Tamara Layman Ethnic Dance Theatre 314 Clifton Avenue, Suite 105 Minneapolis MN 55403 (612) 870-8831 info@ethnicdancetheatre.com www.ethnicdancetheatre.com Work Samples Audio: Shopski Riimy Tracian Suita Vlashco To hear the work samples, Windows Media Player is required. If you do not have it installed, you can download it for free here: Download Windows Media Player

The Ethnic Dance Theatre Folk Orchestra Bulgrian music The Ethnic Dance Theatre Folk Orchestra offers traditional Bulgarian folk music performed on the accordion, clarinet, kaval, gadulka, guida, tambura, tarambuka, and tapan. The orchestra performs solo, as well as with the entire Ethnic Dance Theatre ensemble and the Mila Vocal Ensemble. Members of the orchestra are also available to conduct music workshops. The orchestra's talented musical membership provides a fertile environment for the preservation of Bulgarian traditional music through special association with group member Nikolay Gueorguiev. Mr. Gueorguiev, a recent immigrant and professional musician from Bulgaria, grooms each of the works with an emphasis on ornamentation and interpretation of the line for authenticity. It is with this methodology that the orchestra provides the residents of Minnesota with a glimpse of Eastern European culture with incomparable liveliness. Upon request, The Ethnic Dance Theatre Folk Orchestra plays music from a plethora of cultures from around the world. Available: Anytime Space: From concert halls to schools to private homes, we can adapt to most available spaces. Fee: $600 to $1,000, negotiable, plus mileage reimbursement for performances outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and lodging for performances more than two hours away from the Twin Cities

Additional Information:
Ethnic Dance Theatre musician, Nicolay Gueorguiev is a Bulgarian immigrant who, although devoted to his American home, also continues to have respect and a longing for the Bulgarian wedding-style instrumental groups he played with as a professional in his land of birth.

Ethnic Dance Theatre was already performing Bulgarian music in the Twin Cities but Nick patiently began grooming the musicians in a truer style of Bulgarian interpretation, a process that was easier said than done. Many of the conventions of Bulgarian music are unique to its idiom, meaning that it takes a deep commitment from a non-native to play credible Bulgarian traditional music.

Nick's first project with Traki was to prepare a group of the Ethnic Dance Theatre artists to represent Bulgaria at the 2000 Festival of Nations in St. Paul. This involved more than just learning melodies because the ensemble needed to add idiomatically correct melodic ornaments, authentic interpretations of melodic lines, and the complex rhythms that make playing Bulgarian traditional music such a challenge to those who did not grow up listening to it. The new group answered the challenge, and grew to be an ensemble winning approval from both Bulgarian and non-Bulgarian audiences.

The orchestra's repertoire is centered on traditional Bulgarian dance rhythms and is played for concert situations as well as for social dancing. Typically, the group plays a lot of medleys, in many cultures part of the means to present dance music to audiences in concert situations.

There are five main instruments showcased within the orchestra. First and foremost is the gadulka, described as "the Bulgarian violin." It is indeed approximately the size of a violin, but played in the position of a cello. The instrument has three bowed strings with another 10 strings that vibrate sympathetically causing the gadulka to have a mellow, haunting timbre. The orchestra also uses the kaval, a recorder-like instrument that is blown from the right side of the mouth and the tamboura, which a strummed rhythmic instrument that can also used for playing melodies. Other instruments in the orchestra include the piano accordion, the clarinet, and when possible the gaijda, Bulgarian bagpipes. On occasion, the orchestra performs with members of Mila, Ethnic Dance Theatre's Vocal Ensemble.

Some of the players are conservatory-trained and others are informally trained. All of the traditional ornamentation is learned by ear. Regardless of their personal musical backgrounds, the appeal of the music for the players lies in the at-first unfamiliar rhythms and harmonic progressions of Bulgarian music. It challenges sense of everything they've previously learned about music. Nick feels most American groups playing a similar style of music are hybrid; they mix Bulgarian music with other music styles encountered in the United States. The orchestra, however, has been able to master and present Bulgarian traditional music that is more true to Bulgarian style. The enthusiastic response to the group not only gives credibility to Nick as their mentor, but to the adaptability of the other musicians as well. The members of the orchestra enjoy performing for concerts as well as playing for dancing. Folk dancers appreciate the authenticity and danceable quality of the orchestra's Bulgarian rhythms and the interplay with audience and dancers enacts the mission of the orchestra, to spread the word about the wonders and mysteries of Bulgarian traditional music.