Kef Times

Meghan Quinn

Location: Saugerties, N.Y.

Occupation: High school English teacher.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: Before I moved to the Hudson Valley this summer, I played in Ahavaraba, a Buffalo-based klezmer band. We added some Balkan tunes to our repertoire, but I knew that I was just scraping the tip of the iceberg. I had heard about EEFC’s Iroquois Springs Balkan camp, and it seemed like an ideal way to immerse myself in learning about the many styles of Balkan music. Since I also found out I’d actually be moving to the Hudson Valley, camp seemed like the perfect place to make some new musical connections. I met so many great people through camp, including some folks in my area that I have started to play with weekly as part of a Balkan music club based at Bard College. I plan to keep playing and learning about Balkan music, and I hope to be in a band someday soon.

Number of times at Balkan camp: This was my first time at camp, and it most certainly will not be my last!

Studied at camp: I took four different classes each day at camp: accordion lessons and Albanian ensemble with Raif Hyseni, and accordion lessons and ornamentation class with Kalin Kirilov. I also participated in Mavrothi Kontanis’s Greek singing class a few times! It was immediately apparent that at Balkan camp, you are learning from the best of the best—people who truly live and breathe the type of music they are teaching. I found all the teachers to be very generous with their time and talents. What I learned from them, and from my fellow students, made me not only a better Balkan musician, but a better musician in general.

Memorable moment at camp: I especially loved the opportunity to perform and share what we had been learning in classes with everyone. Kalin’s accordion class did a surprise performance one night, playing in the dance hall as folks spun in a circle around us. Raif’s Albanian ensemble performance was incredibly fun, since almost the entire camp was participating too. I got chills the first time Merita [Halili]’s beautiful Albanian singing class added their voices to this ensemble.

Balkan camp is a total immersion into music that goes far beyond what I learned in classes. Walking on the winding paths, I would hear the sounds of gajdas and zurlas off in the woods somewhere, tapans echoing from an outdoor classroom, teenagers playing ukuleles on a porch, and people practicing their instruments all over the place. The dance hall is the center of camp life after dinner, and it is filled with lively bands, singing and dancing every night. Then the fun continues at kafana until the wee hours of the morning.

Beyond the learning opportunities and musical experiences, I quickly discovered that the people at camp are fantastic. Whether newcomers or longtime participants, people were open-minded, curious, kind and passionate. I was instantly welcomed as part of the community by cabin-mates, classmates, dancers and teachers. I can’t wait to come back to camp next year to be part of it again.

Jeremy McClain

Location: Lawrence, Kansas

Occupation: Have worked as a field botanist but am currently disabled and three years into my battle with Lyme disease. I have been bedridden much of the time for the past two years. I applied for a scholarship when going through a good period. Once about every 10 months I get about two good weeks; fortunately for most of the week of camp I was pain free and able to engage.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: I have set up monthly lessons on piano accordion.

Number of times at Balkan camp: This was my first time.

Studied at camp: All accordion: Kalin [Kirilov]’s Bulgarian ornamentation class, Raif [Hyseni]’s accordion class and Albanian ensemble.

Memorable moment at camp: I was trying to a little dancing and had never done any before. But one of the really powerful dances that’s doable for beginners, I was able to get into that muscle memory. Dancing the odd meters, feeling it corporally in your body, really helps you as a musician. Another enjoyable thing was seeing Kalin just playing outside his cabin on the porch in the early evening; he was playing with some guy playing gajda from Northern California. There was another guy playing some sort of percussion. It was very memorable.

Bonnie Silver in center, playing tapan (April Renae)

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Occupation: I am a psychotherapist in private practice.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: I am so lucky to be living in a city where there is so much (although sometimes still feels like not enough) music and so many opportunities to dance. There is a folk dance group that meets bimonthly in a Chelsea studio which we try to keep alive, and an impromptu gathering in our local park which someone else from camp has organized for dancers and musicians, which I hope we can keep going as long as the weather permits. I continue to study the tapan privately and have participated when I can in classes (last year with the Bulgarians) and jams.

Number of times at Balkan camp: This was my fourth year at camp: I began by only attending a dance party. After the bed and breakfast option became available my whole experience changed: I remember how I felt leaving camp in the morning while the ensembles were gathered and people were playing music: I knew then that I needed to be a part of this environment and would be a camper. I began with 1/2 a week, then a full week, then only 1/2 (due to financial constraints), and finally this year I was able to have a full week at camp as a scholarship recipient.

Studied at camp: My classes concentrated on tapan—both instruction and ensemble playing; and of course, at least one dance class. This year Joe [Graziosi]’s Greek class captured me!

Memorable moment at camp: This year’s camp has put me deeply in touch with the cultural roots of the music I have loved since I was a teenager. In my tapan class, Matt [Moran] collaborated with Alex [Marković] on a group of dances and rhythms which Alex has only seen in a small Serbian village. The set of rhythm changes was complicated and remained a “work in progress” even as we performed it at the end of the week. This to me was the essence of the real musical work we do at camp—the importance for me is in the effort and the learning, not as much in creating a polished finished product. Being part of an ensemble with professional musicians and scholars is an opportunity I cherish. Particularly moving was when Alex told us we were the first non-Roma people ever to play this sequence.

There is another visual image that stays with me—it is the expression on my friend’s face on the last morning of camp. We are saying goodbye and I have asked her what it is like for her, as a person from the Balkans living in the U.S., to spend a week with so many people immersed in her own cultural heritage. She is moved to a great smile and to tears.

This year’s camp has deepened my understanding and appreciation in ways new and surprising for me. I cherish what I have learned; I look forward to what lies ahead.

Jennifer Shearer

Location: Arlington, Va.

Occupation: Belly dance teacher and performer.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: Balkan music has been “trendy” in the belly dance community for a number of years. Watching Rachel Brice, Mardi Love and Zoe Jakes perform a kafana-worthy shot-glass-balancing choreography to Boban i Marko Marković was one of the primary experiences that drew me in five years ago. However, it quickly became apparent that most belly dancers have no idea that the Balkan region possesses a rich movement history and repertoire of its own. It was just that place with “Gypsies” and great catchy music. It’s become my personal mission to offer an alternative vision for “Balkan fusion” within the belly dance community, one that is rooted in the actual folk movements, region-specific stylizations and cultural markers of the various communities and nations within the Balkans. To that end, I offer workshops on Balkan folk dance and my brand of Balkan fusion within the belly dance community and work with my dance company, The Slivovica Sizzlers, to produce choreographic suites that entertain and educate by physicalizing the spectrum from pure folk dance to pure belly dance while highlighting the movement commonalities between them as the most fruitful grounds for thoughtful fusion. Check us out on YouTube to see what I mean!

Number of times at Balkan camp: I’m a “camp kid” so I’ve attended almost every year of my life, which is 20+ years!

Studied at camp: I always take as many dance classes as my legs can stand, but Alex [Marković]’s Serbian dance classes are always my favorite. This year, I tried two new instruments: santouri with Yianni [Roussos] (during first slot nonetheless!) and zurla with Jessica [Ruiz] and Milo [Destanovski].

Memorable moment at camp: Growing up, I watched Luka and Eva Primak sing their hearts out to perfection, Jesse Kotansky play up a storm on his violin, and many other camp kids pick up melodies and instruments with an ease that I could barely fathom. After a botched attempt at joining the brass ensemble on trumpet (there was no Čoček Nation to ease the transition from Marlis [Kraft]’s kids class back then), I decided to give up on anything beyond drumming and dancing at age 14. My inner perfectionist decided that those two things were my only talents, and everything else was an embarrassing waste of time.

This year (a decade since my fateful decision), I went to camp ready to get back into the game with santouri. It’s about as close to a drum as a melody instrument can come. All you have to do is hit it in the right place at the right time with sticks. Perfect. But zurla came as a complete surprise. I heard that Jessica’s sole beginner zurla student would be leaving midweek, and as a staunch supporter of all things zurla/tapan, I rounded up some of the young ladies at camp, and we trooped up to the kafana after lunch. Unsurprisingly, my fellow students were naturals, and once again, I felt like the village idiot. Jessica would sing or call out fingerings, and the class would reply back almost perfectly, except for me. I sat there sweaty, pink, and too anxious to put enough air into the instrument to make some of the loudest mistakes of my life. I could feel Milo and Jessica slowly getting exasperated with my unwillingness to play (although in retrospect their level of patience was saintly) and I knew that the only way I’d ever get better was to do just that.

Finally, Jessica told us to spread out and play far enough away that our ears might stop ringing. I found a spot in the woods, and as the mosquitoes bit through my jeans, I still couldn’t get myself to play. This internal battle was exactly what pushed me out of Brass ensemble right there at kafana 10 years before. Back then, I was too afraid to sound anything less than perfect in front of a community saturated with talent. I couldn’t handle the expectations that came with being a “camp kid.” I had been told stories of Zlatne Uste sounding like “noise and drum” when they first started, but that felt impossible. That was obviously a myth used to comfort unpromising beginners like me, and so I had given up.

I began regretting that decision the day I made it, and so I used that pent-up frustration to fuel my next move. With at least half of camp as my captive audience, I threw my entire lung capacity at that little reed and began to play. I hit wrong notes, my pitch was questionable, and as my mouth grew tired, squeaking became a frequent phenomenon. But then something magical happened, I dropped into “the zone” just like I do with dance, and I lost track of time as I repeated mistakes and struggled to recall the melody. I noodled and bumbled and fumbled, until all of a sudden, class was over. Čoček Nation was marching up the hill, and Jessica was calling for us to return our instruments. I was beaming as I walked back to my cabin that day. I had done what used to be impossible for me and discovered that being the loudest and most unaccomplished beginner in my class was actually the biggest accomplishment of all.

Jonathan Mei

Location: Tacoma, Wash.

Occupation: I am a student at the University of Puget Sound.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: I sometimes take violin lessons in Balkan music and incorporate elements of the style into my compositions. Occasionally I get the opportunity to feature Balkan music and give a presentation about it during cultural awareness events at my school.

Number of times at Balkan camp: I came to camp for the first time when I was 7 years old, about 15 years ago.

Studied at camp: This year I took the theory and ornamentation class, beginning Balkan singing with Carol [Silverman], beginning dancing with Michael [Ginsburg] and Romanian violin with Miamon [Miller].

Memorable moment at camp: One experience that really left an impression on me this year was taking the Bulgarian theory and ornamentation class [with Kalin Kirilov]. It was fascinating to learn about the Balkan styles from a theoretical perspective, especially because my Western classical training has been largely based in this framework. It was mind-boggling to try to comprehend the complex asymmetric meters that Balkan musicians often use, and to examine the traditional patterns and motifs that guide improvisation. Our teacher made an observation that stuck with me, and it was that Balkan music is largely “modal” the same way that American jazz is. It is fascinating to see intersections of musical phenomena among cultures that are so far apart from each other. This is a big part of why I love music, especially Balkan music!

Andreas Musselman

Location: Kent, Ohio

Occupation: I do odd jobs: natural building work and work trade stuff. I also help rehab conventional houses.

Connection to Balkan music/dance: I am really trying to learn the music. I got introduced to it last summer when I was hitchhiking in California and throughout the year since then I’ve been trying to fill my head with every bit I can get. There’s not much of a Balkan scene in Ohio that I’m aware of yet, but I’m actively playing and trying to learn as much as I can. I’m new to the music and to fiddle in general, but I played in a school band when I was young—saxophone, then percussion—and then later played a lot of hard-core really intense metal music. After high school I started traveling and explored different instruments, then learned about Middle Eastern scales, then started diving into Romanian music. I’m planning a trip to Moldova or Romania for this fall.

Number of times at Balkan camp: This was my first time.

Studied at camp: Greek violin with Beth Cohen, maqam theory with Beth, Miamon Miller’s violin class. I did a few sessions each with the Greek ensemble and Trans-Carpathian ensemble.

Memorable moment at camp: I was impressed by the bands that were assembling with people that maybe knew each other outside of camp or for previous camps but also people who were there for the first time, putting these little groups together to perform in the kafana. These musicians are so, SO talented and really know the styles. Coming together, they might read a little sheet music or not, but can make great sound. It was wonderful to be part of such a great community. The scenes with the bands in the kafana were definitely spectacular. I remember one great little klezmer ensemble that combined experienced campers and first-time attendees—super lively, great spirit.