Balkan folklore videos
Get more Balkan music this month by subscribing to the Dunav Fridays mailing list.
Macedonian folklore videos
Bajrače (also: Zensko Berance)
A group of Kosturčanki (women from Kostur) performing the Macedonian dance Bajrače for a program of Tanec performances filmed by Radio Television Skopje sometime in the 70s. The word “barjak or bajrak” means flag in Turkish. “Barače” is vocative case and means “Oh flag!” but could be a corruption of some other word. The dance was popularzied by Pece Atanasovski who learned it from Greek civil war refugees from the villages near Kastoria, Greece.
Kopačka
A group of old timers from the village of Dramče, just a few miles north of Delchovo, performing Kopačka. In the clip, the men start with a 10 measure dance called Cigančica then move in to the walking step dance where one sings "Dimna Juda" and then straight into Kopačka. The whole piece is played on two drums only without the melodies.
Women's ritual dances, Isibanja, East Macedonia
These video clips of women's ritual dances from the village of Istibanja in East Macedonia are from the library of Dennis Boxell.
Dennis has an entire DVD devoted to the subject of women dancing in the Balkans. You can contact him directly for more information on how to buy the CD. Buying the DVD helps ensure that more video clips like this one will be available on our site.