Bulgarian Day in San Francisco

Bulgarians in San Francisco?? Well ... yes, actually. There are about 10,000 Bulgarian Americans living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and yesterday a good number of them gathered at the Croatian American Cultural Center in San Francisco to celebrate Saints Kiril and Methody Bulgarian Festival with traditional music,  food, wine, and spring rituals.

Saints Kiril (also spelled Cyril) and Methody (also spelled Methodius and Metodi) are not household  names in the U.S. but they are in Bulgaria, and right that they should be. These brother-saints of the 9th century were giant intellectuals in the Slavonic Orthodox Church, but best known in the West for their invention (more or less) of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Bulgaria, Russia, and other Slavic countries.

Bulgarians honor Saints Kiril and Methody on May 24 as a day to celebrate culture, literature, and of course, the Cyrillic alphabet that bears Saint Cyril's name. Children pick flowers and make wreaths for adults, and sing the Anthem of Sts. Kiril and Methody.


Since 2001, Bulgarian American choreographer Tanya Kostova has brought this festival to San Francisco audiences. Flowers, Bulgarian food, Bulgarian wine, and Bulgarian music and dance round out the program. The day has always been a family day where multiple generations share festivities and speak Bulgarian, but this year especially the program focused on kids.Young folks enlivened the afternoon with traditional costumes, poetry recited in Bulgarian, by traditional flower garlands.


Adult entertainment was equally enjoyable with concerts by the Bay Area's Nesitinari Orchestra and the Petar Ralchev Quartet from Bulgaria. There are a number of samples of the quartet on YouTube, but here is my favorite of Petar's accordion work,

Here's a shout out to John Daley at the Croatian American Cultural Center, who produced the festival, and Tanya Kostova, mastermind and creative director. Stay tuned for next year; it will only get better.

 

Lilla Serlegi at the Croatian American Cultural Center

About five years ago a young Hungarian musician arrived in the Bay Area to learn English. Last night she graced Bay Area audiences with a solo concert as part of the Croatian American Cultural Center’s Culture at the Crossroads Series. In those five years Lilla Serlegi has found her place in the Bay Area Balkan music scene as lead instrumentalist and singer in two local bands, noted tamburitza instructor, and frequent guest musician. 

It is misleading to consider Lilla simply Hungarian, though she is that and more. Lilla grew up speaking Croatian and Hungarian, and absorbing the musical influences from the three cultures of her childhood village. As she explains in the program notes, 

I am from a small Croatian village in Hungary near the Austrian border in the area called Gradišće. Our population Gradišćanski Croatians on the two sides of the border is approximately sixty thousand people. This area has been populated by Croatians from the sixteenth century. Our culture, to this day, is a blend of Croatian, Hungarian and Austrian. It is obvious in our music and in other aspects of our life. Tonight I will bring music to you from Croatia, the old country, a bit from Hungary, and music with the taste of the Austrian influence.

                Last night’s concert was completely introduced by Lilla (and yes, she did achieve her English learning goal). Her lively personality engaged the audience immediately, and I found Lilla’s introductions and back story associated with each song to be one of the best parts of the concert.   

For example she introduces the song Kad me lupi tambure:  “This is about the good feelings of playing and listening the tamburitza. Why is the next song important to me? I remember when Caroline Bahr of Novi Stari Tamburaši gave me this song to sing with them. This was the first song I sang solo with them. It has become the song of Lillian Ruzich, my dear Lillian, and me. It is a Slavonian song.”

The program included music from Hungarian, Croatian, Austrian, Dalmatian, Romani and Moldavian traditions. She selected each song for a personal association. For each section of the concert she invited her favorite musicians to the stage:  The Slavonian Traveling Band, Novi Stari Tamburasi, and the Ferenc Tobak Family Band. Though I’m struck by the musical quality of Lilla’s solo work, the presence of the various bands highlights the cultural range of her musical  repertoire.

          Lilla’s expertise on the strings and vocals, as well as her energy and enthusiasm to share her tradition with Bay Area audiences is a blessing to Bay Area Balkan music enthusiasts. Her style and repertoire is unique to my knowledge. We are all fortunate to have this emerging musician in our midst. With Lilla’s energy and talent I expect to see her as an emerging young leader in this musical scene.

     This short video captures Lilla's lively personality and love of music, as well as samples for last night's concert.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA SECRETS: Drone Magic

Yesterday occurred one of the most extraordinary events in the Bay Area: the 7th annual Drone Magic International Bagpipe Festival. Each Christmas season instrument maker and musicologist Ferenc Tobak gathers bagpipes, bagpipers, and and bagpipe music lovers like me for a grand celebration of this weird music that is part of the musical tradition of almost every culture throughout Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. And what do these musicians have in common? They love hugging goatskins!

This year's festival started off with a lecture demonstration by bagpiper and musicologist Sean Folsom. Sean has made bagpipes and bagpipe lore the focus of his musical life since he switched from jazz and rock in 1970. It was the Scottish pipes that stole his heart.

Sean filled us in on the origins and evolution of the instrument. The antecedent of the bag-pipe is -- quite obviously if you think about it -- the pipe, such as those pictured at the top of this post. According to Folsom, the pipe originated in the kingdom of Sumer (now modern Iraq) a good 3-5 thousand years ago. It was the Romans who added the bag.

The Romans are responsible for dispersing the instrument, and the Christians are responsible for repressing it. Sean told us that nearly all early Christian music is vocal, because instrumental music was too closely associated with pagan practice. So the bagpipe survived for about 500 years as a shepherd's instrument in all the regions that the Roman Empire touched.

There is much more to the history, but let me fast forward to the 20th century when the bagpipe had all but died out in most areas. It was considered dirty, yucky, and generally old fashioned. Then came the revivalist movement, of which both Sean and Ferenc have played a big part. Ethnomusicologists convinced old village musicians to bring out their old bagpipes. These scholars admired the bagpipes, repaired them and and recorded melodies. And young people took interest. Bagpipes are becoming cool for Generation Yers as evidenced by the young players at the concert last night and by my favorite Celtic band Seven Nations.

Sean owns 55 bagpipes from Great Britain, Italy, Croatia, North Africa, and Armenia. He pulled them out of his suitcase, one by one, and demonstrated -- the tone, the different kinds of construction, and the story behind each one. He could have been the Pied Piper. The audience was fascinated and definitely in the mood for the concert which followed.

Ference Tobak (whom I wrote about in this blog August 29, 2009) is himself a gifted musician, instrument maker, and ethnomusicologist. Each Christmas season he produces this event. Last night's concert included piping traditions from Spain, Sweden, Scotland, England, Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece. Each musical tradition is entirely different, the only similarity being the limitations of the instrument itself. The Bulgarian group entertained us with a caroling ritual followed an animal blessing consisting of guys dressed in animal skins as you can see in the photo.

And how did I get interested in bagpipe music? I guess it's in my blood. My father is a second generation Scot. Though music in general was not a part of our family life, when bagpipe music came around -- at the Scottish Games or occasional touring groups -- we'd end up there -- my mother in agony and my father and I in bliss. Those days are gone and so is my father, but I try to make it to the local Scottish Games so I can to listen to 100o pipers gathered on the racetrack playing together Scotland the Brave. Tears come to my eyes every time.

Here is a selection from the concert on YouTube