2008 Camps and Workshops
Bosnia and Hercegovina
June 28 – July 13
Led by Mary Cay Brass, Tijana Vignjevic, Maja Budimir and Branka Vidovic
Tuition: $1200
Old Market, Sarajevo
Village Harmony Campers in Bosnia
Mosque, Sarajevo
Bosnian Dancers
Market, Sarajevo
Village Harmony is pleased to host its second camp in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Bosnia is a country of great natural beauty - high rock mountains, deep canyons and breathtaking waterfalls with an enduring treasury of traditional arts. Since the devastating war in the early 1990’s Bosnia has made enormous strides in reconstruction and reconciliation. Our first camp there was a great success and we are expanding this year’s camp to a new location and with an additional touring time at the end.
The rehearsal week of camp will take place in the central Bosnian town of Bugojno about 100 kilometers from Sarajevo. Bugojno is an ethnically mixed town of 60,000 on the Vrbas River. It is surrounded by stunning forests and mountains We will stay at the Youth Hotel “Karalinka,” about 1 kilometer from town in a beautiful, forested location. We will work with a local choir and folklore ensemble, make excursions in the area and present our first concert there. From there we will travel to several other towns for joint concerts with local choirs or folk ensembles. Some other likely towns for concerts are Travnik, Konjic, Mostar and a final concert in Sarajevo as part of the month-long arts festival that is held there every year.
Participants in this camp will explore Bosnia’s rich, diverse vocal music from both village and urban traditions of the Croatian, Serbian, Muslim and peoples who live there. We will learn ancient village styles, melodies based on narrow, non-tempered tones and sung with great dynamic intensity and timbre as well as songs from the sevdalinka tradition–lyrical love songs of the urban Muslim population (often called the “Bosnian blues”). Branka Vidovic, an ethnomusicologist from Sarajevo who leads the Music Academy’s Ethno Choir, will be our instructor for this repertoire.
We will also study sacred music from all of Bosnia’s religious traditions with Maja Budimir, a singer and with the Sarajevo-based inter-religious choir Pontanima, which performs the music of the Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic and Islamic traditions of Bosnia. We hope to invite a dance choreographer to work with the camp teaching traditional dances from Bosnia and the Balkans.
Veteran Village Harmony leader Mary Cay Brass will lead this camp with Tijana Vignejvic of Sarajevo. Mary Cay has spent considerable time in the former Yugoslavia and lived there for 2 and a half years on a Fulbright Scholarship in the 70’s. She has a deep love and passion for the musical traditions and language of the area and will teach the American repertoire to be presented in the the concerts. Tijana, who speaks fluent English, taught at our first Bosnian camp and last summer was a big hit at a Vermont-based teen camp with Larry Gordon. She is a lively and dynamic music teacher and director of her own ensemble “Corona” which performs traditional music of the Balkans. She will present a mix of Bosnian, Croatian and Macedonian songs.
Youth Hotel Karalinka
From the website: http://www.karalinka.com/index_en.html
(this seems to be down from time to time).
The Center is located on a plateu in the midst of a pine forrest enclosing the Youth Hotel "Karalinka", sports grounds, running tracks, swimming pool, a fishing lake, and hunters lodge ( for photo-hunting ).
The Youth Hotel "Karalinka" is located on road M-17, linking Bugojno and Split. It is found 1.5km from the center of Bugojno, Ul. Karalinka, 70230 Bugojno, Bosnia. The Youth Hotel "Karalinka" offers a variety of services such as: comfortable lodging, bar, summer gardens, meeting/seminar hall, fitness club, ensuring a perfect stay for groups or individuals. The natural surrounds are complimented with isolated, untarnished flora and fauna in ideal climate conditions.
Faculty
MARY CAY BRASS of Putney, VT is a veteran of the early
days of Village Harmony and a highly sought-after contra-dance keyboardist
and accordion player. In the 1970’s, she spent two years in Yugoslavia
studying folk music on a Fulbright scholarship. She has published two book/CD
collections of folk music from the region — Village Harmony: Traditional
Songs of the Balkans and Balkan Bridges — and plays
regularly with the Greenfield Dance Band based in Greenfield, MA.
Mary Cay leads three very successful community choirs in southern Vermont and western Massauchusetts, and leads workshops at festivals and camps across the country. Using traditional music to create community is her life-long passion and commitment.
MAJA BUDIMIR is a singer and with the Sarajevo-based inter-religious choir Pontanima,
which performs the music of the Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic and Islamic traditions
of Bosnia.
TIJANA VIGNJEVIC studied
conducting at the Music Academy in Sarajevo. She
started singing in choir when she was ten years old. In 1997, she began working
as a conductor with the female vocal ensemble Corona – an
a cappella group that sings the traditional music of the Balkans. She also
works as a high school orchestra teacher in Sarajevo. Her orchestra and choir
have won awards at music competitions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She worked with us at our first Bosnia camp
and co-led a teen camp in the US last summer. She will teach a mix of
Bosnian, Croatian and Macedonian repertoire. This is Tijana’s
third year teaching at Village Harmony camp.
BRANKA VIDOVIC will return for her second Village Harmony in
Bosnia. She is a Sarajevo-based ethnomusicologist
who co-leads the Music Academy's Ethno-Choir. She is an expert in
traditional village-style singing of all the diverse
ethnic groups of Bosnia and has led choirs and taught in folk
ensembles for over 30 years.