MP3 On The Village Square - WORLD: Balkan

Slaveya presents traditional vocal music from the Balkans and beyond. Hear the stirring sound of unaccompanied women's voices singing folk songs from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia, and Georgia.

14 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Balkan, FOLK: Traditional Folk

Details:
Slaveya is a women's vocal ensemble, incorporated as a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the traditional music of the Balkans and neighboring regions of Eastern Europe. Founded in 1984 by former members of the Yale Slavic Chorus, Slaveya has been an active member of the folk music and dance community in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for more than 20 years. Slaveya takes its name from the Bulgarian word for nightingale. "Slaveya" appears in the popular song Dragana i slaveya, which tells the story of a singing contest between a young woman and a nightingale. The members of Slaveya are women living in America who are united in their love of women's traditional song from the Balkan regions.

Slaveya's repertoire of traditional unaccompanied vocal music is drawn primarily from the Slavic vocal heritage of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine. Customarily sung by women, the lyrics reflect the constants of village life: the harvest, war and its heroes (folk and real), matchmaking, flirtation, loves lost and found, birth and death. Women sing while sowing and harvesting in the fields, at "working bees" in the home, and while participating in community life at village dances, weddings, and religious and seasonal celebrations.

From 2003 through 2007, Slaveya worked with Artistic Director Tatiana Sarbinska, an internationally recognized performer and teacher in Bulgaria and the United States. Under Tatiana's tutelage, Slaveya developed a professional, engaging performance presence and a refined, powerful vocal expression.

Slaveya has performed for many Washington, D.C.-area events, including the 2004 Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards) at the Strathmore Music Center; a collaborative concert with the Capitol Hill Chorale; the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage concert series; the Library of Congress Capital Roots concert series (appearing with Tatiana Sarbinska); the Washington Folk Festival; the City of Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts; the Takoma Park Folk Festival; the Lutheran Church of the Reformation New Connections series; Bulgarian Community Center events; the National Presbyterian Center International Mission Fair; the Baltimore Folk Music Association Folk Festival; and the Northern Virginia Folk Festival.

In August 2005, Slaveya travelled to Bulgaria to perform in the 9th National Festival of Bulgarian Folklore in Koprivshtitsa. Slaveya also presented concerts in Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad.

Slaveya was nominated for a 2006 Wammy award in the World Music Group category by the Washington Area Music Association.

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