November 22, 2013, 7:00 PM

Dossevi/Weiner Family

Bulgarian Music Concert

Co-Sponsored by

Washington Revels and the Bulgarian Music Society

at

The Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria

1621 22nd Street, NW

Washington D.C. 20008

Free Admission

The Washington Revels and the Bulgarian Music Society invite you to a night of folk music straight from Bulgaria. Lyuben and Tanya Dossevi, (our very own Tzvety Weiner's parents) are performing for the Bulgarian community on November 22, 2013 at the Bulgarian Embassy. This concert is a gift to all of us by the Washington Revels, for which we thank them.

In preparation for its 31st annual Christmas Revels – “Echoes of Thrace: Music, Dance and Drama of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey” – Washington Revels is proud to partner with the Bulgarian Music Society to present in concert two great folk artists from Bulgaria: celebrated Thracian singer Tanya Dosseva and master kaval player Lyuben Dossev. On Friday, November 22, 2013, they will perform at the Bulgarian Embassy together accompanied by their daughter, Tzvety Weiner, lead singer of local Bulgarian band Lyuti Chushki, drummer Bryndyn Weiner (Tzvety’s husband) and friends. This performance is particularly special because the two generations of musicians will perform side by side for the first time ever!

A few words about the featured performers:

Lyuben Dossev was born in Pleven, North Bulgaria, in 1953. Following in the footsteps of his father Tsvetan Dossev, long time kaval player for the famous Severnyashki Ensemble, Lyuben started to play the kaval as a small child. After Lyuben graduated from the Pleven Music High School, he moved to Plovdiv to attend the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts. During this time, he was one of the founders of the vocational music high school in the town of Shiroka Lûka in the Rhodope mountains, the first of its kind in Bulgaria. Lyuben received his Bachelor’s degree from the Academy and has been teaching there ever since; he later went on to earn his Doctorate degree, also from the Academy. Lyuben has taught nearly all of the current generation of Bulgaria’s most well-known kaval players and has been a mentor for many young musicians, as well as colleagues at the Academy.

In 2004, Lyuben was elected Dean of the Department of Music Folklore, Choreography and Arts, at the Academy. He has taught numerous times at folk camps in the U.S. and is excited to come back to the U.S. and perform for his Bulgarian and American friends on this side of the Atlantic.

Late in 2008, Lyuben Dossev became Bulgaria's first kaval player to achieve full professorship and was elected Vice Rector of the Music Academy. In October 2013, Lyuben was awarded the highest academic degree of Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts (or "Akademik" in Bulgarian), an extraordinary recognition for his significant contributions to the Bulgarian culture, arts and folklore education.

Tanya Dosseva was born in 1954 in Sinapovo, Strandzha region, in Eastern Thrace. Tanya’s first singing experiences date back to her early childhood performances at village fairs, celebrations and competitions where she often moved the audience to tears with her sad slow songs and beautiful voice. Tanya graduated from the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv in 1977 and was immediately hired as a teacher at the Shiroka Lûka Music High School; she was simultaneously appointed a soloist for the Academy’s Folk Choir, a position that she held for 11 years.

In addition to being an exceptional performer, Tanya also mentors and teaches children interested in Bulgarian folklore. She is an integral part of the Plovdiv Folk Seminar taking place at the Plovdiv Academy each summer where, for a week, she shares her talent and intimate knowledge of the Bulgarian folk song with people from all over the world.

Throughout her singing career, Tanya has performed at many prestigious venues in Bulgaria, Europe and North America as a soloist, as well as with the Sofia Women's Choir; for almost 20 years now she has been the lead singer for one of the most popular wedding bands in the country, Konushenski Orkestar. In the summers of 2000 and 2001, Tanya taught at the East European Folklife Center’s Balkan Music & Dance Workshops in Maryland, USA. She is particularly excited to be part of this year's Washington Revels and present the beauty of the Bulgarian traditional music to thousands of people in our area.

Tzvety Dosseva Weiner is the only child of our honored guests this year, Lyuben and Tanya Dossevi. She was born in 1978 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and all her life she has been immersed in Bulgarian folk music, although she did not actively start her performing career until she came to the U.S. in 1998. Almost immediately Tzvety joined the local folk band, Lyuti Chushki, and has been its lead vocalist since then. With Lyuti Chushki, Tzvety has performed up and down the East Coast for dance workshops, parties, embassy functions, weddings, presentations, folk camps. She is also closely involved with the local women's group Slaveya.

In 2003, Tzvety had her first experience with the Washington Revels in the Roads of the Roma show. This year, she has been assisting the Revels community and taken a leadership role in the preparations for the upcoming Echos of Thrace show, which focuses primarily on Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

Bryndyn Weiner, a native of Silver Spring, Maryland, has been exposed to dance and music from the Balkans since childhood. His musical portfolio includes singing in musicals and choirs, a specialist role in the 2003 Washington Revels’ Roads of the Roma show, playing tupan (traditional Balkan bass drum) and dumbek (hand drum) for 20+ years and more recently learning traps. His musical group experiences include stints with the DC-area groups Lyuti Chushki (Bulgarian traditional), BAMCo (Balkan brass band) and Luk Na Glavata (Macedonian traditional). Bryndyn co-founded the Balkanics (Balkan fusion wedding band) in the fall of 2004 after returning from a musically inspiring trip to Bulgaria. Bryndyn’s dance resume includes previously being a member of Zemya Balkan dance ensemble, teacher and choreographer for theTisza Hungarian dance ensemble and a visiting member of the Nyírség Ensemble, one of Hungary’s top flight amateur folk dance groups.

Bryndyn is looking forward to participating in this year's Revels production, Echoes of Thrace, where again he takes on a tradition-bearer role.