Balkan folk dance music downloads

Ajde Jano, Kolo Da Igramo (Come on Jana, Let's Dance the Kolo) is traditional Serbian dance from Kosovo. This recording is from Sasha Smerkic's Folkolore, A Destiny series.

Bigrenicko Kolo, a Vlaske dance from Serbia.

Cicino Kolo is one of the classic Serbian dances.

Deltic Kolo is one of our favorite melodies for Kolo (U sest).

Gnjilane is a dance from the Gnjilane region in Kosovo. The men and women dance separately: men in shoulder hold with big movements, and women close together in a W hold, with small steps and a lot of hip movement.

Gnjilanski Cacak is from Gnjilane, Kosovo. It's a dance for the groom before he gets married. We knew it also as Silovacko Kolo, but the Gnjilanski Cacak that we learned in Serbia has two additional parts.

Gori More is a Serbian dance that came out of the Serbian community in Milwaukee. It's danced to a song by Zeljko Sasic that was very popular in the 90s.

Hajducko Kolo is a vlasko kolo from the eastern Serbia Zajecar - Negotin - Majdanpek area. This kolo is fast and is more for virtuoso musicians (and dancers!).

Jelo Jelena is an upbeat dance from the Sumadija region in Serbia. We learned it during one of our seminars with Vladimir Tanasijevic.

Juta is a typical Vlach melody from Serbia.

Kokonješte or Kokonješće is one of the "classic" dances of Yugoslavia. It was a favorite of turn-of-the-century ballrooms as well as village churchyards; by 1900 it had attained sufficient popularity among Serbs living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Vojvodina) that by the 1920's it had been transplanted to the U.S. and Canada by immigrants from that area. More

Serbian folk dance from the Kolubara region in Western Serbia. Fun music!

Kolumbarka, also known as Mangupsko kolo and Beogradsko Mangupsko Kolo, is another one of those simple, upbeat Serbian dances with that "something special" that makes them so fun to dance.

Kopacka from Serbia, but it's really a kopanica!

This week's dance is Krajinska Shetnja, from Serbia.

Live recording of Krushevjanka Kolo from our Serbian workshop last week. It's a simple Serbian dance from Sumadia with almost the same pattern as Pinosavka.

Leskovacka Cetvorka is a Serbian dance from the village Bucumet near Lescovac. The dance is especially interesting because of the way that it flirts with the music, instead of being married to it.

Another one of our biggest hits, Medeno Kolo is an easy dance from Serbia.

Narodna Kola is the music that we use for Krushevjanka Kolo.

Niska Banja is a drinking song from Serbia. One verse is about a guy bragging that he is going to the baths in Nis to pick up a girl and break her heart. Another verse is simply counting backwards from 10 in Serbian. This is the version by the Pennywhistlers & Theodore Bikel.

Opsa, a cute little Serbian number from the Milwaukee based Sloboda Orkestar. Support the artists who make Dunav possible by ordering one of their CDs.

Preplet is a fixed U Sest pattern dance from Serbia with typical styling of the Sumadija region. More >>

Raca is a Vlach dance that was performed by many groups at the Vidin stage in Koprivchitsa. This is the Serbian version.

Retko Kolo is another easy Serbian dance, good for starting out the evening. Great music!

Ripna Maca is a Sop dance with versions from both Bulgaria and Serbia. The popular choreography, with the "slow-quick-quick" rhythm typical to the Cetvorno family of dances, was introduced in the 50s by Dick Crum. More

Rokoko Kolo is a Croatian dance from Serbia. It's a dance from the Croatian population of Backa, near Subotice (in Vojvodina), who have lived in Serbia for generations. This version by the Banat Tamburitzan Orchestra is the most well-known one in the recreational folk dance community.

Ropota is a Vlach dance from Serbia. Very similar to Sigma, it's a lot of fun to do, with lots and lots of stamping.

Rumenka is a Serbian dance from Studenica.

A medley of dances from Sumadia that we learned from the Kolo dancers when they were performing in Israel. The medley is a collection of five dances: Poskok, Ti Momo, Djurdevka, Igrale Se Delije, and Cacak.

The lyrics for the first four songs and the music scores for all five pieces are available for downloading.

Seta is a classic Serbian dance. It can be danced either as a 4-step braid or like the beginning of Setnja. We dance it like Setnja without the fast part at the end.

Stara Sapcanka is an energetic dance from the Macva region in Serbia, near the Bosnian border.

Music for Stara Vlajna, a Vlach dance from Serbia.

Staro Oro, from Vranje in south Serbia, has strong Rom influence in its styling - very similar to Vranjanka.

A medley of dances from Studenica in south central Serbia: Planinka, Brzak, and Gokcansko Kolo. It ends a bit abruptly but they are wonderful melodies that make the dances a lot of fun to do.

Sumadijsko Kolo is an open circle dance from the Sumadija region in Serbia.

This Serbian dance is one of our current favorites.

U Sest is a "set" kolo with fixed patterns that are called out by the leader.

Čarlama, (to strike), also known as Užička Čarlama (named after the town of Užice in Western Serbia) is yet another Balkan dance whose origins remain somewhat unclear. The dance can be seen on film performed by an amateur dance group from Užice in the classic 1948 Jadran film (now DVD) made available by Dennis Boxel. More

Uzicko Kolo is one of the most popular tunes for dancing Kolo (U Sest). Uzicko Kolo was composed by Milija Spasojevic, who was considered to be one of the greatest accordionists in Yugoslavia in his time.

Vlajna is a Vlach dance from east Serbia. The basic steps and the many variations are typical to Vlach dances in this region.

Vlasko Kolo is Vlach dance that was brought to Israel by the Kolo ensemble during their visit here in the early 1990s. The stamps in the dance are typical of Vlach dances. One popular explanation is that the stamping is meant to expel demons and bad spirits.

The video of this dance is also available.

Introduced to the music of Sano Duso by Dick Crum in the 50s, and to the music of Belo Lence by Dennis Boxell in the 60s, Vranjanka, Sano Duso, Belo Lence, and Deli Agus are all the same dance from South Serbia Vranje to Gnilane. More

Vranjanski Cocek is from the Vranja region in Serbia.

Zikino Kolo is a pan-Serbian dance, one of the oldest kolos.

Hava Nagila was added to the site in honor of Israel's 57th Independence Day last May (2005). We always thought of it as an Israeli song but after five minutes at the Guca* festival, we realized that Hava Nagila had Balkan roots. It is by far the most popular piece of music at the festival, played by every band. This version is played by the famous Boban Markovic Orchestra.

* Guca is Serbia's annual brass band festival, attended by hundreds of thousands of people.