PRESENTED WITH ORKESTAR SLIVOVICA AND TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS, Our annual festival celebrating Romani music from the Balkans returns! This year, in addition to Romani (“Gypsy”) style music, we will feature some other Balkan music styles that are not necessarily considered Romani but are often played by Roma bands int the Balkans.
ALSO: DAYTIME WORKSHOPS AND KAFANA LOUNGE! (SCHEDULE BELOW)
Friday and Saturday evenings will be ticketed dance parties with 4 bands, including out-of-town artists including:
– MASTERS OF WIND ENSEMBLE (San Francisco) – Turkish Roma Wedding music
– DROMENO (Seattle) – Greek wedding and dance music
– UNDERSCORE ORCHESTRA (Portland) – Balkan fusion party band
– LONELY COAST (Seattle) – Balkan vocal harmonies
Local groups include:
– GROUPA DUNBAROV – Bulgarian and Macedonian folk dance music
– LACHE CERCEL and the ROMA SWING ENSEMBLE – Romanian Roma and Gypsy-Jazz strings and vocals
BOTH NIGHTS WILL BE HOSTED BY THE BALKAN BRASS BAND ORKESTAR SLIVOVICA
Band websites:
UNDERSCORE ORKESTRA: https://theunderscoreorkestra.
MASTERS OF WIND ENSEMBLE: https://mweband.com/bio/
LACHE CERCEL: https://lachecercel.com
ORKESTAR SLIVOVICA: orkestarslivovica.org
DROMENO: https://kyklosmusic.com/
DOORS AND DANCE WORKSHOP: 7PM
We will once again have 5 group tables for reservation for $50 per table (just the table, everyone still needs tickets!). There will also be chairs and some smaller tables at the back on a first come basis.
FRIDAY EVENING CONCERT Nov 15th:
7pm Grupa Sokolova and Dance workshop to live music
8pm concert featuring:
Grupa Dunbarov (from Vancouver), playing Bulgarian and Macedonian folk dance music
Dromeno (from Seattle), playing Greek wedding and dance music
Lache Cercel and the Roma Swing Ensemble (from Vancouver) playing pan-Balkan and Romanian virtuoso violin and strings
Orkestar Slivovica (Vancouver) playing brass trubaci in the Roma wedding style
SATURDAY EVENING CONCERT Nov 16th:
7pm Dance workshop to live music
8pm concert featuring:
Lonely Coast (from Seattle), singing Balkan harmonies
MWE – Masters of Wind Ensemble (from San Francisco) playing Turkish Roma wedding music
Underscore Orkestra (from Portland) playing Balkan fusion on strings and accordion
Orkestar Slivovica (Vancouver) playing brass trubaci in the Roma wedding style
Saturday and Sunday afternoons will be the “Afternoon Kafana” event, featuring non-stop mini acoustic performances and jam sessions in our giant living room setting, with food and drinks available throughout the afternoon. Free admission, though we ask for a donation for the musicians!
*** This is also the Eastside Culture Crawl weekend, an excellent reason to come to East Van for our out-of-town friends! https://www.eastsideculturecrawl.com/
SATURDAY DAYTIME CONCERTS and JAM sessions TBD. Daytime floor concerts and jam sessions on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons are free, though we ask for a donation for the musicians!
SATURDAY DAYTIME WORKSHOPS (in the basement of the hall)
12-1:40: Balkan singing with Lonely Coast!
2-3:40: Tapan drumming with MWE’s Sean Tergis!
4-5:40: Balkan band arrangements and styling with MWE’s Greg Jenkins!
Prices and class size limits TBA.
SUNDAY DAYTIME CONCERTS and JAM sessions TBD. Daytime floor concerts and jam sessions on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons are free, though we ask for a donation for the musicians!
*** This is also the Eastside Culture Crawl weekend, an excellent reason to come to East Van for our out-of-town friends! https://
The FRI and SAT evening concerts are ticketed events. With your ticket you can access the 7pm dance workshop. We will be teaching different dances each night to correspond with common folk dances to accompany the evening’s music concert. 8pm the live music concert begins, with non-stop entertainment. For evening concerts, we will once again have 5 group tables for reservation for $50 per table (just the table, everyone still needs tickets!). There will also be chairs and some smaller tables at the back on a first come basis.