Dunablog

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.