Berkeley Balkan Bacchanal presents Balkan Ensemble Meraklii and Orkestar Seyir. Show starts at 8 pm. Doors open at 7 pm.
Tickets: $20 at the door/$15 for students. Cash, card or Venmo accepted at the door.
All ages before 10 pm. 21+ after 10 pm when kitchen closes.
Food, beer and wine available from the bar.
Orkestar Seyir brings Tallava music from the Balkans to the USA, sometimes even mixing traditional Tallava dance rhythms with American EDM. Tallava is modern Balkan Roma music, a genre of music rarely played in the United States. The band is led by co-leaders Dvoraka La on the electronic violin/vocals and Jeff Giaquinto on the electric guitar. They are dedicated students of David Mamudov, a Macedonian Roma Tallava violinist and guitarist. Kat Lopez-White (bellydance) will be collaborating with Orkestar Seyir for a portion of their set.
Dvoraka La: electric violin and vocals
Jeff Giaquinto: Electric Guitar
Jacque Patton: keyboard
Ari Salim Marcus: Darbuka
Melissa Cruz: Electronic drum kit
Sean Spangenberg: Electric fretless bass
Bay Area-based Balkan Ensemble Merkalii & Rumen Sali Shopov pick you up and spin you around with their energetic Balkan and Romani dance tunes.
Rumen “Sali” Shopov is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and director of Balkan Ensemble Merkalii. Raised in the vibrant Turkish/Muslim/Romani neighborhood of Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria, he was immersed in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Turkish, Serbian, and Romani music, and also served as concertmaster of the Bulgarian folk ensemble Nevrokop. Since emigrating to the US in 2001, he has performed and taught in numerous Bay Area venues as well as international music camps and has received support from ACTA and the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission.
Sharon Grodin - Accordion
David Solnit - Clarinet
Daniel Goldberg - Saxophone
Mike Margulies - Trumpet
Ivan Velev - Tupan
Lucas Roemer-Camino - Violin
Rumen Sali Shopov - Tambura, Vocals