The Tambura in Macedonian, Bulgarian and Croatian Folk Music

(monument to tambura musician Janika Balázs, from Wikipedia commons)

This week's post is about another musical instrument popular in the Balkans, the tambura. According to Wikipedia, it is "a long-necked metal-strung fretted lute used for rhythmic accompaniment as well as melodic solos." Some may view it as an instrument of torture much like the accordion or the bagpipe (gaida), which are also traditional Balkan folk instruments. This is the kind of music people either love or hate, there is no middle ground.

The first video is of a of a musician playing a Macedonian dance tune, Tropnalo Oro, on a solo tambura.



This link explains the Macedonian folk instruments, including the tambura, along with pictures.

http://dimobetchev.tripod.com/music/instruments.html

The next tambura piece comes from the Pirin region of Bulgaria. The first part of it is a rachenitsa, a Bulgarian folk dance in 7/8 time. Tambura music is very popular in the Pirin, probably because southwestern Bulgaria shares a border with the Republic of Macedonia, and music does not recognize national boundaries.



Now we travel further west, to a country which used to be a part of Yugoslavia, Croatia. Tamburitza orchestras are quite common in Croatia, and an integral part of this country's folk music. Tamburitza is another name for a tambura; in Croatia they come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The ensembles that play tamburitza music have a distinctive sound, and there's no mistaking them for anything else! This group is from Chicago, USA and they sing as well as play!



If you're interested in the instruments that make up a tamburitza orchestra, check out this page from Wikipedia.

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

The last video in this post is an excerpt from a folk opera, Ero the Joker by Croatian composer Jakov Gotovac. Although Gotovac was primarily a composer and conductor of classical music, Ero s onoga svijeta is a work based on folklore. The finale, Završno Kolo, is done in true Croatian style, and played by a tamburitza orchestra accompanied by an accordion. The music and dancing here are a treat for the eyes and ears.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

More Interesting and Unusual Instruments in Balkan Folk Music

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

Check out the gadulka, a folk instrument very popular in Bulgaria. This post is funny as well as informative.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/11/gadulka-in-bulgarian-folk-music-another.html

Classical Composers Inspired by Balkan Folk Music

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/12/classical-composers-inspired-by-balkan.html


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

The "Flavors of Bulgarian Rachenitsa, Part 2: Masculine, Feminine and Flirtatious

The subject of today's post is about one of my favorite dances, Bulgarian rachenitsa. Although rachenitsa has been covered many times on this blog,  I couldn't resist writing about it again. Rachenitsa is the national dance of Bulgaria, and for you music theorists out there, the top number on the time signature is a seven. If you prefer words to numbers, the rhythm is apple-apple-galloping.

There are many varieties of the rachenitsa. Today we will explore masculine and feminine versions of the dance, as well as its part in a courtship ritual. Rachenitsa can be done solo, in couples, and groups; groups can be male only, female only or mixed, the group version is called "na horo."

The first example, Drianovska Rachenitsa is definitely masculine. A male chorus sings the song, and there is a emphatic stamp at one point in the dance. Notice that a woman is in front of the line and another woman in front of the dancers (she is teaching the dance). Since the The Alien Diaries is an equal opportunity blog, I like to show women leading dances. This is a high-energy dance, performed by a group from the United States.



Back in the old days in Bulgaria there was a definite hierarchy as to who should lead dances. According to the Radio Bulgaria website, "As with all levels of patriarchal society, horo dancing had its own hierarchy. The first to join and lead the dance were married men followed by young unmarried men. Very often brides and girls danced in a separate row." This applied to rachenitsa as well. Fortunately, that is not the case nowadays.

For more on the fascinating subject of Bulgarian dance, check out this link.

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Folklore/Pages/2004Whatalonghorodance.aspx

The next rachenitsa has a very feminine touch. Although there's no dancing here, these young ladies from the Yale Women's Slavic Chorus sing Ergen Dedo with style, tapping and clapping to the beat. The person who posted this video described it as "impromptu Bulgarian genius." That it certainly is.



Ergen Dedo is about an old man at the village dance looking for a young woman to marry. He scared the girls away because he was too old! (Or perhaps he was a pedophile?) The translated lyrics can be found here.

http://www.choralnet.org/view/255482#255508

The next dance can best be described as "feminine rachenitsa with attitude." It's performed by the group Horo, from Brisbane, Australia.



A vintage movie clip from 1958 shows how much the rachenitsa is embedded in Bulgarian culture. Here it becomes an endurance contest as well as a flirtation between a man and a woman, who waves a "rachenik" (handkerchief) in the man's face as she challenges him to dance with her, with the entire village watching. Want to find out who wins? Watch the video and find out.



For more information on the rachenitsa, check out Dick Oake's Phantom Ranch folk dance site.

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

If you enjoyed this you may also like The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa

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

The Yale Women's Slavic chorus does some amazing interpretations of Bulgarian folk songs, and you can watch them here:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-cant-believe-theyre-not-bulgarian.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.

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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The Rebels (Haidouks) in Bulgarian Folk Songs

(statue of Raina Popgeorgieva, photo from Wikipedia Commons)

Better the grave than a slave. Bulgarian proverb

Today we're going to explore rebel songs in Bulgarian folklore, in honor of the April Uprising of 1876.

The Ottoman Turks occupied the Balkans for nearly 500 years. Religious conflict was a recurring theme in Eastern Europe and the Muslim Turks were at odds with the Orthodox Christian population of the Balkans who were subjected to what could be considered a form of slavery.

The Ottoman rule was quite harsh. The Turks taxed the population heavily and conscripted preadolescent boys into the Janissaries, the Sultan's elite army. These young men were taken forcibly from their families, sent to Turkey, converted to Islam, and subjected to extreme discipline when they were old enough to join the ranks of the Janissaries. The Bulgarians and other people of the Balkan countries got fed up with these injustices, and rose up against their Ottoman oppressors.

The April Uprising in Bulgaria was the start of a series of events which eventually led to the country's independence. The rebels, called Haidouks, the most renowned being the poet Hristo Botev, were ready to die for the cause and for their country. This song, based on a poem by Ivan Vazov, describes Botev's hijacking of the ship Radetsky from Romania to Bulgaria, and how the revolutionaries crossed the Danube to overthrow their Turkish oppressors. Not long after, on June 2, Botev died in battle near the town of Vratsa.



The translation for the song can be found here (although, as usual something gets a little bit lost....)

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

The story of a female freedom fighter who took part in the liberation of Bulgaria is very powerful and moving. Her name was Raina Popgeorgieva. Also known as Princess Raina, she was a teacher, midwife, and a revolutionary. She was a true feminist, in this respect she was way ahead of her time. She sewed the flag for the April Uprising and waved it with a fellow revolutionary, in defiance of the oppressors, who captured her and locked her up in Plovdiv prison. She subsisted on bread and water for over a month, and after she was released, she left Bulgaria and moved to Russia, where she studied medicine, and later became a nurse. Raina then returned to Bulgaria, married and had a family. There is a statue of her in Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, her home town. She died at the age of 61.

This song tells the story of Raina Popgeorgieva. The dance done to it is lesnoto, the rhythm is galloping-apple-apple.



You can read more about Princess Raina here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayna_Knyaginya

The song, Karmafil, is about a hero who was born in the Valley of the Roses, and his symbol was the red carnation. He was a true son of the Balkans, born in the Valley of the Roses. The lyrics can be found here:

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

Karamfil is very popular dance-song, and it's from the Pirin region of Bulgaria.



The last song is Sokole,Siri Sokole. (Gray Falcon) The falcon is a bird of prey and used as a symbol in a number of Bulgarian and Macedonian rebel songs. The video accompanying the song portrays the capture of a rebel being subjected to torture by the Ottomans. It is not pleasant to watch, but will give you an idea of what the Bulgarians went through to overthrow Turkish rule.



If you enjoyed this, you may also like Hristo Botev, Poet and Revolutionary, the story of Bulgaria's most beloved hero.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

Kaicho Kumenov, the singer of Sokole, Siri Sokole, also made a recording of a more lighthearted folk song, Kune Mome. Here you can hear it along with a more modern version.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/03/modern-versions-of-traditional.html

If you love flowers, this post is for you. Our hero, Karamfil, came from the Rose Valley, read more about it here.

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

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

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


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Variations on a Theme by Petko Stainov: Rachenitsa Travels to Guatemala

Today's post is another cross-cultural adventure, in which the Bulgarian folk dance, rachenitsa, travels to Guatemala.

When I was a teen, my mom's best friend was a fixture at my house. Marta was from Guatemala, and she and my mom often danced our living room. Their favorite record was an album of Guatemalan folk dances played on the marimba and they never tired of it.

The marimba is a percussion instrument which looks a lot like a xylophone, and is the national instrument of Guatemala.

For more on the marimba check out this link from Wikipedia. This instrument is believed to have originated with the Maya Indians, who live what is now the Yucatán in southern Mexico, and in the countries of Guatemala and Honduras. Unlike the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who were nearly wiped out from European diseases, the Maya Indians have survived to this day and so has their culture. The Spanish were never able to completely suppress it.

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

My mom and her friend especially loved this piece, Chichicastenago, written in honor of a town in Guatemala, and played on a marimba.



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

You may be asking "what do marimba and Chichicastenango have to do with Bulgarian rachenitsa?"

You will find out why when you watch this video, taken in the studio of the Bulgarian National Radio, where you will see Petko Stainov's most popular piece, Rachenitsa, played on three marimbas, with drum and tambourine accompaniment. By the way, the rachenitsa is the national dance of Bulgaria. The national dance of Bulgaria is being played on the national instrument of Guatemala. How cool is that?



Petko Stainov wrote music based on folklore themes. (The rachenitsa is subtitled "Thracian Dance.") In that respect, he had something in common with another Bulgarian composer, Diko Iliev. Stainov went blind at the age of eleven, Diko Iliev (1898-1984) lost his eyesight not long before he died. It is said that the blind depend more on their hearing than people who can see.

The main difference between the two is that Stainov was classically trained and wrote music for orchestra, whereas Iliev was self-taught and his primary focus was on Bulgarian folk dances. Stainov lived from 1896 to 1977, so he was a contemporary of Diko Iliev. Stainov was a native of the folklore region of Thrace (famous for the dance Pravo Horo). His home town was Kazanlak, in the Valley of the Roses.

The next video is of the original Stainov orchestration. The date celebrates the liberation of Bulgaria on March 3, 1878.



And finally, the Stainov Rachenitsa played on an instrument very popular in Bulgaria, the accordion. The accordion is not native to Bulgaria, but supposedly was created in a German-speaking country. The Bulgarians loved it and integrated it into their folk music.



If you enjoyed this you may also like The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa.

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

There is a connection between folk music from Bulgaria and folk music from Latin America.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/11/bulgarians-and-latin-dance.html

If you like the accordion, read about The Accordion in Bulgarian Folk Music.

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

Have a Blast with Diko Iliev. I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

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

This post is dedicated to my mom's Guatemalan friend, Marta, who passed on in 1998 of breast cancer. She was only 57 years old.


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