England's Ladytron & 1980s Bulgarian Rock; Combined!

As I was preparing for my latest Balkan Hour show, I was listening to the local college radio station WRFL 88.1 when I caught the strange diction of Bulgarian voices over the airwaves. Turning it up while I was driving around I realized I was listening to a strangely familiar song, remixed. After looking it up on WRFL's playlist, I YouTubed the song Kletva (I oath, I swear) and found the old Bulgarian hit by the Crickets. I learned some of my limited Bulgarian from this song so it brought back memories of my Peace Corps experience. Most Bulgarians universally break in song whenever its played in concert so Kletva is instantly recognizable to any Bulgarian. If you listen to the song, Ladytron pronounces the words slightly different.

The Crickets - Kletva (Oath)




Ladytron's Bulgarian Connection:

Mira Ayoro

The Bulgarian accents from Ladytron are rooted in Mira Aroyo's link to Bulgaria from her childhood. Mira, who left the country for Israel at age 10 with her family, travels back to Bulgaria once or twice a year to see family and vacation. With this introduction, Mira has occasionally mixed Bulgarian songs like Kletva as well as voice samples from the national anthem and other Bulgarian dialogue. When asked why she uses Bulgarian, she profers that the Bulgarian combined with the Ladytron music provides an intriguing sound. Interviews: Sydney Morning Herald, Chief Magazine

Miro Aroyo recently was interviewed about Bulgarian Chalga by Beast Magazine. After being asked whether Chalga music would be involved with Ladytron's next music adventure, she responded enthusiastically. It certainly would be interesting if some of Azis or Galena were sampled in the next album.  Interview with Beast Magazine (Great interview, read all of it)

Also, notice the backlash in the comments about the article assuming that Chalga is of Bulgarian origin. Interesting reaction that happens a lot on the Internet.

Their new album Velocifero samples a lot of Bulgarian and they are planning on touring in Eastern Europe with Depeche Mode.  Bulgarians go crazy over Depeche Mode (and why shouldn't they?) so the tour should be amazing.

Eastern Europe tour!!!! (and others)

• May 16 2009  Beck’sperince @ Parc Izvor w/ Depeche Mode | Bucharest
• May 18 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ Vasil Levsky Stadium w/ Depeche Mode | Sofia
• May 20 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ USCE Park w/ Depeche Mode | Belgrade
• May 21 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ Arena w/ Depeche Mode | Zagreb

Here are some other songs by Ladytron's Mira Ayoro in Bulgarian:

Ladytron - Black Cat


Ladytron - Commodore Rock

02/23/2009 - Bulgarian Folk Music - WRFL 88.1

Download Link

Peace Corps Connect | NGOs and Organizations join now to network professionally

I am volunteering a little (marginally) with the National Peace Corps Association to try and help them with their new networking website called Peace Corps Connect. I talked to the Peace Corps manager of the Peace Corps Connect website and she encourages NGOs to join the network.

Please join and create a group for your NGO so you can start networking today with Returned and Current Peace Corps Volunteers. Here are the reasons that I think NGOs should be interested in joining this network:

1. Easy access to potential donors for future projects (known and unknown, unlike facebook)
2. Easy access to potential volunteers for projects and knowledgeable people about your area of interest
3. Database of past PCV projects and contact info for partnerships (unveiled next week)

Website:

community.peacecorpsconnect.org/

I realize this takes work and it may not be benefical to your organizations in your eyes in terms of time commitment. Here are some of the things you can easily setup for your NGOs or organizations:

• Integrated RSS of your blog/s on the site (linking back to your own site) that updates automatically
• Integration of Flickr accounts into the Peace Corps Connect network
• Uploading and maintain photo galleries from your site accounts
• Creation of Groups for your cause

This a great way to specifically target potential donors and volunteers for your specific causes. Unlike Facebook, which basically limits interaction between friends and area networks, the Peace Corps Connect allows people interested in particular issues to join groups specifically designed for those subjects.

While Facebook is also a viable venue, I feel this is more professional and specific for the Peace Corps. Right now we are concentrating on building a larger online presence. We hope to provide a database of current and past projects so that current volunteers can know what options are available to them as they serve and how returned volunteers can continue to contribute to causes that interest them when they return to the United States.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I hope some of you find the site useful.

Bulgarian Chalga / Pop-Folk; Brass and Beats - WRFL 88.1 - 02/16/2009

Download Link

Eastern Express from Sweden | Blog, Concerts, Film and Culture

I've found another Balkanization force in Europe called the Eastern Express which is based out of Sweden. The Blog just started but they look like they've been around for a while.

Dually based out of Stockholm and Uppsala, the club organizes concerts, film viewings and events. They even have a mini-bus that travel between the two cities for members to connect even easier (and cheaper).

Here are the listed goals of the Eastern Express:

• We organise monthly movie projections in Uppsala - check the program
• We organise concerts in Uppsala and Stockholm - check the program
• We inform about events related to eastern europe culture ongoing in Uppsala and Stockholm area.
  

The people organizing the events really seem to understand the european scene and its influences. Just check out some of the bands they follow, promote and work with on their blog. Instead of just being a promoter or a band, the organization really seems like its greater goal is the promotion of Eastern Culture and the celebration of a fun and unique part of the world.

Membership is around $12, which is nothing and gives you access to movies and the minibus transportation. If you live in Sweden, definitely check out what these guys are up to.

CONTACTS:

MYSPACE

Website

Facebook

-------------------UPDATE-------------------

From Prune, one of the members of Eastern Express:

thanks for putting us up on your blog ! we are actually open to any kind of easterneurope culture, ranging from traditionnal folk to punk music. We like diversity ! We started only last july, and since then we have received a lot of positive responses - we are building up collaborations with different concert places, one of us is taking a projectionnist course to be able to carry our monthly movie projections in a real movie theater. 

We are just laking money, but hopefully this will come at some point...

cheers !

Prune.

Rakia, Bulgarian Wine and Bulgarian Snacks in America!

SofiaUSA.com

I think I've died and gone to heaven.  After my trip to Chicago, I started looking to for a company that ships Rakia or Wine to Kentucky (where I'm living now). Sofia Liquor USA is a store in the greater Chicago metropolitan region that sells Bulgarian wines, liquors and snacks. And it ships too!

I've actually never bought Rakia or Bulgarian Schnapps or Brandy. Since I live in a small town with many friends, I always was treated to Rakia from my friends from their own personally distilled spirits. Called Domashna (homemade) Rakia, it packs a much stronger punch than its much more refined cousins sold in stores. Running around 50-55 percent alcohol, Domashna Rakia is much more akin to moonshine or a very strong whisky. The store bought Rakia is roughly 40 percent alcohol. Anyway, Sofia Liqour sells and ships Rakia from its Des Plaines  address. Also, the importers of most Bulgarian spirits are from Des Plaines as well (probably not a coincidence). But if I was forced to pick a Rakia for a guest, I would probably pick Burgas 63 (shown below). Rakia is strong but it has its own grape or plum flavor that lingers after the punch of the strong spirit. Known as Slivovitza in Serbia and throughout most of the Balkans, this spirit is a great cultural treasure of the Balkans--enriched by the traditions of each family making their own spirits for the year to share with friends.

Burgas 63

For anyone wanting the extra something in their lentil soup, they used to sell Savory or chubritsa but its currently out of stock:

Chubritsa -Savory

Most people don't realize this but vafla or wafers covered in chocolate have allowed roughly half of the children in Bulgaria to survive without hunger during schools days and about twenty five percent of all workers in Bulgaria forgo lunch in lieu of the chocolate sugar rush. For anyone wanting to understand the finer points of Vafla, I urge you to look at the documentation other volunteers have made on the subject in a now defunct blog: B22 AllStars: Vafla tag

Regardless, imagine my surprise to see that Sofia Liquor selling the coveted valfa and croissants on their website. From now on when I get my chocolate cravings or I want to have a Bulgarian Party, I'll be be sure to try these guys out. Has anyone used them? Any feedback or comments? Enjoy!

Vafla and other Bulgarian Snacks

Great World Music Website: NoNaMe from Russia

NoNaMe - World Music

The name may not be the clearest and the Russian may be a little daunting to non-cyrillic speakers, but NoNaMe and its world music website has some of the most eclectic world music I've seen on the Internet. The site seems to have a special love for Balkan music while still having selections from around the world.

You have to register which is just a simple login, email, password and password confirmation. To non-cyrillic speakers, you have to click the " регистрация" in order to get the registration page. Or you can just click here to register.  I know, its daunting at first but all the posts are in english and its pretty easy to navigate

Here is just a quick list of the quality Balkan Music I've found on the website:

• Ferus is Cooking - Macedonian Wedding Music
• Rembetiko - Greek Folk Music
• Guca Festival - Live recordings from the Guca Festival in Serbia
• Sevdah Selection - Bosnian folk music (with Roma influences)
• !DelapDap - Fusion Roma Music (Featured on Balkan Beats)
• Gogol Bordello - Live Bootleg at Bonnaroo
• And many more!

There are 92 pages of music, at roughly 15 posts each. . . makes almost 1400 entries of fully downloadable music with reviews, commentary and history of each artist. This is definitely a great resource for those wanting to learn more about Balkan Music and World Music in general.

Enjoy!

Balkan Beat It is Back! Italy's Balkan Beats resumes after being Hacked

Balkan Beat IT (which stands for Italy) has resumed posts after the previous web address was hacked and all the content was taken down. After a brief repose, Balkan Beat IT is back in all of its glory. Self-described as an Urban Gypsy Music Magazine, the format utilizes wordpress by making categories of Balkan Parties, Balkan Mixes and Balkan TV (videos). 

I'm going to link to one of my favorite posts that gives the Top 10 Myspace Pages for Balkan Beats. Its amazing research and really gives the reader a feel for the organic Balkan Beats movement going on in Europe right now. So here is an example the great things from the Balkan Beat It magazine

10 Gypsy Bands and their Myspace Pages

DJ Hat has been mixing Balkan beats in the Italian club scene (I believe Milan) and last year started the online magazine to help document the Balkan Culture scene. Here is the latest come from DJ Hat. You can find all of the DJ Hat's mixes on Balkan Beat It Mix Page. Here is DJ Hat's latest mix called

 Gold Teeth (pop up)

Pacemaker.net Webpage

On WRFL 88.1 Lexington, I've played some of DJ Hat's work and I plan to continue in the the future. So, check out the site and constant posts, videos and interviews. Definitely a keeper.

Welcome back!

Ljubinka Jokić - Bosian Singer - Reader/Listener Recommendation

Ljubinka Jokic is originally from Bosina but currently lives in Vienna,  Austria. She worked at a local renowned Cevapčići shop called Pomali Grill in Vienna, Austria.  Mapped Here tsevapchichi (Cevapčići) are like minature sausages are distinct to Bosnian/Serbian cuisines but have similarities to Chepapche (Bulgaria) and others throughout the Balkans.

Her sound is an amazing mix of traditional Bosnian/Yugoslavian songs with Roma anthems/themes while still playing a the guitar masterfully. Definitely a  great fusion of influences. As I listen to her jam, I can recognize the songs she's pulling from just as she personalizes it as her on with a wailing guitar or overpowering voice. 

I honestly don't know much about about her apart than what Bill Santen has directed to me. From my hap-hazard research, she seems like a great emerging artist reinventing the Balkan feel once again. Enjoy the live music recordings below and the  Myspace samples-- they are great.

This a video recording by Bill Santen of Kentucky. He had the opportunity to record some live music with Ljubinka Jokic. Thanks for sharing the video and the recommendation. Check out his page for more about this


YOK!Myspace Page
2 singles ready for audio pleasure. Click it!

Here is a link to their album labeled (about 20 Euro)

New 2008 Album: Ljubinka Jokic & Yok

Live Concert Recordings of Ljubinka Jokic:

Balkan Fever Festival 2006:

Live recording (Real Player Stream)

23. - 25 Juni 2006 23th Donauinselfest - Weltmusikbühne

LJUBINKA JOKIC & OTTO LECHNER´S WINDHUND ORCHESTER (Real Player Stream)

Booking and Label:

triart

Imeem Playlist: Good Music, Check It Out!

Balkan Hour

Restaurant Bulgaria | Bulgarian Cuisine in Chicago

Last night I went to Restaurant Bulgaria (the website account has been suspended, so we are using yelp) in Chicago with some friends of mine from the Peace Corps. The restaurant, aptly labeled "Restaurant Bulgaria" was a great experience that remind us of our time in Bulgaria.

The have live music every saturday starting around 9-10pm to 3am until they close. The music is typical music that would be played in a Mehana. It a mixture of country/folk music, Bulgarian wedding music and folk music. A Mehana is a place that people go to eat, drink and dance for hours. Something like a tavern or club with food. Its hard to explain.

This particular restaurant is almost a perfect replica of a authentic Bulgarian experience. The waiters speak broken english, the restaurant decor is painted some strange orange and there are disco ball things that light up when the band starts to play.

Anyone interested in an authentic experience for Bulgarian cuisine, music and dining experience should definitely visit this restaurant before they travel to Bulgaria. The music is good and the Bulgarians should dance all night long on saturday night.

Restaurant Bulgaria -

Neighborhood: Albany Park
4724 W Lawrence Ave
(between Kilpatrick Ave & Keating Ave)
Chicago, IL 60630

(773) 282-0300