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spring 2006 Events:
A Night of Folk Dancing
Ezher Uremez & Karamfil Balkan Folk Orchestra
March 31 , 2006
Friday night will be a village folk celebration with traditional folk dancing and music. Ezher Uremez will teach dances to authentic folk music from Turkey, Israel, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Africa, and other countries. These folk dances will be done in circles, lines, with a partner, or in groups of three. In the second half of the evening the Karamfil Balkan Folk Orchestra, which plays authentic village music of Bulgaria, will perform as everyone dances to their tunes. No experience neccessary!
Ezher Uremez started her folk dance training at age 16 in Istanbul, Turkey in 1965, as a member of the Turkish National Ensemble. She participated in competitions all over Europe and toured in Turkey. She started international folk dancing in the U.S. in 1970. She founded Turkish Folk Dance performance groups in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Winston Salem, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Rochester, NY, while increasing her knowledge of the dances of other nationalities under master teachers, and by attending hundreds of workshops and obsessively collecting music and notes. For the last year she has been reviving international folk dancing in Charlottesville, Virginia and teaching it in the community and at the University of Virginia.
Karamfil Balkan Folk Orchestra plays and sings traditional music from the Balkans, mostly from Bulgaria and Macedonia. The band plays on traditional instruments: the kaval, an end-blown flute (with no fipple); gadulka, a fiddle; gajda, a bagpipe; tambura, a long-necked mandolin; and tupan, a two-headed bass drum. The melodies (both instrumental and vocal) are highly ornamented. A typical harmony is a drone under the melody, with close intervals that make the air vibrate 'like the ringing of bells'.
Since the mid '80's Karamfil has been rehearsing, partying and performing at folk dances, ethnic festivals, weddings, and concerts in the northeastern US and Canada.
past events:
2007-2008 Events
2006-2007 Events
2005-2006 Events
2004-2005 Events
2003-2004 Events
