Romani ("Gypsy") master musicians Sergiu Popa from Moldova (Accordion) and Rumen "Sali" Shopov from Bulgaria (Tambura, Bouzouki, Percussion) with Valy Lautar (violin) and Balder ten Cate (cimbalom) come together to share an evening of music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans in a wonderful intimate venue. Come and experience the virtuosity of Romani wedding music and soulful, nostalgic melodies played from dusk til dawn in the communities where these musicians were raised.

Sergiu Popa was born in Chisinau, Moldova. From a young age, he studied traditional folk and Roma (Gypsy) music with his father, Ion Popa (a well-recognized Gypsy accordionist in Moldova, Turkish, Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian music). After moving to Montreal in 2002, Sergiu immersed himself into Middle Eastern and North African repertoire. He is widely celebrated for his ability to seamlessly bend these different styles of music. He has collaborated with many of the great names in Eastern European and Balkan music, such as Dan Armeanca, Carmen Piculeata, Fanfara Ciocarlia, Vadim Kolpakov, and Petar Ralchev.

Singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and music teacher Rumen Sali Shopov was born and raised in the Turkish/Muslim Romani (Gypsy) mahala (neighborhood) of Gotse Delchev, a crossroads in Southwestern Bulgaria's Pirin Mountain region, an area known for its rich and diverse musical landscape. Rumen thus learned many Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Turkish, Serbian, and Romani songs in the community-based oral tradition. He began performing professionally in his early teens, becoming the concertmaster of Bulgaria's first national folk ensemble Nevrokop with whom he toured throughout the former Soviet Union and Middle East. He has performed with Yuri Yunakov's Romani Wedding Band, Ismail Lumanovski, Ivan Milev, Vadim Kolpakov, Gogol Bordello, Kitka, Edessa, Ziyia, Balkanski Zvezdi, Gypsy Express, and many others. His student ensembles, Inspector Gadje and Meraklii, have become two of the most popular Balkan Dance Bands in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rumen has taught at many folk dance and music camps and seminars, and maintains a private teaching studio in Berkeley, CA.