Balkan party music in Seattle

Posts made in May, 2018

Milo mou kokkino

Posted by on May 29, 2018 in 7/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A song from the Macedonia region of Greece, in which a husband wonders why his wife is not at home. We play it for the dance kalamatianos in 7/8.

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Bjala roza

Posted by on May 25, 2018 in 9/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

This popular modern Bulgarian song in 9/8, as sung by Slavka Kalcheva, can be a bit of a tongue-twister for those of us who don’t speak Bulgarian… and when does she breathe?

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Ajde red se redat

Posted by on May 22, 2018 in 7/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A lesnoto dance song from Macedonia. The arrangement here is from a performance by the great singer Vaska Ilieva. I remember first hearing the song on an LP by the People’s International Silver String band from the San Francisco Bay area in California.

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Mastika

Posted by on May 18, 2018 in 9/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A great party song in 9/8 whose refrain celebrates the anise-flavored brandy known by many names in the Balkans. It’s a Turkish melody with Serbian lyrics as sung by the great Rom singer Muharem Serbezovski.

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Bubamara

Posted by on May 15, 2018 in 2/4, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

Audiences always like this song from the Emir Kusturica movie “Black Cat White Cat,” a dark comedy about petrol smuggling and a wedding where almost anything can and does happen, including a return from the dead. We do the vocals, but not the same musical arrangement.

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