Alo Mange Liloro - Ederlezi Avela | Time of the Gypsies

I received an email a couple of days ago about a Serbian film, The Time of the Gypsies, asking about the song Ederlezi Avela. I thought I would just post our conversation to help out other people interested on the topic:

Here is the video clip that the reader sent me to find out more about the song and were to find it online:

Okay, so I talked to my Roma friends from Bulgaria and I think I know this song. My friend told me that it became famous from the movie, but i'm not really sure. As a United States Peace Corps volunteer, I definitely listened to this song at parties and gatherings. From all my music I have, I wasn't able to find an MP3 to share (but most of the music I have is poorly labeled from my Bulgarian friends) so sorry about that. Someone called Nela Trifkovic from Australia has written extensively about this topic and I encourage you to read it:

http://bradmilo.tripod.com/research/Articles/balkan_as_a_metaphore_chapter3.htm

There are at least two variations of the song, one that is a roma folk song for Ederlezi (St. George's Day, which I can say from personal experience, that the celebration is amazing). The other is based off of goran bregovic. The lyrics are different, as is the sound. Don't confuse this with the more traditional style. So the traditional name of this song is

ALO MANGE LILORO or Ederlezi Avela (spellings will be different)

Goran Bregovic(traditional version): http://www.youtube.com/watchv=Cy0wo4NZ_go&feature=related

From the movie "Time of the Gypsies": http://www.youtube.com/watchv=FPNrmXRarIw&feature=related

An update "Rock" Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPNrmXRarIw&feature=related

More traditional renditions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEXrtUJhde0 This clip has the lyrics on the side

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRxaWi9iT3s Erdjan is from Bulgaria and a great Roma musician (but definitely with more of a Bulgarian/Turkish style of roma music)

___________________

Goran Bregovic also has a song that is similar:

Erdelezi (By far the most famous, +2 million views): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwA_Zg_zFI&feature=related

Beriut (US indie band): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cCnazx1bdM&feature=fvw

________________

I hope that answered some questions about the Time of the Gypsies and the song Alo

I have stopped blogging because I've started working full time and I've had to focus on other commitments. I also am not living in Bulgaria anymore, so it is more difficult to be in touch with my friends in Bulgaria and know the music that's popular these days. As you can tell, I'm still pretty interested in the music and culture so maybe some day i'll get around to writing some more.

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!

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

Balkan Music Goes Academic | Oberlin Music Blogs!

I just happened upon a gold mine of information about Balkan Music online in the form of series of blogs required by an Oberlin College music class. The class is being taught by Jennifer Fraser, an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. The course covers a broad array of musical styles and regional genres ranging from Turkish Folk to Roma Music to Bulgarian Folk music (among others).

Here is what Jennifer Fraser has to say about the course and its blog initiative in her first blog post:

This site is dedicated to writing about and sharing our experiences interacting with these musics, along with articulating the connections between musical style and socio-cultural meanings; for example, how was music used to express sides during various Balkan wars in the 90s? How can you trace the history of socialism and roads to democratization and economic independence through musical practices in the Balkans? How do the cultural legacies of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires play out in the musical practices of today?

From my cursory browsing through the subject matter, it looks like a fascinating course that approaches Balkan music the way it should (in my opinion) be approached; through a historical, socio-cultural lens. Apparently, it just isn't me that is fascinated by the symbolic nature of Balkan music and its mixing of cultures. Regardless, I encourage those interested in Balkan music to browse through ETHN 209 and its blog posts. They the blogs are written by university students so the quality ranges between insightful to bland but it continues the conversation. These students study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music so they are often have a much different approach to music compared to myself because they have a better understanding of the musical structure and also the historical background from other genres and styles. So, without further ado, here is the Ethnomusicology 209 course for Oberlin College:

ETHN 209 | Oberlin College | Professor Jennifer Fraser

While the entries are great, I and many other international readers probably won't want to wade through all of the individual websites to browse the collection of opinions about Balkan Music. To counter that, I have created a Google Reader of the entire class which compiles all the submissions of every student in a central place. It should update automatically whenever a student has a new post. But readers can also click the title of the post to go to the individual blog as well. Here is a public RSS Feed page that you can click to view all of the post in a centralized blog format:

http://tinyurl.com/oberlin-ethn-209

To subscribe to the RSS feed, you can just simply click the link here

Subscribe to Oberlin ETHN 209 RSS Feed (all blogs)

Boban Markovich | Daily Dose | In Your Stores Now

Boban Markovich is one of the founders of the Balkan Brass movement, more so in the sense that he and other great Romani musicians served as the musical base for western artists. His Serbian Brass music, similar to Hungarian Brass music, has gained popularity within western countries as of late, especially in Europe.

Quick Serbian Language lesson:

Boban Markovic is pronounced Boban Markovich. The "Ć" is actually a "Ch". This usage of "C" holds true for most Slavic languages.

His music is more traditional than the more modern "crossover" artists using Balkan Brass such as Beirut, Shantel and Balkan Beat Box. The music is Serbian / Former Yugoslavian (read: Macedonian, Montenegro, Albanian, Croatian and Bosnian influences). In some circles, he is considered the "King of Gypsy brass bands"and definitely is a great introduction to Balkan Music. He made a name for himself at the Guca (Gucha, remember the "C" is "ch") Golden Trumpet Music Festival by winning the Golden Trumpet in 2001.

While Boban Markovich is Roma and plays Balkan Brass music, its difficult to classify what is "Roma" music and what is a national music (Serbian). So just keep in mind that Boban is from Serbia and draws a lot of influences from Serbian culture while also injected Roma style and culture as well.

I just recently saw this album in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square NYC last week:

Here are some samples from this Boban Markovich Orkestar Album:

TRACK #3: SAT


TRACK #4: MUNDO COCEK (excellent, please play)




Also, there is a live recording floating around of Boban Markovich that I've seen recently in record stores:

Germany's Shantel making waves in the Balkans: Disco Partizani in Serbia's MTV

Germany's Shantel making waves in the Balkans

Just before leaving Bulgaria, I saw Shantel making an appearance on Serbia's "MTV" called DM SAT. The Serbian music television station played Disco Partizani (which was shot in Istanbul. I saw some of the places in the video). I talked about Shantel and this video a while back because of its racial tones by using ciganizatsia (niggerization).

Serbia's Mtv, DM SAT (don't worry they have MTV too)

After the video, DM SAT interviewed Shantel in German about his music and its influences. It was translated into Serbian and I couldn't catch enough of it to follow everything but they definitely were asking him about his Balkan music.

Why is important? For the most part, the Balkans is pretty much unaware of the Westernized Balkan Music movement and rarely has heard of such musicians like Shantel, BalkanBeatBox or Beirut. And that has a certain irony and is probably a good representation of other "World Music" movements throughout the world. What the locals listens to is usually different that the Westernized and culturally translated music that is popular in the Western countries. The fact the Shantel is able to make presence in Serbia (and other Balkan countries, he gets occasional radio time in Bulgaria) is somewhat symbolic of the two types of music directly influencing each other.

Besides, I enjoy nothing more than seeing a German DJ that specializes in remixing Balkan music for clubs in Europe become popular in the Balkans. A similar comparison would be a German Country music star becoming popular in the bible belt. Its just to much fun, in terms of social observation, to not talk about.

A Chalga Timeline

My previous post about chalga was rather wordy but it wasn't very descriptive with visual or audio (which frankly is the only way you can really discuss Chalga in Bulgaria). So I'm going to start (a long) process of creating a Chalga Timeline so people can see the changes it made throughout time.

1950-70s: Kafana Music (Cafe Music) or Chalga Music (Older interpretation, "to play")

Silvana Armenulic '76 - Noca mi srce pati

Kafana Music is even tied with the Romani Hymn, Djelem Djelem which was recorded for the 1967 film: I Have Met Happy Gypies (previous post) .



Kafana Music or what would be considered Chalga music in Bulgaria (played at bars, social events, popular among the common masses) then starts a transition from entertaining drunks a bars to something that Serbians have classified as Neo-Folk (meaning new folk). If you listen to the music, they bare striking resemblance to traditional folk songs but are more western/ballad sounding. Kafana music exists today in cafes and bars but I'll classify Kafana music (and Chalga music, at bars and social events in this form) around 1950s-1970s because Serbian media repeatedly used the cultural motif in films.

Neo-folk Transitions | Bringing in the West


Lepa Lukic - Od izvora dva putica

This video was filmed in Paris so its pretty obvious to see how there might be a connection between Serbia Neo-Folk music and Western Culture. Not only is she literally in Paris, something that would have been difficult for a singer from what was a communist state like Bulgaria, but you can also see where the Serbian singer is placing emphasis on as a cultural icon. This music isn't very much different from the Kafana music. Its slightly more refined and tuned (professionally recorded, music videos in Paris) and is commercially more accessible.


The Changes, circa 1989 | Post- Communist "Democracy" and the Mafia




Sani - Oh, Banana
This song is a loosely veiled metaphor for fellatio. It is consider old chalga and while the music video was conservative the sexual innuendo was too much for the more older Bulgarian population. There is a definite change between Neo-Folk and Chalga. Its cruder and has the influence of western pop. The lyrics are catchier and rhythm is easier for dancing. Some people might even define it as Turbo-Folk (faster beat). This song would have been inconceivable during communist times. Its a testiment to the lack of laws and also the Mutra culture of the 1990s in Bulgaria. Mutra are the underings of the Mafia; having thick necks, black wearing and gold chains. The Mutra backed and attended night clubs liked this new irreverent music. Just check out the lyrics (rough translation made for the sake of time, plus it seemed awkward to ask a Bulgarian for a exact translation):

Kef mi stana shtom go hvava oh banana, ah banana kolko e sladuk i laduk, luskav i gladuk, leko izvit e i strahovid

I become happy when I grab it; oh banana ah banana; How sweet, shiny, smooth, and gently curved . . .

The Clean-up (from the Mafia) and the Commercialization of Chalga



Desislava Nakoi Den | Someday

As you can see, much more commercialized and standardized. Its a R&B ballad. Also notice that while the lyrics are more poetic and intelligent, Desislava is clothed in much less than Sani was in her Banana video. Now, its pretty much required for a Chalga singer to bare her body and be sexually attractive; its part of her selling point. Think: Brittany Spears, Mariah Carey, and other western women pop music singers.

Anyway, this by no means completely describes the Chalga discussion. I hope that is starts to give you a glimpse of the changes and to make it easier for you to understand the cultural context of the genre Chalga. In Bulgaria, Chalga in its current form isn't really remotely similar to what was Chalga 50 to 70 years ago. But somehow the word "Chalga" carried over. I personally think this has to do with both types of music being associated with the masses and it also being a mixture of many influences. Granted, there are direct influences from both Turkish and Roma culture in Chalga. Roma musicians play both "old Chalga" and "new Chalga" but I think its premature to say Roma musicians were the common linkage. This is partly because of steretyping and I'm not sure if its historically accurate.

Another thing to consider is the mixture of Serbian and Bulgarian influences. I've sort of mixed to two to describe Chalga. But it is important to know that Chalga (in its current form) and Chalga (in its old form) developed differently and weren't directly linked. Also, there was an explosion of Chalga like music after "The Changes" (fall of the Communist government for Bulgaria) all across Soviet Block states including Poland, Croatia, Macedonia and Romania. Plus Greece has adopted the Chalga form of pop music as well. I haven't really addressed this either, but I hope to in the future.

Chalga | Balkan Culture Vocabulary Clarification

Chalga is a Bulgarian word for a Balkan Phenomenon:

I just wanted to quickly clarify that Chalga is the Bulgarian term for similar pop music throughout the Balkans. Chalga can sometimes be called

• Manele (Romania),
• Pop-Folk (Bulgaria),
• Laïka (Greece),
• Turbo-Folk (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian)
• And other names in other countries but I don't want to spread my definition too thin.

Generally, the genres are very similar: Women in minimal amounts of clothes, simple lyrics at appeal to a large mass and music influences all over the world. So when referring to Chalga one must make a distinction between popular "Chalga" or Pop Folk and more traditional Chalga music from the past (wedding music, roma music).

I hope to give some more examples of Chalga or Pop Folk later on this month in the Daily Dose . I just don't want to confuse the music too much.