Some thoughts about music

While not directly related to the scope of this blog, I have recently begun playing with a 17 year old violinist with a great ear and burgeoning interest in Balkan and Eastern European music. In an effort to help her get some orientation, I wrote a brief brain-dump on this music as I have encountered it in the past few years. This description is by no means authoritative, and far from comprehensive. It's more a whimsical introduction to music I have grown to love. If anyone reading this has something to add or refute, the comment field is at the below. 

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Dear S,

There is a lot out there on the Internet about Balkan music, but I thought I would pass on some info and thoughts that I have gathered over the past several years of learning and playing this music. I hope this at least offers an introduction into some of the similarities and differences between the variety of styles in Eastern Europe. There is a lifetime of musical exploration in this often-forgotten corner of the world, full of challenges and reward to those who jump into it.

Below are some stream-of-consciousness thoughts about different styles and musicians from the area, I hope this opens some doors for your exploration of this music.

My approach to this music, in general, is one of an outsider learning a new language. The music exists apart from my participation in it, and I think it's important to acknowledge, if not recreate, the subtleties and norms that support these traditions. I realize this is contrary to a more contemporary approach to music as 'I play what I feel like playing' but it's the adherence to tradition that makes this music so awesome. It's also much more exciting to me to funnel creativity into the constraints of a musical language than to play something free of context and meaning. That said, I'm all for violating traditions once I learn them, but I think it's super important to learn them first.

Enough of my manifesto, here is a break down of the different styles we play, and a few examples or youtube leads for each:

Klezmer

I first got into Balkan music, like many Americans, through Klezmer music, which is the music of Jews in Eastern Europe (which in itself is not music from the Balkans). While it’s had an increase in popularity since the 70’s especially in the US and Western Europe, Klezmer music was effectively uprooted from Eastern Europe starting in about 1920, from waves of immigration of Eastern European Jewry to Israel and the US. On top of that, what remained of the culture that supported Klezmer music it was fully wiped out in the Holocaust.

In the 70’s, a handful of Americans, mostly of Eastern European Jewish descent, started hanging out with ‘old world’ musicians in New York. The most notable of these old world musicians were Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein, two clarinetists who performed in New York and beyond from the 20s-70s. They both were performers in the Ukraine and Moldova, the area which is considered to be the heartland of Klezmer music . When they came to the states their styles quickly evolved to be more swinging, aggressive, and cosmopolitan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHxoEEsGwXE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXySfsSX6pg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL7BD9C2369CE96ACF

The musicians who studied with them started what is generally accepted as the ‘Klezmer Revival.’ In some ways, this was not so much a revival as an invention of the term ‘Klezmer’ as a genre of music. Up until then, it was considered to be Yiddish music played by and for Jews, at life-cycle events like births, brisses, and weddings. By calling it Klezmer, it became marketed for the first time to non-Jewish audiences in the US and abroad. This was primarily a North-American movement.

Bands to check out from this era are Zev Feldman and Andy Statman, the Klezmatics, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Brave Old World, and Kapelye. There is an album that came out in 1996 called ‘In the Fiddler’s House,’ which features Itzhak Perlmen playing with some of these groups, definitely worth checking out.

There is a newer generation of people playing Yiddish music that I find a lot more exciting than the original ‘revivalists.’ An excellent violin player named Jake Schulman-Ment, who just spent a year in Romania and Moldova on a Fulbright Fellowship, Benjy Fox-Rosen, a bass player and Yiddish singer/poet, Pete Rushevsky, a cimbalom player, and David Krakauer and Michael Winograd, clarinetists. All of these guys are based in NYC or Brooklyn. Two fiddle-led groups in Europe to check out are Di Naye Kapelye, led by Bob Cohen, and the Hungarian group Muzikas with Marta Sebastian.

Another very interesting group is the ‘Other Europeans,’ led by Alan Bern, who was my accordion teacher for 2 years in Germany. They are reconstructing and evolving Yiddish and Romani music that coexisted in Moldova in the early 20th century. Sounds academic and crusty but it’s amazing music.

Romanian

I love Romanian music. In my opinion it is the strangest and most beautiful of all Eastern European music forms, and anything that can be said in music can be said in the format of the small Lautar (Romanian Gypsy) ensemble, which consists of cimbalom (hammered chromatic dulcimer), accordion, violin, double bass, and voice.
    Many people think that Romania is not part of the Balkans, even though it’s music is often clumped in the overarching genre of ‘Balkan.’ There is a lot that sets it apart from the countries that surround it. First, the language is a Romance language, not a Slavic one. There are a lot of linguistic similarities to French and Italian, and the music, in general, is more melodic than the music of its neighboring countries. There is one dance form, the Geampara, that is in 7/8, but other than that rhythms stick to 3/4 and 4/4, unlike neighboring Bulgaria and Serbia where rhythms can be in 5,9,10,11,15,25 etc.

Romanian ornaments art typically understated, legato, and deceivingly complex. There are a lot of great videos on youtube of Lautari musicians, here are a few names to check out:

violin:
Marin Bunea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3b9VvO8FA
Taraf De Haiduks (very famous and awesome band from Clejani, Southern Romania)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQn6Qb-9mD8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loZd4dPow4A&feature=related
Ion Dragoi
Ion Petre Stoican
Florea Cioaca
Nicu Bela

accordion:
Faramita Lambru http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDzaCQ_2qlw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8u_2xl-jYY
Marcel Budala
Ionica Minune
Vasile Pandelescu

Cimbalom:
Toni Iordache
Iani Ciuciu

Vocal:
Gabi Lunca
Romica Puceanu
Dona dumitru siminica

Bulgaria

Bulgaria doesn’t have the same down-tempo, heart-wrenching vocal tradition of other countries in the Balkans, but it makes up for it in it’s insane polyrhythmic dance-your-face off music. Bulgarian music combines the microtonal and compound rhythmic elements of neighboring Turkish music and sets it to the fast tempos and harmonic structures of Serbian and Macedonian musics. The result can be disorienting and may at first seem unlistenable, but as soon as you find the downbeat and can figure out the meter, it’s incredible.
    A typical Bulgarian ensemble consists of a gajda (bagpipe), tambura (like a small guitar/mandolin), kaval (open bore flute), tapan (drum), and accordion. Roma bands in Bulgaria may also include saxophone, clarinet, keyboards, violin, darabuka or dumbek.
   
A good place to start with Bulgarian music is with Boris Karlov, an accordionist from the 30’s-50’s who in many ways defined modern Bulgarian music. We play a number of his tunes, including Sedi Donka and Gankino Horo. I’ll send you some other tracks to check out of his.

Ibro Lolov and Petar Ralchev are also great. There is also a cool video of Petar Ralchev explaining the difference between Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian ornaments here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBWvJfy2t1M

If you want to hear some modern Bulgarian Roma wedding music, which is way beyond our means at this point, check out Ivo Paposov and Yuri Yunakov.

Serbia/Bosnia/Croatia - Former Yugoslavia

These countries basically all speak the same language, but have a huge variety of musical styles. Music from Croatia and Northern Serbia (Vojvodina) consists mostly of Tamburica (plucked guitar) and violin bands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgr6DRYfULA&feature=related

Southern Serbia is home to Brass bands:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbN9gmh7WtY&feature=related

Western Serbia focuses on violin and accordion. Most of the Serbian music we play comes from western Serbia, where I was this summer. This is a video of my teacher Ljuba and his brother, Misha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKi8FnA9YuU

Here is a short video I took of another violinist teacher a kolo to a violinist from Long Island:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdtXnRp160&list=UUaORGwhQA1vZf5CiPcf0Scw&index=23&feature=plcp

another video of him and the grandmother who made me coffee every day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZY4rBXVR3c

Romani Music

Roma, aka Gypsies are the most prolific, accomplished, and creative group of musicians in Eastern Europe, but there is no singular ‘Gypsy’ music that captures the diversity of musics that Roma play. There are, however, common characteristics in Romani musics across Europe that you can see in Flamenco, Manouche (Django-style jazz), Lautari, and the Serbian Roma clips above. ‘Gypsy music’ is a problematic term on a lot of levels, and we should talk about it more if you’re interested.

ok, I think that’s my brain dump for this Tuesday morning. Let me know what strikes you on your Youtube trawling, I’ll put together a fuller repertoire list with mp3s to send to you soon.

Haiku

Below are two haikus I wrote in Romanes. These were written as rewards for people who helped fund my trip to Serbia. I still have one accordion-gram, 2 house concerts and 11 commissioned songs to write. As a note to self regarding my work habits, I am much better at completing tasks in a timely manner before I get paid.

Purane prne
achen te adzhukaren
jekh phabray perel

Old legs

sit and wait

one apple falls 

Tumen bashalen

putarav mure jakha
amen dzivdinas

You play

I open my eyes

we are alive 

Serbia via Queens

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting accordionist Peter Stan at his home in Queens, NY to catch up and share some of the music I had learned in Serbia this summer. Peter is a extremely accomplished musician in Serbian, Romanian and Romani styles. A series of lessons I had with him last year were formative in my understanding of the importance of ornaments and feel in this music.

Last spring, Peter introduced me to the music of the two current superstars of Serbian Romani accordion, Aca Cergar and Dejan Kostic. There are dozens of videos on youtube of these two duking it out under wedding tents, ripping unbelievable lines in rapid-fire to an exhausted bride and groom. I was fortunate to see both of these accordionists play together at a wedding in Grabovica. Unfortunately I left the wedding around 1am, long before the action really got hot, but even in the early hours of the celebration I knew I was in the presence of overlords.

Peter plays with Slavic Soul Party, Brooklyn's premier Balkan-plus brass band, as well as several other musicians in New York's Balkan and Eastern European music scene. Despite the recent frenzy for Balkan brass bands in New York and beyond, Peter described a general decline in interest in the music he plays. Where weddings and kafana sessions were once the norm, now only a few bars feature live music, and if they do it is usually comes in the electrified form of Manela or Turbo-folk.

In any case, Peter is an accordion virtuoso with a deep knowledge of several Balkan styles, and is an extremely innovative player. He knew all of the music I learned in Valjevo and for a while I felt like I had been transported back to Serbia by way of the L train.

Here Peter is showing me a Romanian tune that can be combined with another one he taught me last year. You can hear me playing a super slow version of it here.

Whatever New York's level of interest in Balkan music may be, shortly after my visit Peter's music was featured on Google's front page as the soundtrack to a giant pumpkin carving video. In an era in which one's degree of recognition is measured by view-counts, I think this puts Peter and his music pretty high up there, and for good reason.

Our School / Scoala Noastra

A few weeks ago I was invited to play accordion at the Camden International Film Festival here in Maine. The festival focuses exclusively on documentary, and this year there were several amazing films. As a musical prelude, I played my normal repertoire for all of the films, weather they were about returning Iraq war veterans, Fly fishing, or skate punks. On Friday afternoon I was happy to play before a film that was directly relevant to the music I was playing - Our School.

Our School, produced and directed by Mona Nicoară, follows three Roma children through the process of integrating Roma and non-Roma schools in the Transylvanian town of Targu Lapus, Romania. Thirty towns in Romania were given funds to integrate schools, and the production team chose Targu Lapus as the most likely to succeed. Integration was a resounding failure, and the Roma children who stayed in school were transferred into schools for the mentally disabled at the end of the 'integration' period. While similar stories have been repeated over and over across Eastern Europe, but perhaps most severely in Romania, the film poignantly shows how school administrators, teachers, and officials talk about racist policies that we most often hear about in headlines.

The filmmaker, Mona Nicoara, is a Romanian human rights activist who made the film, admittedly, from an advocate's perspective and with the optimistic assumption that the integration program was going to succeed. I spoke with her after the film screening about her experiences working in and outside of Romania.

One major difference of opinion between Mona and some of the Roma I met in Serbia is that Mona believes that the benefits of Roma integration outweighs its pitfalls. While acknowledging the difference between integration and assimilation, her position is that the fact that Roma have lived side by side with Gadje (non-Roma) for millenia is proof that their identity will remain intact regardless of changing circumstances. Even loss of language, what I would consider a strong indicator of the death of cultural identity, is something that she believes Roma will be able to overcome. In Mona's view, any theory, accepted truth, or prediction by anthropologists and social theorists, Roma buck.

One point of view she shared with my friends in Serbia - the European Commission's 'Decade of Roma Inclusion' is a conduit for recycling funds that leave Roma, quite literally, in the dust. Funds (which are substantial) for this initiative are explicitly structural. That is, they are distributed exclusively to NGOs who will reinforce government programs, in turn strengthening national objectives to assimilate or relocate Roma. A strange time we live in, when the name betrays the nature, a la Clear skies Initiative and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Citizen beware.

Our School closes with one of Gogol Bordello's most apt refrains, 'You love our music but you hate our guts.' The film has garnered much-deserved international acclaim, and perhaps more importantly, has received a lot of attention in Romania. Will this affect any positive change for Roma? Who knows. In speaking with Mona, she told me how the school system and the non-Roma Romanian families had no problem with the film crew focusing on the Roma kids. Perhaps in part, because the presence of the film crew underscored how they were exotic and out of place in a formal school setting. In any case, a candid portrayal of the situation did not threaten Romanian families or school administrators who blatantly and systematically filtered Romani children out of the educational system, and thereby society at large.

Goodbye Serbia, Hello world

It's been a slow time for updates but a busy time in life since I returned to the US from Serbia in late August. I have a number of posts that I have been meaning to catch up on, and hope to get the ball rolling again in the coming weeks.

Although I started this blog as a way to share my experiences studying Romani music in Serbia, I have been pleasantly surprised how much I have been able to continue my independent, low-budget, non-academic, highly anecdotal and personally thrilling research since I returned stateside. Highlights include hanging out with some amazing people over the past month - two Roma rights activists, a Romani dancer from Kosovo, a filmmaker from Romania, and an amazing Romanian/Serbian Rom accordionist living in Queens, NY.

So, while gears have shifted from Eastern Europe to the East Coast of the US, I'm planning to continue to write about my encounters with Romani music and issues as they warrant interest. In part to ease my pangs of Serbian nostalgia, but also as a way of widening scope beyond my own experiences from this summer in Valjevo, I'm hoping to use this blog as a way of gathering, filtering, and relaying topics that I, and hopefully you, will find interesting.

Food, Hrana, Xabe

Next to music, food has been the most time consuming and interesting aspect of my time in Serbia. When you can't participate in conversation at the kitchen table, understand the news, or read the newspaper, food takes on a heightened importance as one of the best ways to make sense of where you are. Call it coincidence or etymological fate, but the commands 'eat, drink!' in Romanes is
'ha, pi!'  Happily, indeed.

In the month I've been in Valjevo, I have only eaten out twice. The rest of my meals have been prepared by my gracious hosts, so I'm pretty sure that my food-based judgments have some basis in reality. Going through my catalog of pictures over the past month I also realized that I did not take any photos of the foods that are the real staples here. I think I have eaten more tomatoes in the past 30 days than I have in my entire life up to this point. Fresh hot peppers garnish the table at EVERY meal. The ceramic salt tray even has a hole in which the pepper rests when it is not being ripped into. Canola or sunflower oil is a given.

So without further ado, some of my ingestive highs and lows over the past month.






Burek, I hate to love you. Made with a variety of fillings - meat, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, Burek hides its guts in an inflated swirl of filo dough. Often topped with sesame seeds and always heavy with oil saturation, most of the burek I have had here is golden brown on top and black on the bottom. 






Watermelon, aka Lubenica, is plentiful and cheap. Plentiful as in pick-up beds overflowing with them. Cheap as in 18 dinars per kilo - about 11 US cents per pound.





This is bread porridge, one of my arch-rivals of Serbian cuisine. It tastes, not surprisingly, like buttered bread. Unfortunately it has the texture of buttered bread that has already been fully chewed. When served piping hot it is glutenous and sticky. When it cools it could be used as grout. In the picture above it is combined with Kajmak, a very salty cheese-like substance of Turkish origin.

I was told several times that this stuff is good for stomach problems, such as hangovers or surgery. If you can get it past your mouth, maybe it's true.





My absolute favorite in Serbia, apple burek, made with apples from our front yard. Note the salt dish with the pepper-holding hole (no pepper pictured here). On the other side of the dish were black pepper would reside in the US, in Serbia there is more salt. Yin and Yin.









Fresh fruit from the front yard. Pears, apples, grapes, walnuts, raspberries, and plums, the mother of Serbian booze. Both Slivovitz and Rakiya are made distilled from plum wine, and home stills are common. The best one I had was sweet and warming, from an old guy Dusan knows. The worst one I had reminded me of the smell of model airplane glue.

For reasons I cannot understand, at all, 90 percent of the fruit here is left to rot on the ground. From what I can tell, canning, preserves, juicing, or fruit salad, is unheard of. Every day the grandmother here rounds up the apples that fell from the tree, puts them in a plastic bag, and places it in the trash.



















Oink oink, we'll be pigs. I'm happy I'm not a vegetarian trying to find food in Serbia. Perhaps even more difficult than that is trying to eat Kosher, a concept which seems to be utterly untranslatable here for another American in the house.




A general store in a nearby Romani village. First time I've ever seen a balance in action.






Shopska Salad, tomatoes, cukes and salty cheese.




Two other unique dishes I did not get pictures of are Burania, a soup made from long, bisected bean pods, and Skanja (?) a hair-like byproduct of lard rendering. Tastes as delicious as it sounds.

And, I also must mention the joy of fresh sugary donuts with turkish coffee. No two are the same shape, all are delicious.

Play buddy

Rasha is a violinist from Grabovica I have met with a few times over the past week. I feel like I'm getting the better end of the deal playing with him, but it's affirming to have someone of his experience to want to take the time to get together to play music together. He said that if I stuck around I could start playing weddings. In my suave Serbian I responded, "hochu!"

 - I want!

I've learned about a dozen new songs and dance tunes over the past few weeks, so our session last night went on for quite a bit longer than the last one. Here is a Kolo that I learned the first two parts of last night. I love how rhythmic and smooth his playing is.