What's the time? Kolo time! II

I guess by now everyone who reads this blog is already aware of my huuuge passion for kolo and folk dances, in general. Made a post a while ago on the basics of kolo, and a couple of videos to illustrate the post and all (you can scroll this page down for the previous post on kolo or click here)

Anyways, as people here seemed interested in kolo, here's a some videos for you guys (bear in mind we made these videos for fun only :)

This is from a couple of years ago... I had just learned how to dance it and was trying to "teach" it to a friend :)


This one is waaaay more recent: me and Chica having some fun with Čačak :D


And at last but not least, this is me and Chica again, memorising a Vlaške igre routine for a presentation:


Hehe, enjoy! :D

A quick hello...

Big plans, news pretty soon.

My return to moj dragi Beorgad had to be postponed a few months, but's gonna happen, of course. Tours, car trips, parties and so on... Lots to come!


In the meantime, I keep drinking my špricer, having my burek (brought from a bulgarian shop in São Paulo, since we don't have it in Rio) and, of course, partying big time - Balkan style, of course!

Ladies and Gents: the party I produce in Rio on Brazilian television, with english subtitles!

What's the time? Kolo time! I

Anyone who have been to Serbia and surroundings have for sure heard about "kolo". Kolo is for Serbia as samba is for Brazil: kolo is the quintessencial serbian dance, is the thing that each serbian citizen is supposed to know how to dance from the day he/she was born - even though (like samba in Brazil) this is not always necessarily true (I am brazilian and I have no clue on how to dance samba).

Kola (serbian plural for kolo) can be very slow and easy, or fast and freaky, depending from the rigion they come from, as kolo can be found all over Serbia and neighbouring countries. The music is usually played by accordions, frula (a serbian flute), violins, percussion and, several times, by brass instruments like trumpets (those played by as many different instruments as possible are the coolest although, in my opinion, accodions are a must when it comes to kolo).

Kolo dance is usually danced in circles - hence the name (kolo means "wheel", "circle" in serbian) - or lines, by two people to several dozens, holding each other's hands while doing the basic steps (always starting to the right):



two steps to the right
one to the left
another one to the right

two steps to the left
one to the right
another one to the left

Discribing it like this might makes kolo sounds rather boring, but it isn't: once you get used to the rithym and the basic steps, kolo becomes rather addictive. I always catch myself moving my feet when I'm sitting on a bus, or waiting on a queue :)



Although the basic steps are rather simple, due to it's many variations from town to town kolo can be added of many ornamental elements and some crazy syncopated steps. Some of the most famous kolo types are Užičko (from the Užice region), Moravac and Čačak (these two from regions with the same name) among many, many others. click on the word links to see videos
In Serbia, kolo is all around: musicians on the streets always play it, people dance to it on kafanas (Serbian bars), clubs, parties and so on. It's kinda magical, cause it's a dance that makes people that never met before get together and dance, hand in hand. I'll never forget when me and my brazilian friends danced kolo for the first time on a kafana or when me and my belgian friend, Valerie, stopped in front of a roma brass band on Knez Mihailova (Belgrade's most famous street) and danced together with some gypsy kids that were around, attracting a crowd of several dozen people that stopped to watch us - an unforgettable moment :)
Kolo is the dance that best expresses the "spirit" of Serbia and it's warm, welcoming and well humoured people. That's probably why I love kolo as much as I do.

Marković in concert

Ontem perambulamos pela cidade no inicio da tarde, eu e Nara. Depois de algum tempinho batendo pernas, Toma me ligou e nos esbarramos no meio da rua, de onde comecamos a tomar nosso caminho rumo a um cafe, o preferido dele. No meio do caminho mudamos de ideia, haha, e resolvemos entao ir a Kafana de tematica "Iugoslavia". Me lembrei muito do restaurante Sovjet, em Colonia, mas nada que se compare: essa kafana eh mil vezes mais "roots", como disse a Nara, hahaha. Fotos de icones politicos socialistas por todos os lados sendo que, eh claro, Tito reina solto lah, forrando todas as paredes - um arraso, haha! Tito em foto, em cartazes, em tapecaria, em estatuas, em tudo e qualquer coisa e de todas as cores e formas (???), haha.

A gente jah tinha tentado ir nessa kafana logo no nosso segundo dia aqui, mas estava tao, mas tao lotada, que nao havia como. A coisa lah eh disputada. Dessa vez, como ainda estavamos no meio da tarde, tinha lugar de sobra. Entao pudemos sentar e conversar, beber, tomar sopa, e etc etc. E de lah, saimos desvairados e correndo pro outro lado da cidade, pra nao nos atrasarmos pro evento mor: o show do Boban Markovic!

Esperamos uns bons 20 minutos pelo tram que deveria chegar em, no maximo, 7. Assim que chegamos na Vasar - uma especie de feira, sendo que essa especificamente acontece na epoca das festas de fim de ano, com venda de varias coisas e, todo dia, um concerto ou algo do tipo. Pagamos (o equivalente a 5 reais pra entrar) e entramos correndo, crente que estavamos atrasados ou que estaria cheio e sem lugar. Ha, pra nossa surpresa, eramos 3 dos no maximo 20 que esperavam pelo show num salao enorme, hahahaha. Enquanto viamos a banda toda do Boban Markovic conversando tranquilamente num canto, bebendo, assistiamos a um show bizarramente delicioso de disco music, hahahaha. Uma mulher, com ar de bibliotecaria, cantando todos os grandes "hits", um estouro! E lah estavamos os 3, empolgadissimos com cada hist mais senior que o outro que comecava a tocar - e, claro, a gente sabia as letras todas, haha. Ateh na televisao aparecemos: um magico esquisitissimo que faz truques pra um programa na TV servia veio nos abordar e filmar. Eu nao conseguia parar de rir, hahahaha.

E entao o show finalmente comecou!!!

Marko Markovic e a banda

Boban e a banda

Boban Markovic :)

Nara, instantes antes de perder a linha - no melhor dos sentidos! - e subir no palco pra dancar, hahahahahaha

Marko e Boban Markovic

Soh hits! Foi absurdamente maravilhoso ouvir ao vivo todas as musicas que eu escuto em casa, ha teeeeempos, o dia todo. Foi magico! As pessoas dancando em cima da mesa, geral podia subir no palco se quisesse, e dancar! E tanto o Boban quanto o filho, o Marko, eram super simpaticos com todo mundo :) Saimos de lah felizes da vida, com vontade de dancar pela rua, haha. E fomos acompanhados, ateh a saida da feira, por um menininho cigano muito, mas muuuuito fofo. A gente deu nossos baloes pra ele, e ele ficou todo feliz. Eu fiquei tao encantada com a figurinha, que esqueci totalmente de tirar qualquer foto dele. Uma noite incrivel.

Ainda hoje a musica tah ressoando na minha cabeca... :))))))))

Ps.: Devo fazer upload de alguns videos do show no youtube em breve, e ponho os links aqui ;)