Balkan Music & Dance Workshops Mt. Washington, Berkshires, Massachusetts  August 21-28, 2005
Take a photo tour of the scenic Mt. Washington facility!	Program Site FAQs Part-Time Registration Party Schedule Directions Work Exchanges Kef Scholarship Brochure

The East Coast Balkan Music & Dance Workshop is located at Camp Hi-Rock, in the Berkshires at the border of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. 

 

♦ Dance ♦ Singing ♦ Instruments ♦ Kids ♦

***Please note the staff and schedule are subject to change***

In addition to overnight stays, it is possible to attend the evening parties, which begin at 9 p.m. if you register before August 15.  The cost is $20 per person per evening.  Admission includes evening dance parties and late-night kafana activities until 2:30 a.m. (no overnight accommodations).   You may also attend the Saturday afternoon lamb roast for $35. This includes the evening party. Please arrive for the lamb roast no earlier than 2 pm.  No overnight accommodations or other meals are included.

Work Exchanges: A few partial-tuition waiver work exchanges may be available for full-week participants.  Contact the EEFC office for more information.  Each year the EEFC also offers a full tuition scholarship called the Kef Scholarship.

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Mt. Washington 2003 staff

View our 2004 PDF brochure or see below

♦ Dance ♦ Singing ♦ Instruments ♦ Kids ♦

***Please note the staff is subject to change***

2004 INSTRUMENTS & ENSEMBLES

Vassil Bebelekov (int. Thracian gajda & Bulgarian village ("bitov") ensemble)
Paul Brown (house bassist--non-teaching)
Beth Bahia Cohen (int. Greek violin & Greek ensemble)
Marko Dreher (int. violin & tamburica ensemble)
Polly Tapia Ferber (beg. & int. doumbek)
Catherine Foster (int. & adv. clarinet & saxophone)
Valeri Georgiev (beg. & int. Bulgarian kaval)
Adam Good (beg. Macedonian tambura)
Kalin Kirilov (int. & adv. accordion)
Michael Ginsburg (brass band)
Jerry Kisslinger (beg. & adv. Macedonian tapan)
Nikolay Kolev (beg. & int. gudulka)
Stoyan Kostov (int. & adv. Bulgarian tambura)
Panayotis (Paddy) League (int. laouto)
Mark Levy (Macedonian village ("izvoren") ensemble)
Kalman "Ocsi" Magyar (Trans-Carpathian ensemble)
Yianni Roussos (int. & adv. santouri)
 

Vassil Bebelekov (int. Thracian gajda & Bulgarian village ensemble), born in the Rhodope Mountain town of Devin, was inspired to a life of folk music by village traditions and his grandfather, who played kaba gajda. He joined the ensemble Sto Kaba Gajdi at age 11, and went on to complete his schooling at the Folk Music School in Shiroka Luka and the Plovdiv Folk Music Conservatory. He played with the well-known Ensemble Trakiya and the Philipopolis Ensemble and has recorded for Radio Sofia. He taught at the Shiroka Luka Music School for many years and has played and taught extensively throughout the U.S. Vassil recently served as visiting professor in the Ethnomusicology Department at UCLA, where he taught Balkan ensemble.   Paul Brown (house bassist—non-teaching) has been playing music for 29 years, studying bass and composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and oud with Haig Manoukian and Necati Çelik. He was adjunct music faculty in the Contemporary Music Department at the College of Santa Fe from 2000 to 2003 and has been house bassist for the Balkan Music & Dance Workshops since 1995. During a recent stay in New York City he studied and played with Souren Baronian’s Taksim and the Aegean Macedonian group Kavala. He also performs with Orkestra Keyif and Édessa, among others. Explorations into the realm of the bass have drawn him of late into the tuba.   Beth Bahia Cohen (int. Greek violin & Greek ensemble) plays the violin, various lyras from Greece and the Turkish yayli (bowed) tanbur, performing Greek music with Ziyiá, Demetrios Tashie, Panayotis (Paddy) League, Lefteris Bournias and others. She has studied and played with eminent composers and instrumentalists in Greece, Turkey and Hungary. She has performed with Libana, The Klezmer Conservatory Band, EurAsia Ensemble, Sárkány, Sophia Bilides, Karaváni, and Taxími, and most recently with Orkestra Keyif. Beth is performing her own and traditional music on various bowed instruments in solo “Art of the Bow” performances. She has just produced her first solo CD, entitled “Weaving the Worlds.”   Marko Dreher (int. violin & tamburica). The son of a traditional Croatian folk musician, Marko Dreher grew up steeped in the musical traditions of Eastern Europe. He began classical violin studies and sitting in with his father’s tamburica band at the age of four, and has played tamburica professionally since age seven. Marko has toured with I Solisti Di Zagreb, as well as with such greats as Zvonko Bogdan and Miro Skoro. He performs regularly with the Jerry Grcevich Tamburica Orkestar and with Otrov and Harmonia. In 1998 Marko was the youngest recipient of the Tamburitza Association of America’s Founder’s Award. Marko has degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and The Cleveland Institute of Music and is on the faculty of the Vamos School of Music.   Polly Tapia Ferber (beg. & int. doumbek) is a music educator, performer and recording artist who specializes in hand percussion from the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, the Balkans and Spanish Andalucia. She has traveled to Egypt, Greece, Spain, Morocco and Israel, seeking out the finest teachers and performing with some of the world’s most renowned musicians. Polly currently plays with several New York City-based bands including Orkestra Keyif, Merak and Transition. She is on the faculty at the College of Santa Fe in the Contemporary Music Program where she teaches percussion, develops classes in world music and women in music, and directs the MidEast/Balkan ensemble there.   Catherine Foster (int. & adv. clarinet & saxophone) has been performing music from Southeastern Europe for over 20 years. She has been playing with Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band and singing with Ethel Raim’s Urban Women/Village Songs since moving to New York City in 1988. Catherine has been performing with the incomparable Bulgarian Rom saxophonist Yuri Yunakov and his band since 1996, and accompanied Yunakov in the acclaimed Gypsy Caravan tour in 1999. Catherine appears on two of Zlatne Uste’s recordings, “No Strings Attached” and “In the Center of the Village,” as well as with the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble on “New Colors in Bulgarian Wedding Music, “Balada” and “Roma Variations.”   Valeri Georgiev (beg. & int. Bulgarian kaval) is from the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse. He studied kaval in Kotel and graduated from the Plovdiv Conservatory with a degree in folk-ensemble conducting. He performed in the Plovdiv-based ensemble Puldin, then later directed the folk-theatrical group Najden Kirov and performed with Orkestur “Horo” in Ruse. Valeri was the composer for the theater piece “Geracite” and has arranged many folk songs and instumental melodies. He has accompanied many famous singers, including Kalinka Vulcheva, Yanka Rupkina, Vesela and Lyuben Bojkovi and Kremena Stancheva. He resides in the DC area where he plays with Lyuti Chushki.   Michael Ginsburg (brass band) has been director and lead trumpet player of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band since 1983. He accompanied Zlatne Uste to brass band festivals in Guca, Serbia, three times between 1987 and 1990 and again in 2003. During those visits Michael and his band took advantage of many opportunities to play and party with local brass bands and to experience the music in its natural setting. He has worked with some of the leading musicians of Macedonia, including Kurtis Jasarev Kadriev, Zahir Ramadanov, Stevo Teodosievski, and members of Kocani Orkestar. In August 2003, Michael and Zlatne Uste worked closely with Ekrem Sajdic and Zlatni Prsti brass band in Vranjska Banja, Serbia.

Adam Good (beg. Macedonian tambura) is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He currently finds his home in New York City and Haarlem in the Netherlands. With a foundation in jazz guitar, his interest in the music of Eastern Europe began around 1994. His talent on tambura, cümbüs and guitar, playing the dance and folk music of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, has made Adam a fixture of New York’s Balkan music scene. He plays regularly with the ensembles Harmonia, Nikitov and Hazmat, and has issued a CD, entitled “Melodies for Macedonian Tambura and Kaval.”   Kalin Kirilov (int. & adv. accordion), born in Vidin, NW Bulgaria, began singing and playing the accordion at the age of four and received his first gold medal as a singer in 1981 at the Koprivshtitsa Festival. He studied music in Vidin and Pleven and graduated from the Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv in 1998 with a specialization in tambura and music pedagogy. He received a Master’s Degree in folklore last year from the University of Oregon, where he is now a Ph.D. student in music theory. Kalin has performed extensively in Bulgaria and abroad, recorded with Bulgarian National Radio, and toured the U.S. this past fall with the legendary Ivo Papasov and Yuri Yunakov.   Jerry Kisslinger (beg. & adv. Macedonian tapan) has played tapan/dauli and other drums for folk dance and ethnic communities throughout the United States since the early 1970s. A specialist in Macedonian dance rhythms, Jerry is a founding member of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, and currently performs with ZU, Beth Cohen and Demetri Tashie, and with other Macedonian, klezmer and Greek ensembles. He has also performed with the Yuri Yunakov Orchestra, Akshambelah, and the Balkanizers, and has been honored to learn from master musicians in the U.S. and Europe.   Nikolay Kolev (beg. & int. gudulka), a native of Karavelovo in Bulgarian Thrace, has been playing gudulka since age 10. After graduating from the music school in Shiroka Luka, he has perfomed constantly, first as soloist of the Sliven folk ensemble and later as orchestra director of the Sopot folk ensemble. In 1985 Nikolay formed the folk wedding music ensemble Rozova Dolina, and in 1992 founded the prize-winning ensemble Balkanski Glasove. Nikolay and Donka Koleva produced a CD featuring recordings of current and former students of the Shiroka Luka music school, entitled “Shiroka Laka Singing.” The Kolev family performs in the New York City area.   Stoyan Kostov (int. & adv. Bulgarian tambura) has been playing Bulgarian tambura for 35 years. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. He performed with the Ensemble “Trakiya” in Plovdiv. Stoyan played tambura with the Harmanliska Troika and guitar with the Ograzhden ensemble in Sandanski, where he also directed the “N. Vaptsarov” Folk Ensemble.   Panayotis (Paddy) League (int. laouto) grew up with family roots in Greece and the west coast of Ireland. He was exposed from an early age to traditional Irish and Greek music, particularly of the Dodecanese Islands; and spent inordinate amounts of time hanging around music pubs and panegyria during his teenage years. Paddy spent 2003 in Greece and Turkey, studying politiki lyra with Eleni Kallimopoulou and Selim Güler, oud with Haig Yiadzijian and Necati Çelik, and laouto with numerous good-humored (and strong-lunged) Kalymnians. He is working towards a degree in Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at Queens College in New York, where he performs Greek, Turkish and other musics with Beth Bahia Cohen and others.   Mark Levy (Macedonian village ensemble)  created the first weeklong Balkan Music Workshop in 1974, and co-founded the East European Folklife Center in the early 1980s. He has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and is a professor at the University of Oregon School of Music, where he teaches courses in world music and directs the UO East European Folk Music Ensemble. He has made numerous research trips to Bulgaria and has performed gajda, clarinet and on other aerophones with Aman, Pitu Guli, The Balkantones and Slavej (currently Trio Slavej).    Kalman “Öcsi” Magyar (Trans-Carpathian ensemble), emerged from his mother’s womb with a violin in his hand and began rigorous training in folk, classical and jazz music on several instruments while learning to walk. He toured nationally with the Duquesne University Tamburitzans before hitting the books at Brooklyn Law School. Kalman has collaborated with Europe’s top folk musicians, and his solo recordings have been glowingly reviewed in such publications as Folk Roots and Dirty Linen. He has been spotted performing at venues such as Epcot Center, B. B. King’s Blues Club, Lincoln Center and the Budapest Sports Arena; and can be heard playing privately for his daughter, Csenge, who is now learning to walk.     Yianni Roussos (int. & adv. santouri) has performed on the santouri in the Philadelphia area and other cities in the northeastern U.S. since 1972. For many years he performed with the Pericles Halkias Family Orchestra in New York City. He has also appeared on the Halkias Family Orchestra’s recording “Songs and Dances of Epiros.” He collaborated with Jim Stoynoff on “Return to Our Roots” and with Sophia Bilides on “Greek Legacy.” More recently Yianni has performed with musicians from Andros, Nick and Avgoustinos Dogias, for the local Andriotiko communities. Yianni is also a respected santouri maker and has made most of the instruments played at camp by his students.

2004 SINGING STAFF

Carol Freeman (Balkan vocal techniques & int./adv. Greek)
John Morovich (beg. & int. Croatian)
Yanka Rupkina (int. & adv. Bulgarian) 
Carol Silverman (int./adv. Romani)
Dragi Spasovski (beg. & adv. Macedonian) 
Tzvetanka Varimezova (beg. & int. Bulgarian)
 

Carol Freeman (Balkan vocal techniques & int./adv. Greek) is well known as a performer, researcher and teacher of a variety of Balkan and Judaic vocal traditions. She has perfomed extensively as vocalist for the The Smyrneïki Kompania, Song of the Shtetl and The Sevda Balkan Music Ensemble, and other celebrated musical groups, and as a solo interpreter of traditional song. She was also a member of the accclaimed pioneering women’s Balkan vocal trio ›enska Pesna. An expert coach of vocal technique, Carol has been teaching at the Balkan Music & Dance Workshops since their inception in 1977.   John Morovich (beg. & int. Croatian) grew up in Seattle’s Croatian community and has studied, performed and taught Croatian and other Slavic music and dance since 1973. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Seattle Junior Tamburitzans and has been a featured performer with the Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble and Ruze Dalmatinke Orchestra since 1980. John is a founding member of the Sinovi Tamburitza Orchestra of Seattle, and has appeared regularly with Mary Sherhart and Kultur Shock.   Yanka Rupkina (int. & adv. Bulgarian)  is internationally known for her work with the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices and her many collaborations with such luminaries as Kate Bush, Linda Ronstadt and Merle Sanders. In her long career she has given over 20,000 concerts and has traveled to nearly every country in the world. She currently leads the acclaimed folk ensemble Trio Bulgarka, is a soloist with the Amsterdam-based ensemble Female Factory and teaches singing and ensemble work all over the world. Yanka is just releasing a new recording, entitled “Keranka.”

Carol Silverman (int./adv. Romani) is a professor of folklore and cultural anthropology at the University of Oregon and has also taught Balkan singing for over two decades. Since the 1970s she has done extensive field research on Bulgarian music and politics, and since 1980 has worked with Roma in Macedonia, Bulgaria and New York on human rights and culture. As a vocalist with the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble since 1995, she has performed in festivals in the U.S., Canada and Australia. In 1999 she toured with the Ensemble as part of “The Gypsy Caravan,” also serving as its educational coordinator, and in 2003 she toured with Ivo Papasov. She also sings with Trio Slavej.   Dragi Spasovski (beg. & adv. Macedonian)  learned to sing from his mother, whose sweet voice was the backdrop to his boyhood in Skopje. Her repertoire seemed limitless and her love of singing infused his life. Beginning in 1969 he recorded around 150 traditional, city and calgija songs with  Radio Skopje. Dragi was a member of the Orce Nikolov Folk Dance Ensemble for many years, and in the early 70s he lived in Seattle and was a member of Koleda Folk Ensemble. Two years ago he returned to Seattle, where he is a guest vocalist with Balkan Cabaret. He is active in a variety of musical venues, including Songs & Stories, New Land Choir and Cyril and Methodius Day.   Tzvetanka Varimezova (beg. & int. Bulgarian) was born in Pazardzhik in Bulgarian Thrace, and started singing and playing accordion at age 9. She went on to master tambura and piano, and studied folk music at Kotel High School for Folk Music and at the Plovdiv Conservatory. She performed with Ensemble Trakiya for five years and conducted the Pazardzhik Ensemble choir for seven. In 1993 she began working with two Bulgarian-style choirs in Denmark, and also sang with Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Radio Choir. She performs regularly with her husband Ivan Varimezov. Since 2001 they have been in residency at UCLA, where Tzvetanka directs the women’s Bulgarian choir.

2004 DANCE

Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi (GreekGreek, two classes per day) has done extensive field research on regional dance in Greece and among Greek communities in the U.S. He has taught throughout the world for community groups and at major folk dance camps. Joe was director of the Greek Music Tour sponsored by the NEA and the Ethnic Folk Arts Center in 1982. He has served as judge and advisor for the West Coast Greek Orthodox Folk Dance Festival since 1984, and is co-founder and co-director of the annual World Music & Dance Camp at Cape Cod.   Zeljko Jergan (Croatian, two classes per day) A native of Varazdin, Croatia, Zeljko Jergan was a lead performer with the Croatian National Folk Ensemble “Lado” for 12 years. Since moving to the U.S. in 1986, he has created over 400 original choreographies for 80 different amateur, semi-professional and professional ensembles, including Radost Folk Ensemble and Duquesne University Tamburitzans. He is particularly active with the Canadian Croatian community, where he serves as artistic director for Kraljica Jelena Folklore Ensemble and the Croatian Village Folklore Ensemble, both in Ontario. He also directs the Pittsburgh-based ensemble Hrvatski Tanac and St. Anthony’s Folklore Ensemble in L.A.    Steve Kotansky (Balkan, one class per day), known widely as a versatile dancer and teacher, has made many research trips to Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and Greece. He has taught at major folk dance camps all over North America and Europe and has performed and choreographed for many performing ensembles throughout the U.S. and Europe. Steve conducts world dance programs for grades K-12 in New York-area public and private schools. Steve brings a lively, in-depth knowledge to his teaching and an intense joy to his dancing.

 

KIDS

We welcome families!

Marlis Kraft-Zemel leads two classes a day for children, gearing the activities to the ages of the kids.   Children are also welcome and encouraged to take adult classes according to their capabilities. 

Marlis Kraft-Zemel has been involved in world music since her teens, when she started her own song collection in her native Switzerland, where she also performed Balkan and Swiss Music. Marlis now teaches music at Oak Lane Day School in Philadelphia. She is also the program director for Oak Lane’s summer camp, and has worked with children on oral history/drama productions at many KlezKamps. Marlis will offer a variety of activities for the kids at Mt. Washington, including arts and crafts, music, songs and dance in the Balkan tradition.

Please note that children must be housed with their parents or guardians and that while we have lifeguards on duty for much of the day, parents are responsible for their children at all times.  Parents should also be aware of the adult nature of the Workshop (alcoholic beverages and late night parties).

 

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EVENING PARTY SCHEDULE 

Please note the schedule is subject to change & don't forget to register before August 20!  (Sooner is better!)

Evening parties begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  The cost is $20 per person per evening.  Admission includes evening dance parties and late-night kafana activities until 2:30 a.m. (no overnight accommodations).  Pre-registered partygoers may check in and pay at the dance pavilion upon arrival at the camp.  Please plan to arrive after 8 p.m. and note that we cannot accept drop-in party goers.

Please note the schedule is subject to change, even up to the very last minute.

Sunday (party begins at 9:45 pm) Balkan Brass Bulgarian Monday Rhodope Aegean Macedonian Brass Tuesday (EEFC Auction Night! Party begins around 10 pm) Tamburica Bulgarian

Wednesday Macedonian Village Greek Thursday Bulgarian Greek Zourna & Lyra Friday Macedonian Greek Smyrnaic Saturday Student Ensembles (begin at 8 pm) Romani

 

PART-TIME REGISTRATION

To register for:

overnight stays

the lamb roast 

or evening parties

Email office@eefc.org or call 510/547-1118 before August 20.

Partygoers must pre-register (before August 20) and should check in and pay at the dance pavilion upon arrival. The evening parties begin at 9 pm.  Please arrive no earlier than 8 pm.
Lamb roast visitors please arrive no earlier than 2 pm.

 

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DIRECTIONS TO CAMP HI-ROCK

From Waterbury, CT, and pts south:

• Go north on Rt. 8 until expressway ends.
• Take a right on Rt. 44 West through Winsted to Canaan.
• **Take Rt. 7 North to Sheffield, MA. Proceed through the town of Sheffield.
• About 200 yds. past Limey's Restaurant, take a diagonal left onto Egremont Rd. to the town of South Egremont.
• From there take a left onto Rt. 23. Continue through South Egremont.
• ***Take a left onto Rt. 41 at the yellow flashing light, just past the Spirit Shoppe.
• Take the first right onto Mt. Washington Rd. and ****continue up the mountain for almost 9 miles.
• The YMCA Camp Hi-Rock driveway is on the left-hand side of the road, opposite the Mt. Washington State Park. Drive slowly up the camp driveway for about 2 miles.You may park in the lot on the right just past the blacktop.

From Hartford, CT, and points Southeast:

• Go west on Rt. 44 from Hartford to Canaan.
• Proceed as above from **.

From New York City, Albany, and points Northwest and Southwest:

• Take either the Taconic Parkway or the NY Thruway to Rt. 23 East.
• Continue on Rt. 23 through Hillsdale, NY, to South Egremont, MA.
• Just before South Egremont, turn right to Rt. 41 at the flashing yellow light
• Take an immediate right onto Mt. Washington Rd. and continue as above from ****.

From Boston and points Northeast:

• Take the Mass. Pike (I-90) to Exit 2 for Lee, MA.
• Proceed on Rt. 102 to Stockbridge and Rt. 7 South.
• Stay on Rt. 7 South through Great Barrington.
• As you exit Great Barrington, stay in the right lane.
• Turn right onto Rt. 23 (at traffic light), and continue about 5 miles to South Egremont. Continue as above from ***.