BRING ON THE BULGARIAN RHYTHMS

Eastern European folk music, especially music from countries like Bulgaria and Romania, is known for its unique "additive" rhythms, rhythms that are composed of small groups of beats added to one another to make an exciting phrase. Rather than counting a straightforward 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, we take bunches of 1, 2, 3 or 4 beats and add 'em up -- 2 + 2 + 3 = 7 beats, or 3 + 3 + 3 + 2, or 4 + 3 + 3 + 1. We count that out, hop when we feel like hopping, and dance!

In this video we learn about Bulgarian “Additive Rhythms” with our partner, Tedy Dimitrova, who performs with several Balkan choirs and bands in the Seattle, Washington area, such as Dunava, Orkestar RTW and Osem I Devet.