TALES FROM EASTERN EUROPE

This page contains stories of music, self-embarrassment and other amusing or informative anecdotes of my trip to Eastern Europe from August 1 - December 18, 2003. Every moment was either music or embarrassment-related, so there will be much to explore. I also have added some sound samples from the dance houses in Budapest.

Note that this is part of a personal site and not meant as an objective assessment of the countries and events mentioned. What a bore that would be! A sad lack of photos is apparent, due to the fact that my camera broke my third day out. Without an itinerary or more than three days in one place, it was impossible to fix it until I settled in Prague. There are several photos of my visit to the Guca festival in Serbia here. Not all countries I visited are listed, such as Slovenia, The Czech Republic, and Austria, where I accidentally bought a Bulgarian dinner on a train and spent my last night at a one-year-old Serb's birthday party.

Dance house mp3s
Here are some snippets of things I recorded while in the dance houses of Budapest. Some are Hungarian, but most are actually Yugoslavian or Romanian -- some even Turkish sounding. Budapest has an amazing international folk dance scene.

Hungary
The dance house scene here was a highlight of my trip and something I hope to revisit soon, if I can ever find my way back. If I do, I'm bringing peanut butter sandwhiches.

Serbia
The trumpet festival in the village of Guca was the reason for my trip. Amazing music, beautiful village, wonderful homemade food, warm-hearted hosts, sheer mob insanity. Then there's Belgrade...

Romania
I spent a week in a poor village near Timisoara, the country's third largest city, with a few young people working to improve things there. There was no running water and only one phone, but the village an internet hook-up and a bar that opened at 9 am for an hour to satisfy the drunks. Anyone who has listened to Taraf de Haidouks knows that Romanians are insane.

Croatia
My favorite Macedonian gypsy band, Kocani Orkestar, came to a town outside of Zagreb to play. They then invited me to dinner afterward and discuss Macedonian gypsy culture, none of which I recall, as all were on our third round of slivovice. I also spent my 30th birthday clutching scissors in a ghetto in Split and discussing gypsies' affinity for organizing gun metal with some NATO officers. Family fun!

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