Kassia Arbabi
Location: Richmond, Va.
Occupation: Musician and massage therapist.
Connection to Balkan music/dance: I just moved to Richmond, and am playing with the following bands: Richmanian Ramblers (Romanian music); The Vulgar Bulgars (traditional klezmer, Balkan, Romani music with funky original arrangements); and My Son the Doctor (traditional klezmer and Balkan music). I also busk on my own and play tons of Balkan music; people love it!
Number of times at Balkan camp: First time at camp!
Studied at camp: Albanian violin, Albanian ensemble, Greek violin, Bulgarian ornaments, songbook singing.
Memorable moment at camp: I loved how friendly and welcoming everyone was, how much everybody loved to play this beautiful music and how supportive everyone was. My favorite moment was getting to sing with the Macedonian village ensemble evening performance for dancing; almost all of my cabin mates were in the class and/or in the songbook class that joined them! I loved porch front jams playing this beautiful music with my cabin mates.