How about a short chronology of the Bulgarian/Balkan music/dance “revival” in the US as I know it for the benefit of the newbies and recent appreciators of this genre for a Saturday afternoon? A handful of Americans from the New York area began doing research in Bulgaria and elsewhere *in the Balkans* in the mid-to-late 1960s, when there was NO Youtube, NO cellphones, NO digital cameras, and not much else in the way of creature comforts. I mean Ethel Raim, Martin Koenig, Ron Wixman, Steve Glaser, Carol Silverman , Carol Freeman, Karin DeVries, Lauren Brody. There were also people from the west coast in this first wave, and I mean Tim Rice, Alex Eppler, Dennis Boxell, Mary Sherhart, Marcus Holt/Moskoff and Mark Levy. Other names, not from the New York area, which are synonymous with this material, and who did boatloads of work to bring the dances and music to so many, are Dick Crum, Dennis Boxell, Bob Leibman and Yves Moreau. Stephen Kotansky too, but he came just a little later. This is not intended as an exhaustive, or complete list, btw; for instance I should mention Eran Fraenkel for Macedonia, and Larry Weiner for Serbia. And, here is a 1970 recording at Radio Sofia of Karin Devries and me, accompanied by the Trakiiskata Troika,and conducted by Kosta Kolev. Hearty thanks to Yves Moreau for introducing Karin and me to the Radio Orchestra and to Kosta Kolev back then, and for rescuing this recording. :-)
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:32:06 +0000
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