You've reached the home of Kef Times, the online newsletter of the East European Folklife Center (eefc.org).
Winter 2021-22
Profile: Eva Salina
Although Eva Salina represents the younger generation of American teachers at the EEFC workshops, she has been on staff off and on over the past 18 years, teaching singing. As an American who “grew up at Balkan camp,” she is a professional performer and teacher whose work is steeped in Balkan music. Continue Reading
2019 Scholarship Recipients
In 2019 our community sent 25 individuals on scholarship to the summer Balkan Music & Dance Workshops—the most recent in-person camps. Read the first batch of their reports here. Continue Reading
New and Notable
New recordings and books by folks in the EEFC community. Continue Reading
Origin of the EEFC Auctions
Inspired by conversations during Kafana in the 2021 East Coast Virtual Camp, Sandy Ward wanted to follow up by sharing her memory of the way camp auctions began. She was “in the room where it happened.” Continue Reading
Spring 2019
Profile: John Morovich
Whether leading a tamburica ensemble in the kafana, trading licks with another musician at a picnic table, or assembling an impromptu group to perform Emil Cossetto’s immortal “Ladarke” suite in the dance hall, John Morovich is a vibrant presence at Balkan camp. Having grown up surrounded by Croatian music in Seattle, he has taught classes in Croatian singing, klapa and/or tamburica ensemble at EEFC camps since 1987. Continue Reading
2018 Scholarship Recipients
Vivid, funny, or touching—the impressions of last year’s scholarship students are well worth taking some time to read. Continue Reading
2018 Workshop Photos
See photos from the 2018 Mendocino and Iroquois Springs Workshops. Continue Reading
In Memoriam: Karen Guggenheim
In this issue we honor Karen Guggenheim, gajda player and Balkan camp teacher, who recently died. Continue Reading
Fall 2018
Profile: Paul Brown
Paul D. Brown (the D is for Douglas) has been house bassist, a non-teaching staff role, at the EEFC workshops since 1996. He is known for his easygoing personal style and intense musical chops on both electric and acoustic bass. While consistently providing a reliable bass line in the many ensembles he plays with, he is also inventive and adventurous in his melodic playing. With an eye from the bandstand on almost every flavor of music presented at camp, he has a unique perspective on the scene. Continue Reading
2017 Scholarship Recipients
In 2017 our community sent 25 individuals on scholarship to the summer Balkan Music & Dance Workshops. Scholarship types included the EEFC’s Dick Crum/Kef Scholarship and the Čoček Nation, Stefni Agin, and Lillie Cooper scholarships. Click to read … Continue Reading
Rare Sounds Come Down From the Mountains: A Review of Drómeno’s “Music from Epirus”
Sometimes, by pure serendipity, you come across a new experience that reaches into your soul. . . . Continue Reading
2017 Workshop Photos
See photos from the 2017 Mendocino and Iroquois Springs Workshops. Continue Reading
In Memoriam
In this issue we honor two giants in our community and beyond who died in 2017: Vlad Popovich, tambura player and teacher, and Dinka Ruseva, singer, teacher and Bulgarian folk celebrity. Continue Reading
Spring 2017
Profile: Merita Halili and Raif Hyseni
Singer Merita Halili and accordionist/composer Raif Hyseni, world-class performers from Albania and Kosova, respectively, began teaching at the EEFC camps in 1997. Read about their remarkable lives. Continue Reading
Boston’s Balkan Music Night – Over 30 and Still Going Strong!
In the mid-1980s, there was a small, but established, Balkan music scene on the East Coast. Groups like Novo Selo in Philadelphia, Ženska Pesna in New York, and Evo Nas in Boston . . . . Continue Reading
2016 Scholarship Recipients
In 2016 our community sent 16 individuals on scholarship to the summer Balkan Music & Dance Workshops. Read their reports here. Continue Reading
2016 Workshop Photos
See photos from the 2016 Mendocino and Iroquois Springs Workshops. Continue Reading
In Memoriam
In this issue we honor two giants in our community and beyond who died in 2016: Vassil Bebelekov, gajda player and teacher, and Esma Redžepova, singer, teacher and humanitarian. Continue Reading
Winter 2015-16
Lise Liepman
Known for her warm and welcoming teaching style, Lise Liepman has taught santouri (Greek hammered dulcimer) or Greek ensemble off and on at EEFC Balkan Music & Dance Workshops since 1988, mostly at Mendocino and several times at the East Coast Workshops, and taught Turkish dancing at balkanalia! when that camp was produced by EEFC. She’s also a carousel-restoration artist. Continue Reading
2015 Scholarship Recipients
The community pulled together this year to make 18—count ‘em, 18!—scholarships available for the summer 2015 Workshops. Continue Reading
Balkan Songs
This issue’s Balkan Song is a medley of three Bulgarian pravo tunes. Continue Reading
2015 Workshop Photos
See photos from the 2015 Mendocino and Iroquois Springs Workshops. Continue Reading
In Memoriam
In this issue we honor two towering figures of Balkan music: Bulgarian accordionist Ibro Lolov and Macedonian singer Usnija Redžepova. Continue Reading
Winter 2014-15
Catherine Foster
Catherine Foster attended her first EEFC Balkan Music & Dance Workshop at Buffalo Gap in the early 1990s and has taught brass band ensemble or clarinet and saxophone at the East Coast workshops numerous times since 1994. But she has been performing Balkan music for more than 30 years. Continue Reading
Golden Festival Turns 30
The landscape for Balkan music in the United States was very different 30 years ago. Zlatne Uste had formed two years earlier. It was composed of amateur musicians, many of whom were folk dancers. Continue Reading
Looking at the Edge
An exploration of some knitted lace edging on a chemise from Kjustendil, Bulgaria. Continue Reading
Making Sausage the Romanian Way
Or, how lessons learned in 1972 Philadelphia paved the way for succulent treats at this year’s Iroquois Springs Balkan camp kafana. Continue Reading
2014 Scholarship Recipients
Recipients of the 2014 Dick Crum/Kef Scholarships, Balkan Night Northwest Scholarship, Leah and Nez Erez Scholarship, and Stefni Agin Scholarship write about moments that made their Workshop experiences unforgettable. Continue Reading
Fall 2014
Mark Forry
Likely to be spotted with mouth open wide, leading a tamburica ensemble and often knowing more lyrics than anyone else in the room, Mark Forry has been involved in Balkan camps since the 1975 Sweet’s Mill camp (a precursor to the EEFC camps). Continue Reading
Theofania in Northern Greece: Men’s Dance Rituals of Blessing and Protection
At the southern edge of the Rhodope Mountains, skirts of rock sweep down to the Drama plain. In six tiny villages where mountain and valley meet, an ancient Twelfth Night tradition endures . . . . masked men in goatskins and sheep bells dance through the streets to dispel evil spirits, awaken the fertility of the earth and ensure a good year. Continue Reading
New and Notable
New recordings and books by folks in the EEFC community. Names in bold type indicate EEFC Workshop campers, staff, teachers, and other EEFC supporters. Continue Reading
Balkan Night Northwest
You know when it’s January? And you haven’t seen the sun since September? And the long, grey spring stretches out ahead of you with that little twinkle called Balkan camp at the end of the tunnel? Continue Reading
Spring 2014
Marlis Kraft-Zemel
In 1983, Swiss-born musician Marlis Kraft-Zemel and her two sisters were touring in the U.S. with an international folk music group and wondering if they would get beyond the waiting list for the first-ever East Coast Balkan Music and Dance Workshop. Continue Reading
Fundraising and Telling Our Story
At our most recent board meeting, the Board and I began a process of examining the Board’s relationship to fundraising. I am excited to see their interest in a sometimes daunting issue, and their commitment to stewardship of the organization we love so much. Continue Reading
New & Notable
New recordings and books by EEFC associates, including workshop campers, staff and teachers, and other EEFC supporters. Continue Reading
In Memoriam
In this issue we honor three EEFC Workshop staff members who have died since our last issue: Haig Manoukian, Marcus (Holt) Branicheff Moskoff, and Georgi “Bai Georgi” Petrov. Continue Reading