Camps and Workshops
2011 International Sessions
Republic of Macedonia Camp
June 30-july 13, 2011 (14 days)
Led by Mary Cay Brass, Larry Gordon, Goran & Adrijana Alachki & other Macedonian singers & instrumentalists
Village Harmony’s first Macedonia camp in 2010 was such a resounding success that we are jumping right in for a second camp in 2011! Veteran Village Harmony leader Mary Cay Brass will again lead this camp with Village Harmony founder Larry Gordon joining her. Virtuoso accordionist, Goran Alachki and his wife, singer Adrijana Alachki will host us once again for the 10 day learning retreat in the beautiful town of Berovo in the Maleshevo Mountains of eastern Macedonia.
Our day will begin with Macedonian folk dance classes taught by Goran’s daughter Graciela Alachki who dances with the Koco Racin Ensemble. We will spend 3 days studying a variety of singing styles with Goran and Adrijana. Goran will teach a band class for instrumentalists to learn the accompaniments to the songs they teach.
Our second teacher, multi-instrumentalist Bajsa Arifovska, will teach us some of her own arrangements of both Macedonian and Roma songs local to the Berovo region where she grew up and offer lessons on any of her many instruments - fiddle, clarinet, tambura, tupan, gaida, and kaval. (Lessons are not included in the tuition price)
Ethnomusicologist and singer Velika Stojkova will be our third instructor, teaching us an incredible variety of songs from village traditions from many regions of Macedonia including rarely heard songs from Aegean Macedonia.
We will stay in the beautiful Hotel Manastir in Berovo - renowned for its traditional gourmet food. The weather in this region is picture-perfect summer weather warm days and cool evenings. Every evening we will have a song and dance party led by Goran and Adrijana and a whole host of their musican friends. There is easy accessibility to downtown Berovo, marked hiking trails and Lake Berovo for exploring.
The camp will conclude with a 4 day concert tour starting in Berovo, then on to Pechovo, Radovish and ending with a concert in the capital, Skopje, as part of its summer arts festival. We will often perform with local ensembles and do homestays with the very hospitable and generous Macedonian locals.
Adrijana Alachki, in addition to being a wonderful singer, is a gourmet cook with a new comprehensive 200-recipe cookbook to her name. She will offer a cooking class each day before lunch which we will all have the opportunity to taste. Graciela Alachki will offer a Macedonian language class. Both the cooking and language classes require an extra fee of $200 paid to Goran upon arrival.
Tuition: $1500
Hotel Manastir
Berovo, Republic of Macedonia
In the town of Berovo located in the eastern Macedonia in the beautiful Maleshevo Mountains and near Berovo Lake, the very comfortable Hotel Manastir will be the group’s host for the first 10 days of the two week camp. All rooms are doubles with a kitchenette and baths. www.hotelmanastir.com.mk
Leaders
GORAN ALACHKI, a virtuoso accordionist, has been designated one of fifteen national treasures of the Republic of Macedonia. Goran is a charismatic, dynamic leader and teacher with incredible, indefatiquable enthusiasm for his country’s musical folklore and with a heartfelt desire to share it with everyone.
Goran's wife 
ADRIJANA ALACHKI
is
renowned as his singing partner as well as a solo performer of traditional Macedonian music. Adrijana is featured on seven CDs. She is also a gourmet cook, with a newly-published 200-recipe cook book of traditional Macedonian recipes explained in dual languages.
BAJSA ARIFOVSKA is a young and talented multi-instrumentalist from the village of Ratevo in eastern Macedonia. She comes from a long line of famous musicians and has been performing since the age of 7. She performs in many bands and is a professor of traditional instruments in Skopje. She will teach her own arrangments of Macedonian and Roma songs from this region.
MARY CAY BRASS of Putney, VT Mary Cay Brass is a veteran of the early days of VH. She directs several community choirs in Vermont and Massachusetts and is the co-musical director of Hallowell Hospice Choir. Mary Cay is also a highly-sought after contra-dance keyboardist and accordion player. She spent two and a half years in the former Yugoslavia on a Fulbright Scholarship in ethnomusicology. She has published two book/CD collections of music from that region. Recently, she has led two very successful Village Harmony camps in Bosnia, as well as the first Macedonia camp.
Village Harmony founder and director LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic adhoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.
VELIKA STOJKOVA is an ethnomusicologist and singer with a specialty in ritual song. She leads the vocal ensemble Bistri Vodi and has been the vocal coach for the Macedonian state ensemble, Tanec. She is a wealth of information on regional styles and all aspects of ritual song and will teach us a set of village songs from her repertoire.