Legendary Bulgarian Roma Stars Return to Ithaca

Saturday, September 15 @ Castaways

Tickets $15 - $18 - visit castawaysithaca.com

Crossing Borders LIVE Radio Concert Series is pleased to team up with Castaways for a return of Bulgarian Roma music, presenting Trakia, the Voice of Roma 2007 US Tour, September 15th at Castaways, 8 pm. Ithaca's Eastern European music fans have a unique an opportunity to enjoy the most legendary musicians to emerge from the soviet eastern block. Tickets are available online at castawaysithaca.com. Tickets are $15 advance; $18 at the door. The performance will be recorded live for a future broadcast on Crossing Borders.

Trakia performs Slavic and Romani (gypsy) music from the Balkan countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey, with a wealth of both Eastern and Western influences. Multiple styles, such as jazz and rock, and multiple sources, such as Turkish and Indian music, are combined with Balkan rural and urban folk music. Called "wedding music" in Bulgaria, the material was officially suppressed by the communist government while it thrived in private settings as a means of countercultural expression.

Yuri Yunakov and Neshko Neshev, (along with Ivo Papasov) are not only Bulgaria's most famous musicians, they are the creators of the legendary "wedding music" of Bulgaria and Macedonia. It has become the most widely listened to form of folk/popular music in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and among Balkan communities in other countries. The fast speeds, impossible rhythms, and complex key changes have a dizzying energy that excites all who hear it. The group was featured on Crossing Borders when it came to Ithaca October of 2005 on the Reunion Tour (which brought the original four members together for the first time since the collapse of the soviet regime). In a total of three "sold out" performances including dance settings, Ithacans flocked to hear Trakia. Those who missed the event now have a second chance on September 15th.

The Romani repertoire highlights the popular dance form "kjucheck" and the marginalization of Roma from mainstream society. Roma, an ethnic group originally from India, have played a central role in the professional folk music of every country of the Balkans. Persecuted throughout history, Roma have recently become the target of numerous attacks in Easter Europe.

Yuri Yunakov (saxophone) recreated the original group when bandmate Ivo Papasov recently took ill, since the 2005 Crossing Borders appearance. He is joined by Neshko Neshev (accordion and original member), Vasil Angelov (electric guitar and member of Trakia for 15 years), and the young Macedonian clarinet prodigy Selaidin (Sal) Mamudoski. Sasho Bikov on percussion rounds out the group on the tour.