Milo mou kokkino
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.
Read MoreBjala roza
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?
Read MoreAjde red se redat
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.
Read MoreMastika
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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