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[Phil Howard]

I'm trying to learn/record a tune from every country in the EU, at a rate of about one a month, as a nice ambitious learning project having been playing just over a year. I'm starting to look at Bulgaria, for which I've chosen to have a crack at Trâgnal mi Jane Sandanski - which is in 7/8.

I'm guessing that bass on beat 1 and chord on beats 4 and 7 would work/be the most obvious way of applying my basic understanding of oom-pahs? I'd like to be getting the left hand in sooner rather than later and don't want to go off in the wrong direction with it...

ABC I've transcribed for the tune is below (based on score at http://www.balkanarama.com/trugnal.htm) - I've yet to find any recordings online to refer to. Playing on a C/F Liliput (r/h declubbed), so can't play some of the suggested chords, but it seemed best to copy from the source before starting to experiment.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be very welcome!

X:3
T: 3: Bulgaria - Trâgnal mi Jane Sandanski
M: 7/8
L: 1/8
K: Dm
|:"Dm"AGG "Gm"GF FE |"Dm" FGE D2 FG |"Dm" AGG "Gm"GF "C7"GA | "F"A2B cB AG |
"Gm"AGG GF GA | "Dm"FGE D2 DE | "Bb"F2 E "Gm"FG "A"ED | "Dm"D3 D2 D2 "fine" :|
|:"Dm"A3 A2 (A G) |(G F2) (A2 B/A/G) | "Gm" F3 F2 (G/F/E) |1 D3 (D2 E/D/C) :|2 D3D4 ||
|: "Dm"(D2 E)"Gm"(G3 A) |"Dm"(G F2 F2 EC) | "Bb" (D2E)"Gm" (AG GE)|"A7" (F2E)(FG ED) | "Dm"(D3 D2 D2) "d.c. al fine":|

[Chris Ryall]

Bulgarian 7/8 horos are in the 'asymmetric rhythm' group and may correspond to shifts of weight, or to foot movements.

This eg is the latter - Sophia region https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u4jOtmmX_M

Southern, Macedonian ones may be slower, with a sway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu4YpTmD_eI

As such the 3,2,2 notes you cite above are perhaps better though of as long, short, short pulses, and I would definitely avoid anything of the  the Om, pah, pah genre!  This is bagpipe music, not melodeon!  So just do a bass tap until you have the right side really solid. It's 'three' might be full length or brief, try to keep the 'twos' clean and short. The whole thing clean- but the main expression of rhythms is on the other end and you are just accompanying on left, really.

Be careful not to slip into a 3,3,2 (very easy)!  As you get used to it, and if you have the right chords you can try tapping those in the same way, but any attempt the 'hold' them is likely to mush it up.   In Bulgaria someone else would usually do rhythm and another chords, though some of the big CBA players manage alone.

 I don't know this particular tune and don't have a player on this workstation. Other tune types - eg   - compound up into 9's 11's 17's even. Dancers would think of  a kopanitsa 2,2,3,2,2 as  'quick,quick,slow,quick,quick'   You should always bear in mind that this is (fundamentally) dance music. 

[Phil Howard]

Thanks Chris

I'll see how I get on. Eastern European/Balkan music looks like it's going to be quite a challenge from the examples I've found so far, and the early part of the alphabet has a reasonable concentration of them - but the greater the difficulty, the greater the benefit (providing I actually get to grips with them!).

I have to admit that length and "less extreme" time signature were what attracted me to this one - it seems more than ambitious enough, something three times as long with many more parts and in 17/8 would have been way too much.

[Anahata]

As such the 3,2,2 notes you cite above are perhaps better though of as long, short, short pulses, and I would definitely avoid anything of the  the Om, pah, pah genre!  This is bagpipe music, not melodeon!

...but almost invariably accompanied rythmically by tapan (big drum) or chords strummed on on tambura. So that's the part you can imitate with the basses. The tapan is interesting in this respect, because the big stick makes a bass drum sound while the little stick gives you a more agile and snare-like sound. You can roughly map the two on to your bass and chord buttons.

So just do a bass tap until you have the right side really solid. It's 'three' might be full length or brief, try to keep the 'twos' clean and short. The whole thing clean- but the main expression of rhythms is on the other end and you are just accompanying on left, really.

From what I remember of the musicians playing PA for dance workshops at the 2001 Balkanfolk seminar in Pamporovo, they were definitely keeping the basses percussive. A long beat would typically be bass-gap-chord and the short beats would be either bass or chord, alternately (oom-pa) if there were several in a row.
The melody side can be quite misleading rhythmically, especially when highly ornamented, which it often is. So while you certainly need to learn the rhythm well and be able to play it precisely, I wouldn't say the melody side is leading the rhythm.

[Cooper]

I always use the Tapan as guide as well. Very often this leads me to:
B_c/B_/c_  as rithm, (B=bass, c=chord)
123/12/12
But it's always a matter of taste ofcourse :-)

[Anahata]

I always use the Tapan as guide as well. Very often this leads me to:
B_c/B_/c_  as rithm, (B=bass, c=chord)
123/12/12

I couldn't have put it better myself!

[IanD]

I always use the Tapan as guide as well. Very often this leads me to:
B_c/B_/c_  as rithm, (B=bass, c=chord)
123/12/12

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Easy was to remember this -- in your head, think "Gina Lollobrigida"...

[Steve_freereeder]

I always use the Tapan as guide as well. Very often this leads me to:
B_c/B_/c_  as rithm, (B=bass, c=chord)
123/12/12

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Easy was to remember this -- in your head, think "Gina Lollobrigida"...

No - that would be 12/12/123.

What you really need is 'Brigida Lollo Gina' to give you 123/12/12
or how about 'Give us another cuppa' ? 

[IanD]

I always use the Tapan as guide as well. Very often this leads me to:
B_c/B_/c_  as rithm, (B=bass, c=chord)
123/12/12

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Easy was to remember this -- in your head, think "Gina Lollobrigida"...

No - that would be 12/12/123.

What you really need is 'Brigida Lollo Gina' to give you 123/12/12
or how about 'Give us another cuppa' ? 

Next time I'll check the original posting more carefully -- GL is right for the Yugoslav tunes I had in my head which are indeed 12/12/123...

So try another tasty reminder, liver and cabbage pizza ;-)