Rila Music Exchange is a joint project of the Ardenza Foundation and the Municipality of Rila, in Bulgaria. The most recent Exchange took place August 31-Sept. 8, with workshops bringing young ethno-musicians of all nationalities to the Rila mountains of southwestern Bulgaria to learn and perform together with local amateur folk music ensembles, enlivening village squares in the region with celebrations of folk music from around the world.
The photo below was taken on September 3 in Pastra, a village between the town of Rila and the Rila Monastery, a spectacular backdrop for the participants' outdoor performance.
The next photo features the striking sky over the Village of Smochevo—most appropriate, since the Bulgarian name of the project is "Music under the Rila sky."
Geoffrey Dean will report on the 2013 exchange in our next Second Monday Music column.
Here is a video from Rila Music Exchange 2012:
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
| Please comment |
Every time you post something from Bulgaria it amazes me how the landscape reminds me of some of my favorite places in America. In this case the top photo in your post could just as well be from the Catawba Valley, looking at McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs, on the Appalachian Trail, less than 20 minutes from where I grew up in SW Virginia.
ReplyDeleteThe instruments are also remindful of those favored by purveyors of our regional "bluegrass" music. Mercifully, the music in your video is much more appealing, at least to me.
kono, I am reminded of a radio commentator making a joke about Pavarotti performing in some backwoods location in the Southeast. He said "the fans were screaming 'Sing Free Bird. Sing Free Bird' and can you believe he didn't even know the words?"
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