Balkan Camp + Maine Fiddle Camp

This turned out to be a major camping year.

One week in Balkan Camp followed by a week of the Maine Fiddle Camp.

At the Balkan Camp I took Albanian and Greek fiddle workshops.  Played the cello in the Albanian and Bulgarian ensembles.

I did several hours of cello workshops at the Maine Fiddle Camp but also tried some Irish fiddling and other stuff.

It was nice to remember tunes from thirty years ago.  I could actually play some of them in a group setting!   I definitely want to go back to Maine Fiddle Camp. It was wonderful.

Here are two tunes I learned at camp.



Da Slockit Light - Supposedly the composer was thinking about a fishing village in the Northeast islands that was being abandoned.

 
Something Albanian.

Balkan Camp

Just spent 3 days in Rock Hill, NY with Earl, his sister and cousins at the Eastern European Folklife Center Balkan Camp Workshop. It was our first time there. We flew up to Baltimore to Earl's sister's home and then drove about 6 hours to the campsite The food was very good. Plenty of salad and many good diet choices (besides the evil stuff). Also provided late night snacks. They served baklava twice and even had a lamb roast party with grilled vegetables, hummus and baba ghanoush on the last day.

The Iroquois Spring camp had excellent facilities. The showers, etc. were actually in the back of each cabin. There were parties all night long. We were very lucky and got some cooler weather. It has been a very warm summer. I did some dancing and tried playing the Bulgarian tambura which is tuned like a guitar and played like a mandolin. Earl participated in several ensembles. He's in the videos below.