Balkan Music Night 2014: A Celebration of Music and Dance

Movie-making is telling a story with the best technology at your disposal.
Tom Hanks

Don't you just love technology?

I have been around long enough to see large computers shrunk down to the size of Smartphones.  Smartphones are truly amazing in that they have enormous capabilities: besides using them to talk to people, you can text, take pictures and video, and access the Internet, among other things.

Today's post features videos taken by phone from Balkan Music Night 2014 in Concord Massachusetts. It is an annual event that has been going on for nearly 30 years.  30 years ago PC's were big, bulky things run by a DOS operating system.  Are there any readers out there who remember the days of dual floppy disk drives?

We have come a long way since then.  It's really amazing how you can broadcast yourself on YouTube with something small enough to fit in your back pocket.

It's time to visit The Universe of YouTube, via the magic of technology. The first video is of Ličko Kolo, from Croatia.  The dancers create the music by singing and stamping their feet, something quite unusual in the age of electronic music.   It's also a call and response song.  Call and response songs are common to many cultures and the Balkans are no exception.

The person who posted it used an I-Phone and I am amazed at the quality of the sound as well as the way he composed the video.



Here's another snippet; this time it's the Harris Brothers on brass instruments playing a tune from Macedonia.



The sound quality on this video is not as good as the previous ones. My little Android is not the top of the line Smartphone, but it's light and not as bulky as my old digital camera (every time someone invents new and improved devices they shrink in size). This group, Niva, was one of my favorites at Balkan Music Night. You can see me fumbling with my fingers at the start of the video because the camera function is in the back of the phone. 

The dance is Pajduško Horo, in the odd rhythm of 5/8. The faster versions are in 5/16.



If you really want to hear how good Niva sounds, click this link. This will take you to the songs played at the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, another event similar to Balkan Music Night.  The one in the video is song #4.

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

A Taste of Albania at Balkan Music Night 2013

"Music is the Strongest Form of Magic" Balkan Music Night 2012

More Balkan March Madness: Balkan Music Night 2011



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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.

The "Flavors" of Serbian Kolo

Blessed are they who go around in circles, for they shall be known as wheels.
Anonymous

Today's post is about a dance much-loved in Serbia, the kolo.

The Serbs don't have a monopoly on the kolo because people dance it in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia. These countries used to be part of a larger entity,  Yugoslavia, the place that brought us the Yugo, the car that didn't go. The country went the way of the car. May they both rest in peace.

Kolo means "circle"and it can also mean wheel. Not all kolos are danced in a circle, as you will see in the following videos. From what I've observed most groups do them in a line. Professional ensembles are more likely to dance them in an actual circle. Circles and lines, by the way, are geometric figures, which are very prominent in folk dances from Eastern Europe.

The first video is Ersko Kolo, an easy and fun dance, performed by the Tanzgruppe Schmelz from Vienna, Austria.



The next dance is a medley of three Serbian kolos, and judging from the stamping, the dances are probably of Vlach origin. The Vlachs were people of Romanian (Latin) ancestry, and they travelled all over the Balkans. They traditionally worked as shepherds, which explains their wandering ways.



This is another example of a Vlach dance from Serbia: Vlashko Kolo.



Kolo Koalition, a group from California in the USA, has many dances, including Serbian kolos, posted on their YouTube channel.  Prekid Kolo, best described as kolo interruptus, is related to another very popular Serbian dance, U šest.  Read the notes to find out why.



Finally, here's the Kolo Ensemble performing during a halftime show at an NBA basketball game in Canada.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Serbian Cacak

The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa, Parts One and Two

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba


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Some Equal Opportunity Folk Dances

I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading.
Amy Poehler

Today's post, for International Women's Day, will feature men's dances from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Greece, led by women.

In the Balkans, traditionally, there were dances for women and dances for men.  Nowadays, no one really cares if a female leads what was once considered a men's dance. In the old days, however there was gender segregation. There would be two different lines, one for the women and one for the men.  The men performed the fancy moves and jumps, and the women's version was more dainty.

The first dance is from the Pirin region of southwestern Bulgaria. I don't know the name of it (can someone help me here?) The female leader it does it with style; this is music with a hypnotic rhythm played on a tupan (double-headed drum) and a zurna (a wooden horn with a double reed and finger holes). Most of the dancers are women, you can see a couple of men near the end.

What is even more amazing is that this performance goes on for over six minutes and the music gets progressively faster.



Sirba Pe Loc, from Romania, was most likely a men's dance.  It's fast, and done in a shoulder hold with stamps and heel clicks for emphasis. Sirba dances are very popular in Romania, and there are many.  They are usually named by the town or region, but this one translates to "dance in place."



Sestorka, from Serbia, is a very fast dance, usually performed by men holding on to each other's belts.  The rules have been changed here, with some interesting results. This is an all-female group dressed in traditional Serbian folk costumes (that means skirts). There is a point in the dance where they are supposed to shout ooh-ha, but I can barely hear them. Raise your voices, ladies!



The,Hasapiko was the dance of the butcher's guild in Greece during the Middle Ages, and back then was performed only by men.  Times have changed.  This group, like the previous one, is all female.



If you liked this you will also enjoy:

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

In Honor of International Women's Day:  Women's Dances From the Balkans

The Butcher's Dance in Balkan Folklore


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Chestita Baba Marta! A Baba Marta Song (in English), the Martenitsa Folk Dance Group, and Some Cool Bulgarian Crafts

Photo: Martenitsa, by Katley Brown

In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

Today's theme is Baba Marta, and her symbol, the Martenitsa.

Winter in the northeastern United States was especially long, cold and snowy and everyone is looking forward to spring!  Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a deep freeze and think Baba Marta is unhappy with us because the cold and snow will last well into the first week of March.

The first song is by Jonathan Taylor, an Englishman who lives in Bulgaria. The video was taken after a particularly harsh winter.  You can see the deep snow and the meltwater coming off the roofs of the houses. Taylor asks Baba Marta (Grandma March) to have mercy on the Bulgarians and drive away winter.  You can find the lyrics here:



The next video features the Martenitsa Folk Dance Group from Stuttgart in Germany, and took place during a summer festival in 2008. They perform a medley of Bulgarian folk dances from different folklore regions of the country: Dobrudja, Pirin, Shoppe, and others.   I have noticed that Bulgarian folklore is very popular in Germany. It must be all those trips the Germans make every summer to Black Sea resorts.



The martenitsa is a much-loved symbol in Bulgaria; it heralds the coming of spring.  Traditionally, it's made from red and white yarn woven together to make a bracelet; tassels or male/female figures.  They are given to friends and family for good luck, and to ward off winter.  They are also associated with Baba Marta (Grandma March) who is very moody, she can either bring balmy springtime weather or freezing cold and snow.  That is why it's important to make her happy by wearing martenitsa on a lapel or on the wrist.

The last video was produced by the Bulgarian National Television in Rousse, and shows the many different types of martenitsa. It's narrated in Bulgarian,with no subtitles. If you like folk art it's worth a look. These creations are quite original. There are tassels, little men and women, a broom and even spiders.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Crossing the River Part Three: The Bulgarian Martenitsa and the Romanian Mărţişor

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Martenitsa (but were afraid to ask)

The Martenitsa Tree (a modern-day folktale)

A Dance for Baba Marta: Children's Celebrations in Bulgaria

Project Martenitza, a group from Australia, has been organizing Bulgarian, Romanian and Moldovan communities around the world to decorate Martenitsa Trees.  Read more about them here:

Check out my new blog Light and Shadow, and you will understand why I hate winter.


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The Cimbalom/Tambal in Romanian Folk Music

Today's featured instrument  is the cimbalom, which is the Hungarian name for the instrument known as the hammered dulcimer (in English) or tambal (in Romanian). It is a distinctive element of Romanian folk music, especially in taraf bands. I will use the words cimbalom and tambal interchangeably.

My daughter definitely thought the cimbalom was an instrument from Hell when I played the fourth video in this post. There are some people out there who absolutely despise tambal and in cases like that it can be useful as an instrument of torture.  Percussion instruments tend to have that effect on susceptible individuals. Keep that in mind when your neighbors have noisy late night parties this summer and don't invite you.

Here is a folk dance from Romania familiar to many: Hora de Mina. The bagpipe and the panpipes play the melody, and the tambal is the rhythm section.



The next video is of Toni Iordarce.  He was known in Romania as the "Paganini of the Cimbalom."  Unfortunately, he died at a young age (45) from diabetic complications. During the later years of Ceaușescu's brutal regime (he was executed on Christmas Day, 1989) there was rationing of food, fuel, and medicine.  The majority of Romanian citizens (except for Party functionaries) often went hungry, had no heat in their apartments during long, cold winters, and died from diseases easily treated or controlled in the West.  This was probably the case with Iordarce.

It is a pleasure to watch him play.



This is a folk tune made famous in an arrangement for violin by Grigoraş Ionică Dinicu, Ciocarlia, played on the cimbalom and accompanied by orchestra.

The musician is Victor Copacinschi and the video is from 1976. The video is in black and white.  Color TV broadcasts did not exist in Romania until 1983.



This is a sirba, a popular Romanian folk dance, played on tambal and accordion, from the region of Dobrogea (south-east Romania).



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

Variations on a Romanian Folk Dance: Hora de Mina

Another Country Heard From: The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

Crossing the River, Music From the Romanian Folklore Region of Dobrogea

The Alien Diaries will be taking a short break.  The next post will be on or about March 1st. There are over 200 posts written over the course of nearly four years....you will be sure to find something that you like.  Thanks for reading!


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Waltzing Through the Balkans

It is my personality alone that has brought back the waltz and made it a global craze.
Andre Rieu

Music from the Balkans is best known for its uneven rhythms and odd time signatures.

Western classical and popular music, for the most part, has an even number in the time signature. A notable exception is the waltz, a dance in 3/4 time.

The waltz originated as an Austrian folk dance, the Ländler, native to southern Germany (Bavaria) and Austria. The most renowned composer of waltzes was Johann Strauss, Junior; although the Viennese waltz did not begin with him. His father Johann Senior and his friend Josef Lanner took Austrian folk tunes and dressed them up for the sophisticated audiences in Vienna and its environs. Their music became part of the classical music repertoire worldwide.

Here is an example of a waltz borrowed from folk music, the Styrian Dances by Josef Lanner. Styria (Steiermark, in German) is a region in southeastern Austria; it shares a border with Slovenia, part of a country that no longer exists, Yugoslavia.



The fame of the waltz traveled far and wide throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire; it spread to Hungary, where Emmerich Kalman and Franz Lehar incorporated it into their operettas. It went further down the Danube, River of Many Names (Johann Strauss' most famous waltz was about it), into the Balkans, and even as far east as Russia.

The next waltz is from Croatia.  The  tamburitza orchestra gives it a distinctly Croatian sound.  I don't know if this is a folk tune or a piece that was composed. The recording sounds quite old. By the way, much of the music at folk dances comes from vintage recordings.



Diko Iliev, Bulgarian composer (best known for Dunavsko Horo), has a birthday this month on the 15th.  Although he composed many pieces based on Bulgarian folk dances such as daichovo, rachenitsa, elenino, and pravo, he wrote waltzes, too. The title of this one, translated from the Bulgarian is In the Vineyards Over Rabine.  I have no idea where Rabine is, but it is probably somewhere in Bulgaria, which is a big wine producing country.

In Bulgaria, February is the month of St. Trifon the Pruner (Trifon Zarezan); it is the time when the vintners get to work pruning the vines to make them ready for the next growing season. It it is also celebrated with lots of wine!



And finally, here is a very famous waltz from Romania by a composer who is practically unknown nowadays. Pop culture buffs will recognize this piece because it has undergone several incarnations.  One of them was  The Anniversary Song performed by Al Jolson (of classic movie fame), in The Jolson Story. The other was a song popular in Korea titled In Praise of Death. The woman who sang it died tragically at a very young age.

This version is the original, by a composer of Serbian descent who lived in Romania.  His name was Iosef Ivanovici and he was a bandmaster stationed in Galati. He had his first introduction to music when an elderly man gave him a flute.

He composed a number of pieces including hora, a dance based on Romanian folk tunes, and many other works, including waltzes, polkas, and marches. However, his best known composition was a waltz titled Waves of the Danube, also known under the German title Donauwellen.

By the way, the conductor in this video, Minseok Kang, ironically, is from Korea, and he conducts the Botosani Philharmonic Orchestra.  He is quite the character, and an excellent dancer!

Announcement!

My new blog Light and Shadow has now been launched! If you enjoy humor and satire, photos and poetry, stop by to visit!  I will be posting there about once a month. Eventually I plan to sell chapbooks of my poetry on this site, as well as feature anthologies where my work has been published.

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Classical Composers Inspired by Balkan Folk Music

A Birthday Celebration and A Source of Inspiration (music by Diko Iliev)

Blessed Wine, Cursed Drinking:  A Look at St. Trifon, The Patron Saint of Vintners

The River of Many Names, Part 6: The Danube in Croatian Folk Songs (if you like tamburitza music, you will love this)


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