Lineup
Workshop teachers
Performers
Bulgarika
Nikolay Kolev
Nikolay Kolev has been playing gadulka since age 10. After graduating from the National School of Folk Arts in Shiroka Lŭka, Bulgaria, he performed for three years with the Sliven Folk Dance and Music Ensemble. In 1984 he founded the orchestra Sopot. In 1985 he formed the wedding-music ensemble Rozova Dolina, and in 1992 the prize-winning ensemble Balkanski Glasove. Nikolay has accompanied many well-known singers including Vŭlkana Stojanova, Roumen Rodopski, and Todor Kozhuharov. In 1999, Nikolay was the first Bulgarian to be recognized by the Slavic Heritage Council of America for his outstanding contributions to music.
Since emigrating to the U.S. in 1995, Nikolay and his wife Donka Koleva have played an active role in fostering Bulgarian music.
Donka Koleva
After graduating from the Folklore High School in Shiroka Luka, Donka Koleva, a vocalist prized for her rich, clear and melodic voice, worked as a soloist with the Sliven Ensemble. She then directed the chorus of the Sopot Ensemble, and soloed with the wedding band Rozova Dolina.
In 1994, Donka started recording with the National Radio and Television in Bulgaria. In 1997, her recording of “Javore” was song of the year. Since she moved to the U.S. in 1995, she has taught and performed traditional and arranged songs from Bulgarian Thrace and the Rhodopes at Balkan camps on both coasts.
Valeri Georgiev
Valeri Georgiev is from the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse. He studied kaval with Stoyan Chobanov and Georgi Penev, and graduated from the Plovdiv Academy of Arts with a BA degree in folk-ensemble conducting.
After completing his education he returned to Ruse and joined the band of the Folkdance Theatre “Naiden Kirov,” later becoming its musical director. With this dance ensemble, Valeri was featured on TV and radio programs and toured the world. He also performed and recorded with the Orkestar Horo, composed music for the theater piece Geracite, and arranged many folk songs and instrumental melodies.
Valeri now lives in Washington, DC, where he plays and manages the Bulgarian folk band Lyuti Chushki and the duo HaSega!.
Stoyan Kostov
Stoyan Kostov has been playing Bulgarian tambura for over 40 years. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. Stoyan performed with Ensemble Trakiya and played tambura with Harmanliska Troika, and guitar with the Ograzhden ensemble in Sandanski, where he also directed the “N. Vaptsarov” Folk Ensemble. He lives in Pittsburgh.
Montreal’s own Domaći Trubači—Serbian for “home team brass band”—plays Serbian and Macedonian brass-band music for all kinds of events, bringing a taste of Guča to weddings, birthdays, holidays, dance parties, and more.
Kutsi Merki
Kutsi Merki is a Bulgarian expression meaning "crooked measures." Kutsi Merki, the band, performs Bulgarian and Serbian classics with jazz and rock influences and with festive, explosive, and frenetic energy.
Yves Moreau
In 1966, fascinated by Balkan folklore, 17-year-old Yves Moreau first went to Bulgaria. He traveled around the country, recording dancers, singers, and instrumentalists on film and tape, and learned to speak Bulgarian. He returned to Bulgaria almost annually between 1966 and 1986 to research dance and record music.
Now recognized as one of North America's foremost exponents of Bulgarian dance and folklore, he has, for more than 50 years, been lecturing and conducting workshops on Bulgarian, Balkan, and Québécois dance throughout North America as well as in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
Sumak Brass Band
Sumak Brass Band is a soulful and energetic five-piece brass band with a strong Romani influence, playing a wide variety of folk music for dancing from the Southern Balkans (Albania, Bulgaria, etc.), Turkey, and Northern Greece. Featuring modal improvisation, asymmetric rhythms, and the sounds of saxophone, trumpet, trombone, tuba, and tapan.
Tsonko Stoyanov
Tsonko Stoyanov was born in Yambol, Bulgaria. In 1983, he began dancing with the Tundzha Folk Ensemble in his native city. Over the course of years he became the group’s choreographer and completed professional training in artistic direction in Plovdiv. He moved to Montreal in 2002 and since then has been the choreographer and artistic consultant of the Ensemble Balgari. He also founded the dance club Trakia for youth who wish to learn the rudiments of the dance of their country of origin.
Tsonko and his wife Galya are also known as caterers. They will offer Balkan culinary specialties during the BalkanFest dance party.
