Korean Music Night at NDK

Last Thursday we had  the opportunity to go to a Korean music concert at NDK - the National Palace of Culture - organised by the Korean embassy. Just between you and us: they're also planning a Koran section in the library itself, so as you can see they're being quite aggressive - in a good way!

The musicians performed with a guitar, a piano, a kayagum and a taegum

The programme (source: Korean embassy in Bulgaria facebook page):

< Programme >

1. "Ch’ŏngsŏnggok"(청성곡), Traditional music - Taegum
:Taegŭm is a large transverse bamboo flute, or tanso, a small notched bamboo vertical flute.

2. "Sanjo"(산조), Traditional music - Kayagum
:Sanjo is Korean representative music for solo instruments, developed in the 19th century. It has five movements which increase in tempo Chinyangjo, Chungmori, Chungjungmori, Chajinmori and Hwimori.

3. "People of the sea" (바다의 사람들), transcript by Ju Eun Jung from traditional melody - Kayagum, Taegum

4. "Pochagi" (보자기), Hye Lim Kim - Taegum
:Literally 'Pochagi' means a patchwork cloth that can be used as a wrapping cloth.

5. "Let it be", Beetles - Kayagum, Guitar

6. "Heart for the People"(그들을 위한 마음), Ji Eun Jung - Kayagum, Guitar
:As is well known, Korea has been divided into North and South for more than 60 years. In the face of such geographical and ideological division, the most important thing is to continue to love the people who are suffering. So this composition is called 'Heart for the people'.

7. "The Narrow Way"(좁은길), composition and text by Ji Eun Jung - Kayagum & singing, Guitar

8. "Ch’ŏng"(청), Taesŏng Kim - Taegŭm, Piano
:The powerfully passionate music combines with the calmness and contemplation of ‘Ch’ŏngsŏnggok’ to bind the piece together.

9. "Arirang", Traditional music - Kayagum, Guitar, Taegum, Piano
:'Arirang', is the most representative Korean traditional folk song. 'Arirang' is an ancient native Korean word. 'Ari' means 'beautiful' and 'rang' can mean 'dear'.

10. "Hubava si, moya goro", Bulgarian folk song, transcript by Ji Eun Jung -Kayagum, Guitar, Taegum, Piano

---

We recorded parts of the concert to share the feeling of being there.You're welcome!


Let It Be

Heart For The People

The Narrow Way (lyrics in Bulgarian and Korean)

Arirang

Hubava Si, Moya Goro

As a last surprise, there was a small buffet waiting for us at the exit. And all this for free. You Koreans are spoiling us!

May 24th - Slavic Language and Culture Day

Do you know the two men pictured below?

They are Saints Cyril and Metodius, the 9th century Christian missionaries who introduced Orthodoxy to the Slavic countries of the Balkans, but are perhaps more famous for creating what would eventually become the Cyrillic alphabet, which was first used in the Bulgarian Empire and then spread to other Slavic countries.

More than 1100 years later, these same countries reserve a special day in their calendar for honouring these men that have been so important for their culture, and that day is the Slavic Language and Culture Day.

We volunteers received invitations to the ceremony which took place in front of the National Library, itself named after Cyril and Metodius. There were a lot of important people attending who gave speeches offered wreaths at the foot of the monument and there were children reciting poems about what it means to be a Bulgarian - at least, I understood as much.

In front of the National Library

After the ceremony was over, our supervisor Valya invited out for lunch, were some of us had our first experience of an earthquake ever. Because we care about our friends, relatives and readers, we made the following video to assure everybody that we were totally fine.



A lot of things happening these days in Sofia: this earthquake, Levski (the football club) celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding, today is the day of the European elections...

We'll sign off leaving you with a taste of Bulgarskata Azbuka!


АНИМИРАНА АЗБУКА от А до Я from FinFilm on Vimeo.

Open doors day at the Sofia City Library

If you were wondering how to spent this lovely Saturday (10th of may 2014), I will recommend you to stop by the Sofia City Library and take a look inside at our open doors day!!
You might find a new interesting book to enjoy with a coffee in the park or have a little chit - chat with one (or more) of the very sweet and helpful librarians or us interesting, young EVS - volunteers from Latvia, Greece, Spain and Denmark, who will be around (I'll personally be at the Nordic reading room, 4th floor) from 11:00 am to 18:30 pm.
And if you should feel like it, you might even take the chance and participate in Zanda's "Native American Art" workshop in the American corner from 11:00 - 13:00
Or
the "Creative English Magical Writing" from 13:00-14:00 also at the American corner by me (Maria)

Hope to see you there!

Labour day / Ден на труда

National holiday; 6 days off from 1th to the 6th of may and time to visit friends in Primorsko! Not bad at all! 
But wait a second... Why did we get all these days off again you say..? 
- Ah yeah, Labour day!

In Bulgaria is the 1th of may, like in many other countries, the day that marks the struggle for dignified work and of curse the feeling of solidarity amongst laborers. 
Even the Roman Catholic Church has dedicated this day to St. Joseph the Worker.

In 1890 the Socialist International recognized May 1th as an international day to celebrate the struggle for workers' rights, which in around 30 years after, among other, was the struggle to get the right of eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

In Denmark the day is used by the working unions and some of the the socialistic politicians, to gather all their supporters to celebrate and to share a day of common ideology and long speeches. 
But the 1th of may, in Denmark, isn't a national holiday and not everyone is having the day of; some only partly and others not at all, depending on the agreement the company has with the specific union.
The day is celebrated in most of Europe and also America but the way of celebration and traditions for the 1th of may is not the same in two countries and the variations are many.

The 6th of May is the Day of Saint George and the national holiday for celebration of the Bulgarian Army.

In Bulgaria St. George is the patron of spring verdure and fertility, and of shepherds and farmers. His Day, May 6, is believed to set in summer and the new farming cycle.
He is also among the few saints to be honered by both Christians and Muslims alike.

May 6 was officially pronounced as the Day of the Bulgarian Army on January 9, 1880, shortly after the establishment of the country's military.
Then in 1946 when the Communist regime came to power, the holiday was banned and first reinstated on January 27, 1993 and since 1998 been marked as a national holiday.

Baba Marta and Martenitsi

One of the most interesting celebrations in Bulgaria is Baba Marta, or Grandma March, a pagan tradition for welcoming the spring which lives to this day. On March 1st, Bulgarians gift one another red and white interwoven strings (martenitsi), which they are then supposed to wear or adorn themselves with until they see a stork or a budding tree. That's why you can often see red and white strings hung on trees everywhere around Sofia: people wish to share with the tree the health and luck they have enjoyed by wearing the martinitsi. Isn't that sweet?

The tradition of Baba Marta has mysterious origins; we have already heard three stories on how the Martenitsi first came to be, but the common thread running through all of them has been that the red colour is supposed to come from the blood of an innocent, be it of a young girl or a wounded bird. According to Wikipedia: "While white as a color symbolizes purity, red is a symbol of life and passion, thus some ethnologists have proposed that, in its very origins, the custom might have reminded people of the constant cycle of life and death, the balance of good and evil, and of the sorrow and happiness in human life." Notice the sacrifice (red) of the innocent and pure (white).

Does it remind you of anything? Yes, paganism! In fact, just like pagans used to personify the elements, Baba Marta has been imagined as a grumpy old woman who goes through sudden and violent mood swings. This is to symbolise the sudden changes in weather the month of March is known for in many different cultures. We got a taste of Baba's bipolarity ourselves: following a streak of very -unnaturally- warm days, in the morning of March 1st the sun had been shining and the weather in general had been perfect, but later that day it started raining, it got colder, and since then things still haven't got better. Baba, have mercy, look at our Martinitsi (but also take climate change into account)!

Anyway, to celebrate the day, we made some Martinitsi of our own! There was a relevant workshop in the Children's Department of the Sofia City Library, where we learned how to make them and had plenty of materials to let our imaginations run wild. Who said you can't mix tradition with innovation?

The girls hard at work... This is Daphne on the left, my girlfriend,
who was visiting during those days.

The twist in the technique!

Martenitsi come in various shapes and sizes!

Enjoying them before giving them away...

Different styles of martenitsi

Zanda's hair (picture by Daphne)

Ben Ten and Angry Birds martenitsas...