Walk Dance, dedicated to Scott Tennant, is based on the traditional Macedonian dance Kalajdzisko oro (‘coppersmith’s dance’), centred round the movements coppersmith or tinsmen used while making or repairing large metal dishes.ĭušan Bogdanović, born in Belgrade, Serbia, began playing the guitar at the age of twelve. Rustemul, a dance from southwestern Romania, was originally played by a band with violin and cembalom along with pan pipes and contrabass. It is written in 7/8 metre, a characteristic of much Macedonian music. Macedonian Girl, originally titled Makedonsko devojče (its subject being the unmatched beauty of Macedonian women), was written by the noted songwriter Jonče Hristovski and became part of the folk music heritage decades ago. Jovka and Chicho are based respectively on the Macedonian folk songs Prošeta se Jovka Kumanovka (‘Kumanovo was Walking’) and More čičo reče da me ženi (‘Grandpa Has Decided to Marry Me Off’). The five compositions by Miroslav Tadić are from what the composer has described as ‘my constantly expanding and evolving suite for guitar called Laments, Dances and Lullabies, inspired by traditional music of the Balkans. Since 1985 he has been a professor at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Tadić has written music for numerous experimental film, dance and theatre works. In recent years, Tadić has concentrated on developing an approach to improvisation which combines and juxtaposes musical material drawn from many diverse sources. He performs regularly in Europe, North and South America and Japan. He has performed and recorded in a wide variety of settings and musical styles. Miroslav Tadić, guitarist, composer, improviser and music educator, completed his formal studies of music in the US after studying in Italy and his native Yugoslavia. The entire region has long established traditions of folk music, noted for complex rhythms and plaintive melodies. Countries usually considered to be part of the Balkans are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. The Balkans constitute a geographical area of south-east Europe, taking its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch through Bulgaria from the Serbian-Bulgarian border to the Black Sea.
Balkanisms: Guitar music from the Balkans