in a Bulgarian concert and dance party

Join us for a fun-filled evening of Bulgarian "wedding band" music.  This concert tour features the reuniting of four world-class Bulgarian wedding-band musicians who starred in Bulgaria in the 1970's and 1980's and will now be playing together for the first time in a decade.  Highlights of the concert and dance party will include continuous dancing along with food and drink in an old-world taverna atmosphere!

Ivo Papazov (clarinet) is a living legend in his own country, Bulgaria, and has become a phenomenon in the West as well.  In 1974 he founded the band Trakiya in Bulgaria and became the superstar of what came to be called "wedding music", one of the most popular music styles in the Balkan region.  This style of music, named from its popularity at weddings and other such social events, combines haunting melodies with complex rhythms, stunning tempos, unexpected changes of keys, and virtuoso improvisation and ornamentation.  Wedding music is based on regional Bulgarian folk styles mixed with influences as disparate as Jazz, Rock as well as Arabic, Indian and Rom (Gypsy) music.  Ivo has been the subject of a number of documentary films.

Yuri Yunakov (saxophone), Neshko Neshev (accordion), and Salif "Sasho" Ali (drum set) are well-known virtuosos on their instruments and played with Ivo in his band for many years as the band made tours in Europe, North America, and Australia and produced numerous recordings.  All four of these musicians were born in Bulgaria of Turkish Romani (Gypsy) ancestry.

Yuri Yunakov came to the United States in 1994 and founded his ensemble the following year in the image of Trakiya in which he had played back home.  Since then, Yuri and his ensemble have been in great demand among the Bulgarian, Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Armenian and Romani communities in the New York City area and elsewhere in this country.  Yuri has also taught for several years at Balkan music and dance camps.

In this tour Yuri and his guests from Trakiya will be backed up by old and new colleagues:  Carol Silverman (vocals) and Kalin Kirilov (guitar, keyboard, and vocals).  Carol is Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon, and has been involved with Balkan and Romani music and culture for over twenty years as a researcher, teacher, performer, and educational activist.  She has been a singer in the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble since 1995, and is a well-known teacher of Balkan singing.  Kalin has performed extensively in his home country of Bulgaria, recorded with Bulgarian National Radio, and toured abroad, having an extensive repertoire of traditional and wedding-style music on 15 instruments.

We were fortunate to have the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble in St. Louis in February of last year.  This year's historic reunion and tour will once again dazzle audiences as the group makes its only stop in St. Louis.  Don't miss it!