Balkan music

History and character

“Balkan music” refers to the traditions of the Balkan peninsula — Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, Kosovo, Romania, Moldova, northern Greece, European Turkey — shaped by centuries of coexistence among Byzantine, Ottoman, Slavic, Roma, Jewish and Central European cultures. Common elements: asymmetric meters (aksak) such as 7/8, 9/8, 11/8 and longer combinations, modes with augmented seconds of Ottoman origin, very dense and virtuosic ornamentation, singing with an open and powerful timbre, and music tied to weddings, festivals and circle dances (horo, kolo, oro, hora).

The main traditions: the Bulgarian women's voices (open-voice singing, polyphony with seconds and sevenths, drone), made famous by the album Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (recorded by the women's choir of Bulgarian State Radio and Television, released in 1975 by Disques Cellier and reissued by 4AD in 1986; the second volume won a Grammy in 1990) and by the ensemble of Filip Kutev (founded in 1951); Bulgarian wedding music of the '80s (clarinet, sax, accordion, electric guitar, drums) by Ivo Papazov; Serbian brass bands (the Guča trumpet festival, since 1961; Boban Marković) and Macedonian ones (Kočani Orkestar), Romanian Roma fanfares (Fanfare Ciocărlia, Zece Prăjini, since 1996); the taraf of Romanian lăutari (Taraf de Haïdouks of Clejani, first album 1991) with violin, cimbalom, accordion, double bass; the Macedonian Roma music of Esma Redžepova (1943–2016) and the čoček; the Bosnian sevdalinka; the epic music with gusle.

From film and world music: Goran Bregović (formerly of Bijelo Dugme) with the soundtracks for Emir Kusturica (Time of the Gypsies, 1988; Arizona Dream, 1993; Underground, 1995, with Kalašnjikov), electronic “Balkan beat” (Shantel, Disko Partizani, 2007; Balkan Beat Box), Serbian turbo-folk (electronic pop with traditional ornaments) and Bulgarian pop-folk (chalga). A lot of jazz has fed on these rhythms (Dave Brubeck, Blue Rondo à la Turk in 9/8, inspired by the aksak; Theodosii Spassov on the kaval).

Scales and keys

The Balkans use diatonic modes, scales with augmented seconds of Ottoman origin (makam) and “Gypsy” scales. Roman numerals in minor are relative to the natural minor (with the raised third indicated where needed).

Hijaz / Phrygian dominant (makam hicaz)

• Formula 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7 — in D: D Eb F# G A Bb C.
• Characteristic note: the augmented second Eb–F# and the b2 that falls to the tonic: the “Balkan-Oriental sound” of čoček, Roma music, sevdalinka, brass bands.
• Chords: I (D) bII (Eb) iv (Gm) v° (A°) VI (Bb) vii (Cm).
• Use: clarinet, trumpet and violin melodies; bII–I cadence.
• Common mistake: using the major V (A) as a dominant: the tonic is a major “Phrygian” chord, not the dominant of G minor.

Minor with #4 (“Ukrainian Dorian”, Mi sheberakh, nikriz)

• Formula 1 2 b3 #4 5 6 b7 — in D: D E F G# A B C.
• Characteristic note: the #4 (augmented second F–G#) inside a minor mode: intensity and melancholy (widely used in Romania and in klezmer).
• Typical chords: i (Dm), II7 (E7, which contains the G#), iv (Gm) and V7 (A7); often simply i–II7–i over a drone.

Double harmonic / Gypsy minor

• Double harmonic: 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 7 — in C: C Db E F G Ab B.
• Gypsy (Hungarian) minor: 1 2 b3 #4 5 b6 7 — in A: A B C D# E F G#.
• Characteristic note: two augmented seconds: the virtuosity of Roma violinists and clarinetists.

Diatonic modes and scales of Bulgarian singing

• Aeolian (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7), Dorian (1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7), Mixolydian (1 2 3 4 5 6 b7), Ionian; many songs use only 3–5 notes (tetrachords, pentachords), with tight seconds between the voices.
• Example: Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares — Pilentze pee (a song in close polyphony over a drone).

Microintervals

In traditional singing and in some makam (ušak, segah) there are untempered intervals (“neutral” seconds); the clarinet and violin produce them with portamenti.

How to choose

Hijaz for the Roma and Ottoman color (čoček, brass), minor with #4 for Romanian and klezmer melancholy, double harmonic for virtuosity, diatonic modes and pentachords for Bulgarian singing and village dances; major and harmonic minor for Serbian bands and marches.

Harmony

Three harmonic worlds

• Bulgarian and village singing: 2–3-voice polyphony over a drone (one voice holds the tonic, the other sings the melody), with unresolved major and minor second dissonances (Bulgarian “diaphony”), unison cadences; Kutev's arrangements add voices and modal harmonies.
• Brass bands (Serbia, Macedonia, Romania): simple tonal harmony (I–V7, i–iv–V7) with oom-pah from tuba/baritone horn and offbeat chords from flugelhorns and tenor horns; melodies in hijaz or minor with bII–I cadences; trumpet unisons with ornaments.
• Wedding music and taraf: richer harmonies (seventh chords, secondary dominants, jazz chromaticism in Ivo Papazov), bass and accordion or guitar with syncopated chords, quick modulations.

Cadences and loops

• Hijaz cadence bII–I (Eb–D), minor cadence iv–V7–i, Andalusian cadence i–VII–VI–V.
• Two-chord loops (i–V7, I–bII) for long dance and improvisation sections.

Harmonic rhythm

Tied to the meter: in 7/8 and 9/8 the chord changes on the long beat or on the first beat of each bar; often one chord for 2–4 bars.

Voicing

Brass: tuba on the root, flugelhorns/tenor horns on thirds and fifths on the offbeat, trumpets on the melody in unison or thirds; accordion with alternating basses and chords; Bulgarian voices in tight seconds (e.g. D–E over a D drone).

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

Aksak and Balkan meters (short beats = 2, long beats = 3)

13/8, 15/8, 18/8 and longer combinations also exist (source: Wikipedia, Aksak).

How they feel

• The beats are unequal (short, short, long): you count by beats, not by eighth notes. The long beat often carries the main step of the dance.
• High tempo (the eighth notes fly), a “limping” but fluid groove; the musicians load the accents on the long beat.
• Free rhythm: slow songs, Romanian doina, taksim before the dance.

Drums

Balkan percussion

• Tapan (davul): a large two-headed drum played with a mallet (low head, main strokes) and a thin stick (high head, subdivisions). It is the “drum kit” of village dances and bands.
• Darbuka/tarabuka, def (frame drum), tambourine, cymbals, hand claps.
• Drum kit in modern bands, in wedding music and in turbo-folk.

How the tapan thinks in aksak

• Mallet (low) on the main beats (in 7/8 2+2+3: the start of the bar and the long beat), stick on all the eighth notes or on the subdivisions; accents that push toward the long beat.
• In 2/4 (kolo): mallet on 1 and 2, stick in sixteenth notes.
• Fills: stick rolls, unison mallet+stick hits before the change of section.

In brass bands

Tapan or bass drum with a mounted cymbal (the percussionist hits cymbal and drum), snare drum; the tuba plays the oom-pah with the bass drum.

Drum kit (wedding music, Balkan beat)

• 7/8 2+2+3: kick on 1 and 5 (the start of the long beat), snare on the middle beat and on the final upbeat, hi-hat in eighth notes.
• 9/8 2+2+2+3: kick on 1 and 7, snare on 3 and 5 (or 5 and 8), hi-hat in eighth notes.
• Electronic Balkan beat: kick in 4/4 or 2/4 under brass samples, with breakbeats.

Interaction

The bass (tuba, double bass) and the low end of the tapan coincide; the clarinet or trumpet melody plays with accents displaced against the percussion.

Typical mistakes

Counting 7/8 as a truncated 4/4; kick on every eighth note; quantizing with “jazz” swing (the asymmetry is in the length of the beats, not in swing); playing too softly: Balkan music is physical and powerful.

Bass

• Tuba, helicon, baritone horn in the bands: oom-pah (root on the strong beat, chord on the offbeat from the flugelhorns), lines that descend by step in the cadences, doublings of the melody in the unison passages.
• Double bass in Romanian taraf (often played percussively, with offbeat accordion chords) and in Roma music.
• Electric bass in wedding music and turbo-folk (fast lines in 7/8 and 9/8, occasional slap), synth bass in Balkan beat.
• Drone in village music: gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe, one drone), kaval in pairs, hurdy-gurdy; the drone replaces the bass.
• Notes: roots and fifths on the main beats; in asymmetric meters the bass falls on the long beats.

Harmonic instruments

• Accordion: chords and melodies (wedding music, taraf, Roma and Macedonian music); alternating basses and offbeat chords.
• Cimbalom (ţambal) in Romanian and Moldovan taraf: arpeggios, tremolos, chords.
• Guitar and tambura (long-necked lute, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian): chords and tremolo melodies.
• Middle brass: tenor flugelhorns, baritones, “trubači” in repeated chords (pah).
• Keyboards and synths in pop-folk and turbo-folk.
• Bulgarian voices as a “harmonic instrument”: drone and seconds.
• Voicing: tight offbeat chords, fifths and thirds in the brass; tight seconds in the voices; cimbalom with fast broken chords.

Melody and vocals

• Melodic instruments: clarinet (Ivo Papazov, the Macedonian and Turkish Roma clarinetists), trumpet and flugelhorn (Boban Marković, Fanfare Ciocărlia), sax, violin (lăutari), kaval (Bulgarian open-ended shepherd's flute, played obliquely, with low “breathy” registers), gaida (bagpipe), gadulka (pear-shaped fiddle with sympathetic strings), zurna (folk oboe, with the tapan), duduk (in some regions), tambura.
• Ornamentation: trills, mordents, clusters of grace notes, glissandi, very fast repeated notes, “krekhts” (sobs) on the clarinet; modal improvisations (taksim) before the dances.
• Bulgarian singing: open chest and frontal voice (very “nasal” and penetrating, with no vibrato), shouts (izvikvane) at the end of phrases, downward glissandi, polyphony in seconds; work songs, harvest songs, wedding songs.
• Roma singing and sevdah: melismas, wide vibrato, intense emotion (Esma Redžepova; the Bosnian sevdalinka, slow and ornate).
• Male choir in some traditions (Albania, Montenegro) with drone and polyphonic iso (Albanian iso-polyphony, UNESCO heritage).

Instruments

Voice (Bulgarian, Roma and sevdah singing, iso-polyphony), women's choir; kaval, gaida, gadulka, tambura, zurna, tapan/davul, darbuka, def, tambourine; clarinet, sax, accordion; trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor flugelhorn, baritone, bombardino, tuba/helicon, bass drum with cymbal, snare drum (brass bands); violin, cimbalom, double bass, guitar (taraf); electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards (wedding music, turbo-folk); synths and samplers (Balkan beat).

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• DX7 V — Wedding music and pop-folk keyboards: FM organs, basses and leads of the '80s–'90s (chalga, turbo-folk): nasal leads with vibrato to imitate the clarinet and zurna.
• Korg MS-20 V — Aggressive leads for Balkan beat: Distorted leads doubling the brass in electronic remixes; sweeps and resonance for the drops.
• Prophet-5 V — Basses and pads for fusion: Synth basses on the long beats of 7/8 and warm pads under the voices.
• Augmented Voices — “Bulgarian” vocal textures: Open choral layers as support under real voices; they do not replace the specific timbre of Bulgarian singing.
• Farfisa V — Organ of the '60s–'70s: Combo organ for retro arrangements of Yugoslav and Romanian music of the '70s.

Song structure

Dances (horo, kolo, oro, hora)

• Structures in sections of 8 or 16 bars repeated (A A B B …), often with a free introduction (taksim or doina) and an ending that speeds up.
• The dances are linked in suites (from a slow one to a fast one).

Brass band pieces

Bulgarian singing

Short verses repeated with variation, 2–3-voice polyphony, endings with a shout; pieces of 2–4 minutes.

Modern arrangement

Pop or electronic structure (intro – verse – brass drop – breakdown – drop) with samples of bands and choirs; Bregović alternates choirs, brass, strings and guitars in big crescendos.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Power and life: bright and aggressive brass but not shrill, full tuba, impactful tapan, very present clarinet and voices, “outdoor wedding” energy; for Bulgarian singing a raw, frontal and resonant sound (often with a hall reverb that emphasizes the seconds). References: Fanfare Ciocărlia (Iag Bari, 2001), the live recordings of the Guča bands, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (4AD), Goran Bregović (Underground), Shantel (Disko Partizani).

Brass (bands)

• Miking: stereo pair in front of the band at 2–3 m + spot mics per section (trumpets, flugelhorns, tuba); trumpets easily exceed 110 dB SPL up close: dynamic or ribbon microphones with a pad.
• EQ: trumpets −2/−4 dB at 2–4 kHz if shrill, high-pass 150 Hz; flugelhorns high-pass 100 Hz, body 250–500 Hz; tuba high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 60–90 Hz, −2 dB at 250 Hz.
• Compression: brass bus 3:1, attack 20–30 ms, release 150 ms, 3–4 dB; tuba 4:1 to even out the oom-pah.
• Saturation: tape on the brass bus for “grit”.
• Space: short room/hall 0.8–1.2 s; no long reverb on fast brass.
• Panning: trumpets L/R 20–50 (first and second trumpet to the sides), flugelhorns L/R 30, tuba center.

Clarinet, sax, violin

• Clarinet: microphone at 30–50 cm between the bell and the keys; high-pass 120 Hz, −2 dB at 1–2 kHz if nasal, +1 dB at 5 kHz; compression 3:1.
• Lăutar violin: microphone at 40–60 cm; high-pass 150 Hz.

Accordion and cimbalom

• Accordion: two microphones (right hand and basses), −2 dB at 400 Hz, compression 2:1; moderate stereo.
• Cimbalom: pair above the instrument at 50–80 cm, high-pass 80 Hz, +1 dB at 5–8 kHz; wide stereo.

Tapan and percussion

• Tapan: a microphone on the mallet side (low) at 20–30 cm and one on the stick side; low-end EQ +2/+3 dB at 60–100 Hz, −3 dB at 300–500 Hz, stick +2 dB at 3–5 kHz; compression 4:1, clipper for the peaks.
• Darbuka as in Arab music (doum 80–120 Hz, tak 3–6 kHz).

Bulgarian voices

• Stereo pair at 1–2 m from the choir (the voices must blend and “beat” in the seconds) + spot mics for the soloists; high-pass 100–120 Hz; −2 dB at 300 Hz; no heavy compression (2:1, 2 dB); hall reverb 1.6–2.4 s.
• Don't correct the pitch: the tight seconds and the glissandi are the style.

Solo voice (Roma, pop-folk)

High-pass 90 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, presence +2 dB at 3 kHz, FET + opto compression; plate 1.5 s, tempo-synced delay.

Buses and groups

Brass, reeds (clarinet/sax), strings and accordion, percussion, bass/tuba, voices; shared short room + hall for the Bulgarian voices.

Sidechain

Only in electronic Balkan beat (kick → bass/synth).

Master

• Bands and wedding music: −11/−9 LUFS integrated; Bulgarian and acoustic singing: −16/−13; Balkan beat: −8/−6; true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Trumpets that “cut” the ears (too much 2–4 kHz).
• Tuba and kick masking each other.
• Wrong quantization of 7/8 (equal beats).
• Long reverbs on fast music.

Reference tracks for mixing

• Fanfare Ciocărlia — Iag Bari (album, 2001).
• Kočani Orkestar — L'orient est rouge (album, 1997).
• Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares — Pilentze pee.
• Goran Bregović — Kalašnjikov (Underground, 1995).
• Shantel — Disko Partizani (2007).

Reference listening

• Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares — Pilentze pee (1975/1986)
• Esma Redžepova — Čaje Šukarije (anni '60)
• Ivo Papasov and His Bulgarian Wedding Band — Orpheus Ascending (1989)
• Goran Bregović — Ederlezi (Il tempo dei gitani, 1988)
• Taraf de Haïdouks — Taraf de Haïdouks (1991)
• Goran Bregović — Kalašnjikov (Underground, 1995)
• Kočani Orkestar — L'orient est rouge (1997)
• Fanfare Ciocărlia — Iag Bari (2001)
• Shantel — Disko Partizani (2007)
• Dave Brubeck Quartet — Blue Rondo à la Turk (1959)