Dance workshop and party with Bulgarika

featuring dance and music from Macedonia and Bulgaria

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Dance workshop with Michael Ginsburg, 3–6 pm
Dance party with music by Bulgarika, 8–11 pm

Payson Park Congregational Church parish hall, 365 Belmont Street, Belmont, Massachusetts

The Folk Arts Center was pleased to welcome back the band Bulgarika for a fabulous Bulgarian and Macedonian music and dance event. Donka and Nikolay Kolev returned to Boston along with two other master musicians on this year’s tour. Bulgarika 2018 features:
Donka Koleva - lead vocals
Nikolay Kolev - gadulka (3- or 4-stringed bowed instrument)
Stoyan Kostov - vocals, tambura (plucked stringed instrument)
Michael Ginsburg - tupan (drum)

  • Workshop: $20 / FAC members $15 / Students $10
  • Dance party: $20 / FAC members $15 / Students $10
  • Both events: $35 / FAC members $30 / Students $20

  • Dance workshop, 3–6 pm
    Michael Ginsburg began teaching Balkan folk dance in 1964 in New York City and currently teaches a weekly dance class there. An expert in the complicated rhythms of Balkan music, he has made several research trips to Bulgaria and studied in Macedonia with Pece Atanasovski. Michael has taught some of our favorite dances.
    Dance party, 8–11 pm
    Bulgarika will play for a lively dance party with participatory dancing for all levels. Beginning dancers may find that many dances at the party can be followed by watching the leaders. Don’t miss this exciting evening of Bulgarian and Macedonian music and dance! Please help protect the hall’s wooden floor by changing from street shoes to clean, soft-soled shoes for dancing.

    About Bulgarika 2018:

    Donka Koleva (vocals), an internationally prominent singer, is a native of the town of Rudozemin in the Rhodope region of Thrace, Bulgaria. She has been a featured soloist on Bulgarian national radio and television, has participated in numerous singing competitions in Bulgaria and Europe, and has been featured on multiple recordings. Since immigrating to the US she has taught and performed widely across North America and Canada, both privately and at camps, festivals, and other events.

    Nikolay Kolev (gadulka), a native of the Thracian Rose Valley village of Karavelovo, has been playing gadulka since age 10. He performed for three years with the Sliven Folk Dance and Music Ensemble, and founded the orchestra Sopot, the wedding-music ensemble Rozova Dolina, and the prize-winning ensemble Balkanski Glasove. Nikolay has accompanied many well-known singers including Vulkana Stojanova, Roumen Rodopski, and Todor Kozhuharov. He has also taught many students at a number of Balkan camps in the US.

    Stoyan Kostov (vocals, tambura) has been playing the Bulgarian tambura for over 40 years. He graduated from the National Music School “Filip Koutev” and the Bulgarian National Conservatory. Stoyan performed with Ensemble Trakiya and played tambura with Harmanliska Troika, and guitar with the Ograzhden ensemble in Sandanski, where he also directed the N. Vaptsarov Folk Ensemble.

    Michael Ginsburg (tupan, master dance teacher) plays tupan with Cherven Traktor, a band that plays Bulgarian folk music on traditional instruments. He also plays trumpet with Kavala Brass Band, a band specializing in the brass music of Aegean Macedonia. He is a founding member and the lead trumpeter of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, formed in 1983. In 1987 they were the first foreign band to appear at the world-famous Brass Band Festival in Guca, Serbia. Michael also serves as the head of the Program Committee of the Golden Festival in Brooklyn, New York, an annual event attracting thousands of participants and featuring dozens of musical groups.

    For more information, see the Bulgarika 2018 Tour web pages.

    To arrange for private vocal or instrumental lessons with the band members, contact Donka Koleva by phone at 646-296-4045 or by email.

    Download the Bulgarika 2018 FAC workshop and dance party flier.