Current | 2008 | 2007

Performer List from 2007

Musical Ensembles

• Balkanics
• BG All-Stars
• Black Sea Hotel
• Druzina
• Elitsa Stoyneva
• Gogofski Trio
• Grup Nazar
• Ishtar
• Loretta Kelley
• Luk Na Glavata
• Lyuti Chushki
• Resia Valley Girls
• Sarenica
• Vardo Sisters
• Walt ’Vlado’ Mahovlich

Dance Groups

• Bosilek
• Zedashe
• Zharava

The Balkanics

The Balkanics, playing Balkan wedding band music, offer a rare mixture of odd rhythms, forgotten modes, and poignant lyrics played on modern day instruments. This music, with its unlikely progressions and intricate ornamentation, sounds extremely intriguing to the Westerner's ear. Coming to a Balkanics event is not just a night out — it is an experience of a culture distant yet rooted into your natural instincts and emotions. To feel footloose and carefree and forget the troubles of the day, this is what music is all about! The Balkanics are Tzvety Weiner — vocals; Varol Saatcioglu — keyboards, vocals, gaida; Daniel Rozas — clarinet; Jeff Suzda —saxophone; Len Newman — bass, guitar; Bryndyn Weiner — drums; and special guest Tania Dosseva — vocals.
Balkanics on Myspace

BG All-Stars

• Tanya Dosseva (vocals)
  
  Tanya Dosseva was born in 1954 in Sinapovo, Strandzha region, in Eastern Thrace. Tanya's first singing experiences date back to her early childhood performances at village fairs, celebrations, and competitions where she often moved the audience to tears with her sad slow songs and beautiful voice. Tanya graduated from the Academy of Music, Dance, and Fine Arts in Plovdiv in 1977 and was immediately hired as a teacher at the Shiroka Lûka Music High School; she was simultaneously appointed a soloist for the Academy's Folk Choir, a position that she held for 11 years. Throughout her singing career, Tanya has performed at many prestigious venues in Bulgaria and Europe; she now sings with one of the most popular wedding bands in the country, Konushenski Naroden Orkestar (Konushenski Folk Band). In the summers of 2000 and 2001, Tanya taught at the East European Folklife Center's Balkan Music & Dance Workshops in Maryland, USA. She is excited to see her US friends again in August 2007.
• Georgi Doichev (gaida)
  
  Georgi Doichev graduated from the Kotel Music High School, specializing in Thracian bagpipe, and then went on to receive a degree in Music Pedagogy from the Plovdiv Music Conservatory. For over 12 years, Mr. Doichev performed with the Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble and around the world, including Japan, Middle East, Canada, and Europe. During this period, he had numerous recordings with the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Television. With the Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble, Mr. Doichev had been recognized with prestigious international awards. Mr. Doichev has taught at numerous music camps on both the East and West coasts of the US. He has also given lectures at University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California at Berkley, Eugene University, OR, Duquesne University, PA, Duke University, NC, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC. Georgi was a visiting lecturer at UCLA from 1991 to 1993. Most recently, Mr. Doichev has arranged tours for, and performed on stage with, the Bulgarian folk ensemble "Bulgari" for whom he has also helped to produce two CDs.
• Valeri Georgiev (kaval)
  
  Valeri Georgiev was born in the village of Nikopol in northern Bulgaria and has been playing kaval since his youth. He attended the prestigious Folk High School of Music Philip Kutev in Kotel, Bulgaria, studying kaval and Bulgarian folklore. After completing his studies in Kotel, he attended, and graduated from, the Academy of Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv where he was also a member of Zvezdi na Trakia (Stars of Thrace), one of the most well-known folk orchestras in Plovdiv. For most of the past 10 years, Valeri has organized and worked with various ensembles in Russe, North Bulgaria, including orchestra Horo. Since he joined, Valeri has been Lyuti Chushki's musical director.
• Nikolay Kolev (gadulka)
  
  Nikolay Kolev is a famous gadulka virtuoso from the village of Karavelovo in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria. After graduating from Shiroka Lûka High School, he performed with the Sliven Ensemble for three years. In 1984, he founded the orchestra Sopot. In the same year, he started the wedding band "Rozova Dolina" which became one of the most sought-after groups in Thrace. In 1992, he also founded "Balkanski Glasove" - the singing group which took first place at the Varna Festival in 1994 and 1995. Nikolay is also an accomplished composer and arranger of folk songs. His compositions have been performed by such well known singers as Roumen Rodopski, Savka Sarieva, and Donka Koleva among others. Nikolay Kolev has taught at the EEFC Balkan Camps on both coasts and has an adoring cadre of private students. In 1999, Nikolay Kolev was the first Bulgarian to be recognized by the Slavic Heritage Council of America for his outstanding contributions in music.
• Donka Koleva (vocals)
  
  Donka Koleva is a vocalist prized for her rich, clear, and melodic voice. Also a graduate of the Folklore High School in Shiroka Lûka, she worked as a soloist with the Sliven Ensemble for three years. She then directed the chorus of the Sopot Ensemble, and soloed with the wedding band "Rozova Dolina". In 1994, Donka started recording with the National Radio and Television in Bulgaria. In 1997, her recording of "Javore" was song of the year. Since she moved to the U.S. in 1995, she has performed and taught traditional and arranged songs from the Thracian region at Balkan camps on both coasts. Donka has conducted many workshops and private lessons across the U.S. and Canada with well-known singing groups "Kitka", "Planina", "Chubritsa", "Mila", and many others.
• Stoyan Kostov (tambura)
  
  Stoyan Kostov is a regular guest with Lyuti Chushki. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. He performed with Ensemble Trakiya in Plovdiv, Harmanliska Troika, and the Ograzhden Ensemble in Sandanski, where he also directed the Vaptsarov Folk Ensemble.
• Tzvety Weiner (vocals)
  
  Tzvety Weiner was born and raised in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in a family steeped in Bulgarian folk music. At the age of five, Tzvety started taking classes in theory of music, solfege, and piano. Later, Tzvety enrolled in folk singing classes in preparation for the famous Shiroka Luka Folk Music high school in Bulgaria. Around that time, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, and Tzvety faced choices that she never considered before. Instead of pursuing her predestined profession, she decided to take a break from music and became interested in computer science. In 1998, Tzvety moved to the U.S. to complete a college degree in Computer Science. The love for Bulgarian music and performing in general was never left too far behind though. Luckily, a traditional Bulgarian band, Lyuti Chushki, was actively performing in the DC area, and she joined the band as the lead vocalist. Since then, Tzvety has also performed with the Macedonian music band Luk Na Glavata. Later, in 2005, Tzvety became the lead vocalist for the Balkanics—a local group focusing on Balkan wedding style music.
• Vladimir Mollov (accordion)
  
  Born on the 13th of January, 1983 to a family of self-taught wedding musicians, Vladimir was inspired by the sounds of the accordion since early childhood. Even at one-and-a-half years old, he “played” his little accordion alongside his father at a wedding. At the age of seven, he started taking accordion lessons with the nationally recognized pedagogue Nadejda Nicheva in Kazanluk, Bulgaria. At the age of 13, he participated in an accordion competition in Vladivostok, Russia and placed fourth. At the age of 15, he placed first in the International Competition for Accordion and Guitar in Asenovgrad, Bulgaria; received fourth place in the World Accordion Competition in Castelfidardo, Italy; placed second in the national accordion competition in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he received a special award for virtuosic performance of folk music. During his senior year in high school, he received a first award in the national competition for variety music and jazz on accordion in Novi Pazar, Bulgaria. During 2002, he joined the Duquesne University Tamburitzans and, for the four years when he was a student at the university, he performed over 350 shows with the ensemble. He also arranged music for some of the dances and as instrumental numbers on the shows, fulfilled the position of a combo leader, and performed a solo piece on every show. Vladimir is currently working on composing, arranging, and recording a solo accordion album featuring folklore, jazz, and some new experimental fusion styles.
  Visit Vladimir's Myspace Page

Black Sea Hotel

Black Sea Hotel is a newly birthed Balkan Vocal Orchestra that hails from Brooklyn, NY. Each member of the ensemble has sung in larger Bulgarian women's choirs and has studied and performed around the globe. Black Sea Hotel is delighted to continue singing bold renditions of traditional music as a quartet. Approaching their repertoire with reverence, the singers revive raw, village-style tunes and spin other songs anew, creating innovative arrangements. Black Sea Hotel is ecstatic to perform at Balktoberfest this evening, among friends and teachers who have helped to shape their sound.

Druzina

Druzina ("group of friends") joins together American and Balkan-born musicians performing a high-energy mix of pan-Balkan music from the center of the dance circle. Melinda Fields (accordion), Henry Goldberg (tupan), Rumiana Kovacheva (tambura), and Gordana Strouch (vocals).

Elitsa Stoyneva

Elitsa Stoyneva, age 23, is a seven-time gold medalist Bulgarian folk singer from Turgovishte, Bulgaria. She has been studying Bulgarian folk singing professionally since the age of 3 and has performed in competitions and concerts throughout Bulgaria as well as in Egypt and Switzerland. She made her U.S. debut in Maine last summer and since then has performed numerous times throughout Maine with the Maine Women's Balkan Choir. She is finishing her degree in Economics at the University in Varna, Bulgaria, and has spent the last two summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, directing the Maine Women's Balkan Choir and teaching voice technique, as well as working four jobs to pay for her university! For more information about Elitsa and the choir, send Elitsa an e-mail.

Gogofski Trio

Gogofski Trio is Melinda Fields (accordion), Dave Golber (clarinet), and Henry Goldberg (drums). They play music from the Republic of Macedonia and neighboring countries. They play from the floor, from the center of the dance circle... The musicians respond to the dancers as the dancers respond to the musicians. At Balktoberfest, they have the pleasure of playing with vocalist Corinna Snyder.

Grup Nazar

Grup Nazar plays traditional Turkish Folk and Romani (Gypsy) dance music. Featuring Varol Saatc?og(lu (keyboards), Daniel Rozas (clarinet), Brad Sidwell (percussion), and Eric Lofhjelm (percussion), Grup Nazar was recently featured on Fairfax County's "Turkish American Hour".

Ishtar

Ishtar is Pittsburgh's Classic Bellydance Band. Formed in April of 2006, Ishtar is comprised of Melissa Murphey on clarinet, Jeff Chmielarski on electric bass, MarkDe Filippo on darbuka, and Beth De Filippo on riq. Ishtar plays folk songs from all over the Middle East and Mediterranean; songs that were popular in the bellydancing club scene during the mid-20th century.
Ishtar on Myspace

Loretta Kelley

Loretta Kelley is the foremost American performer on the hardingfele (traditional Hardanger fiddle), an intricately decorated fiddle native to Norway with sympathetic strings, a nearly flat bridge, and a 300-year unbroken aural tradition. Loretta's performances include appearances on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion and American Radio Company, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, and The Christmas Revels. She has released four recordings. Her latest, Hambo in the Snow, in collaboration with Andrea Hoag and Charlie Pilzer, was nominated for a 2007 GRAMMY Award as Best Traditional World Music Album.

Luk Na Glavata

Luk Na Glavata plays village-style (izvorno) music from the Slavic-speaking area of Macedonia, western Bulgaria, and northern Greece, using acoustic folk instruments that give dynamic drive to the odd-metered rhythms from the southern Balkans. Its musicians have known each other for many years, playing, dancing, and singing together — Tzvety Weiner (vocals), Len Newman (tambura), Larry Weiner (tapan), and Craig Packard (kaval and gajda).

Lyuti Chushki

Lyuti Chushki means "Hot Peppers", and that is the kind of spicy traditional Bulgarian music this band plays. Lyuti Chushki is a combination of professional musicians from Bulgaria and American musicians from the Baltimore/Washington area who have been playing together for festivals, weddings, concerts, and other special events since 1997. The toe-tapping music, played on traditional instruments from Bulgaria, takes you back to the old country—it is joyful, evocative, compelling and lyrical, in modes and rhythms generally not found in western music. The instruments they play include the kaval (end-blown flute), gaida (bagpipe), gudulka (bowed stringed instrument with resonating strings), tambura (fretted instrument similar to guitar), and tupan (large drum), all of which serve to accompany the unique Bulgarian vocal style which has a beauty on its own.

Resia Valley Girls

Loretta Kelley, Margaret Loomis, and friends play lively and fun traditional folk music from the Resia Valley in northeastern Italy. This unique and appealing music — played on citara (violin) and bunkula (cello) — is traditionally played for dancing during Carnivale (Mardi Gras) and other special times of the year, but the Resia Valley Girls will play for any occasion at all and like to dress appropriately.

Sarenica

Sarenica plays Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Greek music using tambura and tamburitsa string instruments. Its repertoire draws on Balkan, South Slavic and Slavic-American, and Central European traditions, including Hungarian and Romanian music, using cimbalom and kontra. Sarenica's repertoire includes high-energy music for dancing, music for listening from both town and village folk sources. Its members are Craig Packard, bugarija and kontra (chording viola), vocals; Kelly Marshall, prim; Larry Robinson, prim; Mia Boynton, brac; Ken Wright, brac; Tony Kambic, brac; Joan Dubinsky, cimbalom; and Tom Armstrong, bass.

Vardo Sisters

The Vardo Sisters sing and play Romani music from Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. This group is an offshoot of the Balkan Babes. Singers are Leslie Clark and Lynette Garlan, with musicians Stoyan Kostov on guitar, James Rumbaugh on clarinet, Jeff Senn on doumbek/tapan, Lynette Garlan on violin, and Vlado Mollov on accordion. Most songs performed are dance tunes as well.

Walt 'Vlado' Mahovlich

Walt 'Vlado' Mahovlich is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist in a variety of Eastern European styles. He has played for Macedonian and other East European communities since his teenage years, originally playing clarinet with traditional musicians from the Lake Prespa region of Macedonia who immigrated to his hometown of Cleveland. He has appeared on concert stages throughout North America and Europe and currently leads the East European folk group Harmonia and Macedonian dance band Turli Tava.

Bosilek

Bosilek Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble of New York City, the only exclusively women's Bulgarian folk dance performing ensemble in the USA, is celebrating 29 years of bringing the beauty and rich treasure of Bulgarian folklore to American audiences. The ensemble has performed in a wide variety of venues ranging from Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, to the garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., at festivals, in libraries, schools and other venues throughout the northeast United States, and has been featured in festivals and on television in Bulgaria. Artistic Director: Cathie Springer; Choreographer: Iliana Bozhanova; Music Coordinator: Lyuben Dossev.
Bosilek on Myspace

Zedashe

The Zedashe Ensemble is based in the medieval fortress city of Sighnaghi, Eastern Georgia, which has been home to the Kiziqian wine growers and warriors since ancient times. Directed by Ketevan Mindorashvili, the current incarnation of the ensemble was founded in the mid 1990s to sing repertoire largely lost during the Communist era. Their repertoire consists of ancient three-part harmony chants from the Orthodox Christian liturgy, folk songs from the Kiziqian region as collected from village song-masters and old publications, and folk dances from the region.
The Zedashe Ensemble also sings repertoire from other regions in Georgia, particularly the high North-Eastern mountain province of Svanetia, where time seems to stand still and the traditional, non-tempered tunings of the old Georgians remain alive in current practice. Folk song genres include field-songs, love songs, historical ballads, war dance songs, and ritual circle dances, and are accompanied by the chunir (Svan lute), panduri (Kiziq lute), chonguri (Gurian lute), doli (drum), chiboni (goat-skin bagpipes), and accordion.

Zharava

The Bulgarian folk-dance ensemble Zharava was established in January, 2007. Within its first six months, the group gathered more than 20 enthusiastic members, including natives of Bulgaria, Russia, and the U.S. The fire in each performer's heart, as the name Zharava — 'burning embers' — implies, is transmitted to the audience by the addictive energy the group brings onto the stage.
The vision of Zharava's founder, Desi Jordanoff, is two-fold:
1. To establish a strong ensemble that preserves the rich Bulgarian folk-dance tradition, and;
2. To enhance the awareness of all the Bulgarian folk arts — dance, music, song, and rhythm — throughout the U.S. and the world.