Balkan Music Night brings together folk music and dance enthusiasts from across the Northeast for a fun-filled night of traditional music and dancing.  The evening’s festivities take place in two separate spaces: the Main Hall, for participatory dancing to energetic, live Balkan dance band music, and the upstairs Kefana, for acoustic music performances in an intimate venue with concert seating.

Balkan Music Night performers are master musicians who emigrated from the Balkan countries, as well as American-born musicians who have embraced these traditions.  This year, the musical lineup includes bands playing time-honored tunes from across the region, including Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and more!

Among the night’s performers in the Main Hall are Zlatne Uste, New York’s premier Balkan Brass band, playing Balkan brass dance music from Romany (Gypsy), Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian traditions; Kavala, musicians from Zlatne Uste specializing in the rich brass musical repertoire of northern Greece and Macedonia; Revma, featuring Sandy Theodorou, will play for lively traditional Greek dancing; and Pajdaši, playing energetic, irresistible Croatian dance music; and much more!

Upstairs in the Kefana, relax, sit and listen to bands playing acoustic music from the across the Balkans, including local violin virtuoso Beth Bahia Cohen fronting a Hungarian Transylvanian trio, and a second trio with Michael Harrist and Tev Stevig, playing traditional Turkish music; Dolunay, presenting songs of Turkish people living in Rumeli, the former region of the Ottoman Balkans, and Aya and Tano of Sarma Brass Band fame playing traditional Greek, Turkish, and Albanian music, as well as local favorites Zdravets, and Balkan E Boston Acoustic with Elena Mancheva’s soaring vocals.

The night begins with the dance party in the Main Hall at 7:00PM, with simple, no-partner dances, for which brief instruction is provided.  The festivities continue until 1:00AM with breaks for refreshments, sing-alongs, dance performances from local youth groups  Grachanitsa, and Mladost, and participatory singing and dancing for all [hora na pesen].  Upstairs in the Kefana, enjoy a more mellow listening experience, with music performed from 8:00PM until 1:00AM.