Sevchet (Sevched) 2007 CD

Sevchet Dade Dade (Track 2)


Sevchet is one of more popular figures of Macedonian Tallava. He straddles many different styles of music ranging from Chalga/Pop-Folk to Rap to Wedding Music. He's definitely a figure to watch. I'll be posting one of his more famous CDs a littler later so be sure to check in again for more Sevchet

Track Listing:

1. Crazy
2. Dade Dade
3. Losno Jak Te Na Dikeltu (.wma file, SORRY!)
4. Adela
5. Evropa (Europe)
6. [title deleted, unknown]
7. Holla Holla
8. You Are Me Sexy Lover
9. Feat. HAJGARA BEND 2007 - HEJT KOLJO AMALA 2007
   

Download Link:

Sevchet - 2007 CD

Disclaimer:

If you know the owners of this content, please contact The Balkan Hour. We are more than happy to remove links upon request. We also would happily post links for CD sales, future concerts or general information. The music here is meant to inform and to altruistically create a larger market for the music. 

Внимание:

Ако знаете, собствениците на тази музика, моля свържете се с Балкан час. Ние също така ще бъде щастливо да публикувате връзки за CD продажби, бъдещи концерти или обща информация. Музиката тук има цел да информира и да създаде по-голям пазар за музика.

Albanian, Macedonian & Bulgarian Tallava / Roma Music - WRFL 88.1 - 03/02/2009

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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!

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

11/26 Radio Playlist and Cheat Sheet!

Typsy Gypsy

Typsy Gypsy is a member of the Balkan Hotsteppers from Belgium. They have been experimenting with Balkan music for club music. Seriously check out his Myspace. He's got a lot of great mashups that really allow people to start understanding the Balkan sound.

Track: Mashup with Intergalatic (Beastie Boys) Download the Podcast!





J.U.F stands for Jewish Urkranian Freundschaft or Friendship

Track: Muskat (Slishal, No e Zapisal)

5:33 min.

J.U.F. i s a creation of Eugene Hutz (Gogol Bordello) and Tamir Muskat.

Boban Markovic Orkestar 

Boban Markovic is a famous Roma or Gypsy from Serbia. He and his Orkestar are generally recognized as the most accomplished Brass Band from the Balkans. His is also the winner of of the Golden Trumpet from the world famous Gucha Festival in Serbia

Track: Mundo Cocek (pronounced Cho -chek) is from the Boban and Marko album

3:13

<========= Break for station identification =======>

Gypsy Sound System

Based out of Switzerland, the Gypsy Sound System has been mixing music for clubs over the past two years throughout the world.

Track: Gypsy Sound System


4:35


Balkan Beat Box - Bulgarian Chicks

The Balkan Beat Box are probably the more well known DJs working with Balkan music. The Bulgarian Chicks song is a combination of Bulgarian folk singers with Serbian or Balkan brass music.

Max PASHM

Max Pashm is a collective of U.K based Jewish, Greek & Balkan musicians that make dance music. They are based out of England.

Track: Queen of Sikim

3:09 Min.

<========= Break for station identification =======>

Desislava

Desislava is a Chalga singer from Bulgaria and its fun to see Latina music and Balkan music mergred.

Track: Regeton and a Little Chalga

3:30

Ionut Cercel

Ionut is an young Roma singer from Romania. He is in his early teens and is taking the Romanian club scene by storm.

Track: Made in Romania

4:00

<========= Break for station identification =======>

Giorgos Tsalikis

Greek Musician with Laiko music.

Track: Ekana Ti Nexta Mera

4:00

Djordan

Track: Ne boli (No hurt or It doesn't hurt)

3:49

Orkestar Kristali

This Orkestar is probably the best Roma Wedding Orkestar in Bulgaria. They play Roma music with Bulgarian influences. To those familiar with Balkan music, it may sound Turkish in origin. 

Track: Purjina (kokaina), "Fried Cocaine" 

Aliosha 

Aliosha and his band play that live instrumental at a wedding in Bulgaria. Known for his saxophone skills, Aliosha alway is an excellent singer. He style would also be considered Roma Wedding music or sometimes referred to as Bulgarian Wedding music.

The track is unlabeled because its live.

<========= Break for station identification =======>

Boril Iliev

Boril is another Roma musican with the Red Bull orkestar from Bulgaria that play Roma Wedding music.

Track: Akana (meaning now)

5:00

Ramzi Kuchek

Just a simple for dancing Kuchek or Belly dancing

Track: Ramzi Kuchek

3:30

Verka Serduchka

Ukrainian Drag Queen 

Track: Gop,  Gop! Jump, Jump!

4:00

Georgi Chi - lin - gi -rov

Track: Roufinka Bolna Legnala

7:00

<========= Break for station identification =======>

Valia Balkanska

Track: Izlel e Delio haidutin

4:00

Trio Bulgarka

Famous folk ensemble from Bulgaria, known for its vocal haromonization. It would be considered traditional folk music.

Track: Sluntseto Trepti Zauda (The sun is setting)

The Balkan Hour | Radio Show Trial Run | 88.1 WRFL Lexington

Last Monday, I finished my training with WRFL 88.1 Lexington to be a Radio DJ. WRFL is the local student radio of University of Kentucky and has a strong history of supporting alternative programming for central Kentucky. Hopefully, I'll be able to play music from the Balkans with WRFL to create a better awareness for the region and to promote artists from the Balkans. This is me on the WRFL website: The Balkan Hour DJ

Anyway, the trial run was great fun and full of freshman mistakes. I'll get the hang of the sound board and other techical details as I practice. Generally, I'm content with the trial run. I would like to have more historical context with better descriptions of each artist or style, some that the Oberlin podcast/radio show is a great example. But I suppose that will come with time.

Please be aware that the beginning and end of the audio are of other radio shows because the .mp3 is archived per hour and not by user. I'll look into sound editing to clean it up. So, keep listening past the first couple of seconds!

Enjoy!




.mp3 Download of the Balkan Hour - Trial Run from WRFL 88.1 Great For Ipods!

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)

Muharrem Ahmeti | Albanian + Roma | Daily Dose

Muharrem Ahmeti | Albania 2007


This is an Albanian private party with Live music from Muharren Ahmeti.Its hard to tell if its a wedding or not, but this definitely would be played at a wedding. He and the band are switching styles of music throughout the night from Turkish, Roma and traditional. Amza Tairof, from Macedonia, is also there playing on the the KORG. Notice how the money given to the musicians and skilled dancers (usually women), something not quite as normal in America.

Orkestar Kristali | Wedding Music, Romani Style | Daily Dose

Orkestar Kristali - Instrumental


Orkestar Kristali is one of the most popular and reknowned Roma bands in Bulgaria. They play mostly Roma weddings and festivals. It would be considered Roma Music in Bulgara, a big departure from Romanian and Serbian Roma music

Notice the KORG is still there.

Aliosha | Daily Dose | Ridiculously Good Roma Music in Bulgaria

Aliosha is a Romani Clarinetist that also sings from Bulgaria. Originally from, I believe, Montana, Bulgaria, he has earned a reputation within the Roma Community as a one of the better Romani musicians. His style of music, as with much of Bulgarian Roma music, is much more different than what is considered Serbian (Brass Band) Roma music or Romanian Roma music (violins). He also is well known for his singing of the Tallava style of music as well.

He typically plays at weddings and other events with a mixture of Romani Kuchek and Bulgarian folk music (but with a distinctive sound to it). Occasionally, he plays with Sasho Bikov (barabani drummer), Okka who plays soprano sax and Orkestar Univers.

An interesting dynamic of Bulgarian roma music is that the musicians often don't play as a "set" but often mix and match musicans based on availability,

When searching for Aliosha, use a combination of Bulgarian and transliterated Englished.

• Aliosha
• Alioshkata (The Aliosha)
• Альошката (The Aliosha)
• Альоша (Aliosha)
  



Here are some examples of his music via YouTube and vbox7.com (Bulgarian YouTube). One thing you should keep in mind is almost all of these recordings are made by amaeturs and the sound quality isn't going to be matching professional recording studios:



Aliosha playing live with at Roma Wedding in Bulgaria



Aliosha with Fekata (also plays clarinet)