Come celebrate the return of spring ‘village’ style in Cumberland with Orkestar Slivovica, Demiran Cerimovic and Cathy Stoyko with her Romany dancers on Saturday May 7 the Waverley Hotel.
Ederlezi is a spring festival celebrated by Romani people in the Balkans, Turkey and elsewhere around the world. The actual date of this festival falls on May 6, the feast day of St. George.
This holiday would not be complete without flowers, feasting, a brass band and of course dancing.
Orkestar Slivovica is Vancouver’s home-grown Balkan brass band, playing wedding and festive music from Serbia, Macedonia, and other distant and mysterious lands, where it is known as Trubachi and no such occasion is complete without it.
The ensemble plays and sings a diverse repertoire, from insanely fast dance tunes to heartwrenching songs, often in crooked rhythms and exotic scales.
Special visiting guest Demiran Cerimovic is joining the ensemble for this Ederlezi tour on rotary flugelhorn and vocals. Demirran is Romani and lives in the small town of Vranje in southern Serbia. He has played traditional Serbian brass music at many Romani and world music festivals in Serbia and beyond since 1997. Seven times he and his band have won the Best Brass Band prize at the Vlasinsko Leto summer festival in Surdulica, south Serbia, and three times (in 2002, 2006 and 2008) at the Guca Trumpet Festival in Guca, Serbia.
Also, adding to the mix that night, Cathy Stoyko and special guest dancers will start the festivities off with Romany dances from Rajasthan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Spain and beyond.
This party promises to be the highlight of the spring season.
Shine up your dancing shoes and wear a flower in your hat. Doors open at 9:30 p.m, advance tickets are $15 and are available at the Bop City and at the Waverley Hotel, by phone at 250-336-8322 or online at cumberlandvillageworks.com