Playing with the UCLA Balkan Band

Clarinet

Armand Hammer Museum, April 25, 2004. Left: Bulgarian wedding band with Tim Rice, Chair of Ethnomusicology, playing alto sax and Matthew Carlstrom playing rhythm guitar. Play the first sound file below to hear a selection from a Bulgarian rutchenitsa played in the Balkan performance in Schoenberg Auditorium. May 13, 2003. Play the second sound file to hear a clarinet solo from the same rutchenitsa. Right: Traditional Bulgarian group with Tim Rice playing Bulgarian kaval and RGS playing the Bulgarian gaida (bagpipe). No sound files available (and you probably don't want to hear them anyway!). Band conducted by Ivan Varimezov, pictures courtesy of Matthew Carlstrom, recording courtesy of Angela Rodel.

Sredets, Bulgaria, August, 2004: The UCLA Bulgarian wedding band with Tim Rice on alto saxophone, RGS on clarinet, Ivan Varimezov on gaida, and Geegee Rabe on accordion. In August 2004, the UCLA women's Bulgarian choir, Superdevoiche, and the UCLA Bulgarian wedding band toured Bulgaria and played at the International Folk Festival in Bourgas, on the Black Sea coast. In the pic, we are playing at Ivan's parents' house in the village of Sredets--one incredible experience!