In Search of Tallava . . . UPDATE

My continued search for Tallava has led me into some interesting conversations in my Mahala (Neighborhood in Bulgarian but also commonly the term for the Roma Neighborhood). I've had some great conversations about the music and generally no one recognizes the music by that name. In defense, I probably really mispronounce it (Tal - la - va).

Seeing how most of the Bulgarians and Roma in my limited sample pool of five people from my town have never heard of the name Tallava, I decided to seek out opinions of people online. After searching a little, I asked some YouTube members what they think Tallava is. Romeo was kind enough to respond and add his perspective on Tallava. He is a musician in America and his YouTube page is ROMEOKLARINET. Here is what he had to say about the Tallava genre:

Tallava is not kuchek, cocek or oro (horo in Bulgaria *Editor's Note*) and it is not Albanian Roma style. This style that was ORIGINATED in Kosovo. The Roma people in Kosovo invented this style. One of the people to start this awesome style was a guy by the name of TAFA. Tafa was a roma singer in kosovo that sang in Albanian. Others musicians caught on such as LUMI, CITA, and so forth. Now most of Balkans imitate this style called TALLAVA.

I would recommend browsing through Romeo's Favorites on YouTube. He has selected a lot of Romani artists that I plan to highlight on this blog, plus it allows you to see the somewhat fluid nature of Roma music throughout the Balkans. Influences from Bulgaria are liked in Serbia / Albanian; and vice-versa. Its common for Roma in the town I live in to have Roma music from Serbia, Albanian and Macedonia (not mention Chalga/Pop Folk from all over the Balkans)

TAFA from Kosovo


I believe this is TAFA but honestly is really difficult to find anything by his name TAFA. I mean, I'm using AOL video for crying out loud . . .

Tafa, most popular singer of the "Talava"genre, with bank notes given to him by his enthusiastic audience. Photo: Svanibor Pettan
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I'm going to post so more examples of Tallava this upcoming week, one per day, some come back often for your daily dose of Tallava