Tour retrospective: Our bus driver!

Hello! We are back from our trip, but we still have some memories to share. This one from Meredith!

When we visited Bulgaria eleven years ago, Dunava spent a lot of time traveling from place to place on our tour bus. This gave us ample time to connect with our driver, Neno. Neno was boisterous and gregarious with an ample supply of Bulgarian dad-jokes. Soon after we met, he told us to call him "Dedo" (grandpa). He was especially taken with our youngest member, my baby E, who was four months old at the time, and whom he would serenade with a song called "Eleonora Moja."

This year as we planned for our tour, we were informed that Dedo Neno had retired and would not be able to drive us. This was disappointing for those of us who traveled with him in 2014, but understandable, seeing as a decade had gone by. We looked forward to meeting a new driver, knowing that no one could replace Neno.


The Bulgarian portion of our tour began in Pazardzhik. We had a very early start the day we were to travel to our next location. Dunava and entourage, with much eye rubbing and yawning, were waiting when our bus pulled up. The door opened and a spry, suntanned gentleman stepped out singing, "Eleonora moja..."

I was surprised by how emotional I became as we were reunited with Neno. Was it the ungodly hour of the morning? Perhaps. But meeting Neno again reminded me of our last trip, and of the challenges and joys of traveling with my infant daughter, who is rapidly growing into a young woman. I joyfully shared photos of E, and Neno pulled out our CD and a postcard we gifted him on our last tour. It was a wonderful way to connect on a personal level.

Neno drove us from Pazardzhik to Burgas, and from there to Strelcha (where we'd stay while visiting the folk festival in Koprivshtitsa). To say good-bye, he brought his wife and granddaughter to our hotel for breakfast on our last morning in Strelcha. (I guess they wanted to know what the fuss was all about with these American women!)

Dina reporting. 

Whew! Well, that's Belgrade almost done. After three action-packed days, we're off to our next destination tomorrow: Pazardzhik, Bulgaria!

What did we learn in Serbia? We had intense workshops with two master singers of Serbian folklore, Svetlana Spajic (who rearranged our molecules and took us deep through pronunciation, tone production, expression, coordination between lead and accompanying voices, the works) and Sanja Rankevic (who provided a broad spectrum of repertoire, including a deliciously crunchy Ganga, and all of it enhanced by some demonstrations with her university students). 

In short: This isn't like Bulgarian singing at all. ;-) 

Personally for me, it's a little intimidating feeling like a rank beginner again. But at the same time it's exciting to get such a treasure trove of material to discover and work on, and I can't wait to really internalize it and work on it and make it Dunava repertoire.

But right now, it just feels like my brain is full (and I think it's the same for all of us). We've got a nice collection of recordings and videos to review, and at least tomorrow is "just" a travel day, so we have a little time to process. 

I think there were other non-workshop adventures had by others -- such as Fiore searching high and low for trubachi (Serbian brass band), only to stumble on some at a wedding a block from our hotel. Jenny, Merdith, Ramona, Tedy and I went exploring and came upon a street where every restaurant featured a live band serenading guests (it reminded me a bit of Beale Street in Memphis, but -- Serbian!). We ate ceasar salad covered with bacon, "aromatic potatoes" that turned out to be french fries, and discovered the butter-cream hybrid kaymak. (Which needs to stay faaaaar away from me, omg it's the most delicious stuff ever.) And yes, of course: meat. Svetlana fed us an abundant lunch on our last day with her, including a big plate of sausages and ham and meatballs, and lepinja bread. Oof. 

Our teachers and everyone we met was so kind and generous and encouraging. We'll definitely be looking for opportunities to connect with Svetlana and Sanja again. 

Belgrade, Workshop 1

 Hello, this is Jenny. So far, it’s not too hot here — thanks to whatever science happened to make it so!

We're doing it again!

Hello, world! It's Dunava!

We are not regular bloggers, and does anyone even still read blogs these days...?

But we are about to head back to the Balkans, and so we'll revive this online journal to keep our friends at home appraised of our adventures. 

Our trip is from July 28 - August 11, and during that time: 

• We'll spend 3 days in Belgrade, studying with two master singers and educators: Sanja Ranković and Svetlana Spajić
• We'll then head to Bulgaria to study with Tzvetanka Varimezova, who is also organizing a concert with us, the Danish choir Usmifka, and the choir of the Pazardzhik ensemble
• We'll travel to Burgas to meet for personalized lessons with Ana Borisova
• We'll visit the festival at Koprivshtitsa and will perform on the stage in the center of town!

That's what we have planned so far, but more is in the works. We're so excited!

Here's a photo of Tzvetanka during a visit to Seattle last year:

A zillion thanks to our very generous community, who is making this trip possible with some significant financial support. We are so lucky to have such dedicated fans and friends!