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Because I'm publicly online as a Balkan folk dancer, every so often I get an email from someone wanting to connect with their Balkan heritage of some flavor. The ones asking about Bulgaria, I sent (pre-pandemic, anyway) to the dance group run by Bulgarian ex-pats.
This latest email was a little different. This person wanted info on Yugoslavia because her mom was from there. Since Yugoslavia hasn't been a unified country since 1993, I wrote back cautiously that the name she gave me came up as similar to Bosnian names, and here is a Bosnian song, and did she have any family traditions to draw on. Also a wikipedia link for history of Yugoslavia as a starting point.
She wrote back with a town name, and I looked it up and replied, that's in Croatia! Here are a bunch of Croatian resources. Which I thought someone here might also be interested in, so here you are.
San Francisco's Kolo Festival is always over Thanksgiving weekend. This year it's online and you can register for free. Here's the schedule. Friday and Saturday, John Filcich (96 years old this year!) is teaching Yugoslavian (mostly Croatian and Serbian) dance from noon-1pm, and John Morovich is teaching Croatian singing from 4-5pm.
A fun performance of Pet Je Kumi by a Croatian group. Some random guys singing Klapa.
Virtual CroatiaFest videos (Facebook) and The Spectacles from Seattle singing Široko Levonte in various COVID-safe ways.
As an aside, someone sent me these two great videos from Bulgaria today: soloist Galya Haralambieva singing "Jenela e Dyulber Jana" with Bulgarian Voices Angelite, and her husband Petyo Kostadinov playing gaida (bagpipe).
And, Sokol mi leta visoko, a socially distanced performance from musicians around the world of a Macedonian song, "from the world to Macedonia with love."
(Bulgaria was never part of Yugoslavia, but Macedonia was.)
This latest email was a little different. This person wanted info on Yugoslavia because her mom was from there. Since Yugoslavia hasn't been a unified country since 1993, I wrote back cautiously that the name she gave me came up as similar to Bosnian names, and here is a Bosnian song, and did she have any family traditions to draw on. Also a wikipedia link for history of Yugoslavia as a starting point.
She wrote back with a town name, and I looked it up and replied, that's in Croatia! Here are a bunch of Croatian resources. Which I thought someone here might also be interested in, so here you are.
San Francisco's Kolo Festival is always over Thanksgiving weekend. This year it's online and you can register for free. Here's the schedule. Friday and Saturday, John Filcich (96 years old this year!) is teaching Yugoslavian (mostly Croatian and Serbian) dance from noon-1pm, and John Morovich is teaching Croatian singing from 4-5pm.
A fun performance of Pet Je Kumi by a Croatian group. Some random guys singing Klapa.
Virtual CroatiaFest videos (Facebook) and The Spectacles from Seattle singing Široko Levonte in various COVID-safe ways.
As an aside, someone sent me these two great videos from Bulgaria today: soloist Galya Haralambieva singing "Jenela e Dyulber Jana" with Bulgarian Voices Angelite, and her husband Petyo Kostadinov playing gaida (bagpipe).
And, Sokol mi leta visoko, a socially distanced performance from musicians around the world of a Macedonian song, "from the world to Macedonia with love."
(Bulgaria was never part of Yugoslavia, but Macedonia was.)
