Majstore majstore

Posted by Mike Gordon on Aug 3, 2018 in Balkan Sheet Music, Cocek | 0 comments

This song, heard in Northern Macedonia and in Bulgaria, was first performed by Petranka Kostadinova at the Valandovo Folk Fest in southeast Macedonia in 1990. We play it as a cocek dance. “Majstore” (literally “master”) refers to a master of a particular craft or trade. This one, hmm, perhaps he is very skilled with his big, strong hands…

There are two versions of the lyrics: the original Macedonian lyrics and a Bulgarian version that we learned from Mary Sherhart in Seattle.

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Macedonian lyrics:

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Bulgarian lyrics:

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Performed in Macedonian by Petranka Kostadinova at Valandovo in 1990:

Performed in Macedonian by Aneta Micevska at Valandovo in 2017:

(The accordion player needs to lighten up…)

Performed in Bulgarian by Toni Dacheva with Kristal in 1991 or 1992:

Aj mene majka jednu ima

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 31, 2018 in 9/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A song in 9/8 from southern Serbia recorded by singer/songwriter Zorica Brunclik in 1977, one of many songs in which the girl wants the bad boy (bekrija), not the safe one favored by her parents.

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Bugarsko K4 Oro

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 27, 2018 in Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A Thracian-style dance instrumental by Ferus Mustafov, the great Macedonian Rom sax and clarinet player. (K4 refers to Klub K4 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.) The transcription below shows only the first six phrases of a longer melody, a chunk that we think makes a nice one-page chart for a Bulgarian pravo horo. We often play this after the Thracian dance song Edru na oder lezase.

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The chart shows the first 1:40 of this. The rest is left as an exercise for the student.

Edru na oder lezase

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 24, 2018 in Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

On his deathbed, a man tells his mourning kin that all his worldly wealth is less precious to him than his small children and his beautiful wife, Tudorka. We learned this Bulgarian horo dance song, from Malkoturnovo village in the Strandza region of Thrace, years ago from Jane Sugarman. She wrote the name Edru as jEdru to reflect the local dialect. When playing for dancers, Balkanarama often follows this song with Ferus Mustafov’s Thracian-style Bugarsko K4 Oro.

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(Sad face: This song does not appear to be available on YouTube. It’s on an ancient Bulgarian LP, Balkanton BHA 189.)

Jasmina

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 20, 2018 in 9/8, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

Written by the Rom singer Saban Bajramovic in the late ’70s or early ’80s, this song is about a bridegroom who can’t sleep on the last night before his wedding and is looking forward to dancing the cocek with his beautiful bride, Jasmina.

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I bavlal purdela

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 17, 2018 in 4/4, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

This song by the late legendary Serbian Rom singer Saban Bajramovic asks, “I waited for you to come to me, girl, why didn’t you?” We’ve seen many versions of the Romani lyrics and trust these. We play the song in maqsum rhythm for the dance jeni jol.

Usti, usti baba

Posted by Mike Gordon on Jul 13, 2018 in 2/4, Balkan Sheet Music | 0 comments

A Macedonian Rom song in cocek rhythm, sung by Esma Redzepova and Usnija Jasarova. “Get up, father, the drums are beating, they’re coming for my sister!”