you were looking for, read on, you may enjoy this post.

Boris Karlov, the musician, was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on August 11, 1924 to a family of Roma (Gypsy) musicians. His passion was the accordion, and he and his music became famous well beyond his homeland. During his short 40 years on this earth, he created pieces for this instrument that are played at folk dances to this very day.

Here is an example of classic Karlov; the dance is Gankino Horo from the northwestern region of Bulgaria, the dancers are the Dunav group from Jerusalem in Israel. By the way Gankino Horo is a kopanitsa, a dance in 11/16 meter (11 beats to the measure; the 16th note gets the beat); odd rhythms are par for the course in the Balkans, but in Bulgaria especially.



Another Karlov rendition of a popular Bulgarian folk dance is Elenino Horo; most of us know it better as Eleno Mome. This is another dance in an uneven rhythm, try tapping your foot out to this one. It's in 13/16.



Here's the dance, the music was "borrowed" from Boris Karlov!



An accordionist from the United States, who goes by the YouTube handle, GrigPit, is an admirer of Karlov's music, this piece is Graovsko Horo. GrigPit has a number of Bulgarian folk dances as well as music scores linked to his YouTube site; if you're a musician, check him out.



Some see the accordion as an instrument of torture; it is not considered one in neither Bulgaria nor Serbia (where it is the national instrument of that country.) Karlov often performed on Yugoslav radio (yes, in those days there was a Yugoslavia!) The next piece is a Serbian kolo, Niska Banja, and if you listen carefully it's the same rhythm as the Bulgarian dance Daichovo Horo. Was that Karlov's intent?



For more on Boris Karlov, check out this link:

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

By the way if you're more interested in old movies than folklore, you can read about the actor, Boris Karloff, here:

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

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Accordion in Bulgarian Folk Music (an import from a German speaking country that became a really big hit in Bulgaria!)

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

Read more about the Daichovo Horo, a popular Bulgarian folk dance and its different variations.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/04/daichovo-plain-or-fancy-take-your-pick.html

And check out another composer of Bulgarian folk music, Diko Iliev, whose works for brass orchestra are played during celebrations in his native country. By the way, this post was also written on the composer's birthday.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/02/birthday-celebration-and-source-of.html


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

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

(photo: Strudel, from Wikipedia Commons)


(photo: Iron Gate, from Wikipedia Commons)

If you're wondering why this post starts with a picture of strudel, read on, you will find out later.

Are you ready for another close encounter of the Danubian kind? This post takes us to Serbia for yet more folk songs from the Universe of You Tube.

I found a couple of folk songs about Dunav, the River of Many Names, from Serbia. One is fun and one is romantic, both of them are great to listen to.

The first video is a group of crazy musicians having a blast on a beautiful spring day. So they decide to take a boat on the river and sing a folk song (in English translation the title is Dunave, Dunave moje more (Danube, My Sea.) For some reason there are no women along for the ride, although they are watching on shore...why is that? Do the guys have a monopoly on music and fun?



The way these musicians carried on in the boat, I thought Dunave moje more would have been more of a party song, but the actual translation was something totally different. The gist of the song was that the person in the song sees Dunav day and night and that he has given his life to the river. (I presume he dreams about it, as well.) I have dreamed about it since I was eleven years old. And for me it's a recurring dream which pops up in my subconscious periodically.

The lyrics (in transliterated Serbian) are here, but there is no translation. I had to resort to Google Translate.

http://tekstovi.net/2,563,5690.html

Despite the fact I was able to travel to Europe and actually camped out on the banks of the Danube 14 years after the first dream, the dreams haven't stopped. Now that is the persistence of memory at its finest. Except that I don't dream about melted clocks :)

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

The next video conveys a completely different mood, although the lyrics have a similarity to Dunave, Dunave moje more. This song conveys nostalgia and longing. From what I get from the translation (again, courtesy of Google) it's about a man who grew up along the Danube, who had to go far away, left his heart there, but still sees it in his dreams (the dream theme seems to be a recurring one....)



Next is a musician playing a lively kolo on an accordion, the most popular instrument in Serbia. The kolo is a folk dance popular in Serbia as well as Croatia. It is usually (but not always) done in a circle. You won't see any dancing in this video, except maybe for the accordionist's fingers moving over the keys. He does an amazing job with this piece; the name of it (in English) is Danubian Whirlpools.



Now it's time to see what inspired the composer of the previous piece of music. It has something to do with strudel.

Water is fascinating. Like the other elements of antiquity, fire, air and earth, each has its good side and its destructive side. The River of Many Names is no exception. Although the beauty of it is celebrated in poetry and folk songs, flood season wreaks havoc and destruction. In the city of Passau, Germany I saw buildings along the Danube with high water marks. Written next to them was the day, month and year of the flood, which in a few instances was as high as the second story of the building.

Then there are the mysterious whirlpools and cross-currents which can be dangerous if you're not careful. By the way, in German, strudel has two meanings; the first one is the fruit filled pastry that everyone knows and loves. The second meaning is that of a whirlpool or vortex, and something you definitely don't want to have for dessert. The music matches the mood of this video which looks quite ominous...



By the way, the cafés in Passau have delicious strudel, and great coffee too. And if you go further down the Danube, to Vienna, you can get your strudel in fancy surroundings, like the Hotel Sacher.

If you enjoyed this post, you will also like the series The River of Many Names., parts 1-4. The first one is a musical journey.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/river-of-many-names-musical-journey.html

Part two has songs and dances from Bulgaria related to the Danube:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/river-of-many-names-part-2-danube-in.html

Part three features folk ensembles from Bulgaria, Croatia, Great Britain and Israel named after the river.

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

Part four has more Bulgarian folk songs inspired by (what else?) Dunav, along with some stunning scenery and dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/03/river-of-many-names-part-4-danube-in.html

If you didn't get enough Serbian folk music here, this post will satisfy your cravings as well as relieve your frustrations, since there are lots of dances with stamping!

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/03/stamp-it-outvlach-dances-from-serbia.html


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

Variations on a Theme by Diko Iliev

Today's post is about one of the most popular dances in Bulgaria, Dunavsko Horo (Danubian Horo).

Although there are other versions of Dunavsko with different music (you can find them on my blog and on the Universe of YouTube), the one everyone knows and loves was written by Diko Iliev, a Bulgarian composer who lived from 1898 to 1984. Although the lighting isn't so good, you can see a picture of the composer in the background, and costumed dancers in the foreground. This is the original brass arrangement.



The next Dunavsko is an arrangement for accordion and played by an American musician who does a phenomenal job with Bulgarian folk music. A number of folk dances are posted on his channel, plus a tutorial on how to play Elenino Horo (Eleno Mome), another very popular Bulgarian dance. You can find links to the sheet music on his YouTube profile if you're feeling ambitious. And is that a Martenitsa I see on his wall?



There are some people, however, who consider the accordion an instrument of torture, like my husband. One day he returned home from work while I played the previous video and the first words out of his mouth were "Turn that damned accordion off!"

If you enjoy accordion music, or are interested in using it for pain and torture purposes, this post is a must read:

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

The Bulgarian Police Band is a fine group of musicians. When they're not out in the streets keeping order and arresting the riffraff, they're playing some really good stuff. They have a varied repertoire, which includes American big band music, military marches, and Bulgarian folk dances. This piece is Memorial For Diko Iliev, based on his Dunavsko Horo. It's a modern version which took some getting used to, but now I really like it.



For more about Diko Iliev, his life and his music read:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/having-blast-with-diko-iliev.html

More music by Diko Iliev can be found here:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/02/birthday-celebration-and-source-of.html

You can find other variations of Dunavsko Horo (not by Diko Iliev) in the following posts. The first one is played on traditional Bulgarian folk instruments:

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

This one is a brass band rendition, with dancers in colorful folk costumes.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/river-of-many-names-part-2-danube-in.html


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