49th Anniversary Balkan Spring Festival in Chicago

This year’s Spring Festival will take place March 28-30, 2014 at the International House at 1414 E 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, featuring the dance, music, & culture of the Balkans/Eastern Europe. Dance parties every evening with the best Balkan orchestras. Concert Saturday evening with 10+ Balkan/E European dance and musical groups. Workshops in dance, singing, and music Saturday & Sunday, 9am-5pm with top master teachers in Balkan/E European & Turkish dance. Music and songs including Martin Koenig, Atanas Kolarovski, Ahmet Luleci, Ventzi Sotriov, Chris Bajmakovich, Ljupco Milenkovski, James Stoyanoff, and others. (Link for tickets).

About

The Spring Festival is an eagerly awaited annual event which draws enthusiasts of Balkan and other Eastern European as well as Eastern Mediterranean music, dance, food, and culture from throughout North America to Chicago – a chance to celebrate with old friends and to make new ones.

Guided by master dance teachers and inspired by virtuoso musicians you will want to dance, sing, and jam all weekend long! Be enthralled by splendid performances of music and dance at the Saturday evening concert, and then enjoy great dancing on a sprung oak floor to exhilarating live music. With mouth-watering delicacies prepared by expert Balkan cooks our sizzling parties are renowned coast-to-coast and have proven equally popular among dancers, world music fans, and the Balkan and Eastern European communities. Bring your family and friends too!

This program is part of the Global Voices spring festival series at the International House at the University of Chicago, which co-sponsors the festival along with the University of Chicago Center for Eastern European and Russian/Eurasian Studies (CEERES) and the Ensemble Balkanske Igre, which performs the traditional dance and music of the Balkans and Eastern Europe. The Ensemble in recent years has co-sponsored or provided logistical support for concerts with such distinguished artists as the great Ivo Papazov (winner of the 2005 BBC Audience Choice Award in world music), Esma Redzepova („Queen of Romany Music“), Orchestra Boban Markovic (First & Golden Trumpet“ at the Guca Dragacevski Sabor Gathering of top brass bands), Ivan Dyakov (top Macedonian singer in Bulgaria), Orchestra KAL (Romany orchestra that was at the top of the world music charts in Europe in 2006), Le Mystere De Voix Bulgaire and other top artists. Authentic Rrom dance, music, and culture will be prominently featured in performance and in fun, participatory workshops lead by Rumen Shopov and Sani Rifati.

This year’s nationally renowned 49th anniversary Spring Festival will feature virtuoso musicians performing the captivating music and dance from every corner of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Mediterrean, including Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Slovakia, Poland and Turkey. Balkan music and dance enthusiasts are flocking in from coast to coast.

This is the premier festival of this type in the Midwest, the only one of this quality and scale between New York and California, and puts Chicago at the cutting edge of the exciting scene in world and Balkan music and dance.

Video:  The 2013 Balkan Spring Festival from the University of Chicago, International House. (Photography by Steve Gubin)