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!

Kurdish Halay! Is there a common link in folk dancing in the Balkans?

I found this video about Kurdish Folk Dancing on-line. The type of Folk dancing is originally called Halay which is also claimed by the Turks (I seriously don't want to judge the origins of Halay, but I think its suffice to say its from the Middle East and Balkans). If you look at the responses to halay online all they do is argue about the origin of the folk dancing.

What really struck me about this particular video are the number of views (1.3 million) and the hip-hop style the young women bring to the traditional folk dancing. Frankly, it just looks cool and certainly looks transferable to the western hip-hop society


A male version of the Halay, still informal


Also another male example of the dancing.

Now I want to compare the first video to the video of Halay below. As you can see, this form of dancing has a more traditional. The first video was probably filmed at a wedding, festival or a private party outdoors informally whereas this video is filmed indoors and is an organized dance troupe. What is being highlighted in the informal dancing is just part of the organized structure of the halay dance. If you go to to the end of clip (about 70%) you see the same format used in the formal and informal halay dancing (women in a line, holding hands, indescribable leg movements in unison).




Here is an example of the Halay dance making inroad into the Hip-Hop and MTV world. The real halay is the women together dancing throughout the video. Its an example of Halay beginning the cross over to western dance and music.




What's interesting about Halay is the striking similarity to most other forms of Balkan and Middle Eastern folk dancing but with distinct evolutions in each country. This music, created by a drum, duval and zurna, is rather simplistic with an overpowering and danceable beat.

Bulgarian Horo | Is there a common Ottoman imprint in the Balkans?

This is a Dunavski Horo which is a Bulgarian Horo based out of the Northern region in Bulgaria bordering the Danube River. Horo is a Bulgarian Folk dance usually done in a circle while hold hands. The types of Horo vary in style by region, hence the naming of this horo as the Dunavski Horo (Danube Horo).


I've decided to highlight some the difference folk dances throughout the Balkans on the blog. It is somewhat controversial (at least in the Balkans) but I keep seeing visually and through audio a common linkage which I feel may come from the occupation of the Ottoman Empire. I'm curious what other people think.

I must explain to Western readers that these different forms of folk dance are usually interpreted as culturally separate, independently developed folk cultures. To tell a Bulgarian that Horo is similar to modern day folk dancing in Turkey (or another Balkan country) is an affront to their nation and culture and most would be, at a minimum, upset if not aggressive. The same goes for Greek folk dancing, Macedonian, Kosovoian, Albanian, etc. Each country has its unique cultural identity that defines it as separate from the great Balkan whole. These societies cling to folk dance and music a way to prove the right for their countries to exist. The logic follows: If the people speak different languages and have different folk dance and music traditions then they music be culturally different enough to be determined as a separate country. This holds true in Bulgaria, where its unlikely a single Bulgarian would openly admit any Ottoman influences on their Folk dance and music traditions.

Kosovo and Montenegro are good examples of the cultural concept. They both have created new languages base off of dialects of Serbian while also asserting their own cultural brand of folk dancing. However, they are newly created countries with little history as a Political Nation while obviously having centuries of history as a territorial region. Fifty years ago, it was Bulgaria with Philip Kotev making is cultural stamp of uniqiness with the revival of Bulgarian Folk Dance and Music.

I'm showing these forms of folk music dances together in this series because I find it fascinating from an outside perspective in how they seem to have a common undercurrent. However, please be aware that it may seem somewhat culturally insensitive to do so in such a manner.