Meet The Bands
(subject to change)
Chris Bajmakovič
Chris Bajmakovich, born in Chicago into a Macedonian Rom family, began playing accordion at age 5. He first professionally performed with a band at age 14, and gave solo performances in smaller venues, playing at weddings, christenings, church dances, and private parties, primarily in the large Balkan immigrant communities of Chicago. He also toured throughout the US with Macedonian singers. Bajmakovich has performed with many well-known musicians, including Ferus Mustafov, Milan Zavkov and Sasko Velkoy.
Balkanarama plays popular dance songs of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s from southeastern Europe, including songs of the Roma minority. The Seattle quintet includes alto sax, clarinet, keyboard, drums, bass, and four voices singing in eight languages. Balkanarama has performed at festivals, weddings, dance parties and concerts in the Pacific Northwest since 1997 and has released three CDs. Follow them on Facebook!
Black Sea Dance with Izumi
“Black Sea Dance with Izumi” emerges from weekly dances held by Izumi Fairbanks, primarily featuring circle dances from the Black Sea/Caucasus region. They include Turkish Karadeniz, Pontic Greek and Artvin dances, often accompanied by live Black Sea fiddle kemence or lyra, and accordion by Izumi.
For BNNW 2025, the program will consist of Pontic/Karadeniz music, with Izumi Fairbanks on kemence/lyra, and Stavroula Tsantilas on davul/daouli.
Bonaca (Croatian for “calm seas”) is a multi-piece tamburica orchestra which performs music from Croatia, Central & Southeast Europe, and beyond. Bonaca Seattle started making music in 2010 when its founding members wanted to create a group that could play like a great tamburica band but also sing like a traditional Dalmatian klapa. Bonaca’s repertoire includes both traditional and modern songs from Croatia and its surrounding countries, as well as some American classics.
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Bulgarian Voices of Seattle is a women’s choir, formed in 2011 by founding director Mary Sherhart, now directed by Michael Lawson, and sponsored by the Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle. All of the singers were born in Bulgaria and range in age from 18 to 85. The choir sings traditional and arranged folk songs from Bulgaria. The choir provides a musical bridge into Bulgarian heritage for the Bulgarian community and the general public through performances at Bulgarian and other community events.
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Datina Taraf & Folk Ensemble
Bringing over 20 performers on stage, Datina will onboard you on a musical journey to various regions of Romania, old and new. With their energetic Taraf and vivacious dancers, they celebrate this year their 10th anniversary since bringing Datina to life in the Pacific Northwest! They are more than a band, rather a living testimony of perennial Romanian traditions, costumes, arts and crafts!
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Dunava’s repertoire spans a vast range of traditional styles — from spirited dance tunes to mournful ballads, featuring lush harmonies or strident dissonance. Some songs are hundreds of years old and have been passed on through oral tradition, while others are recent compositions celebrating folk tunes in the unique styles of specific regions. Some lyrics explore home, family, and love; some lament war, hardship, and loss. The expressive music speaks for itself and communicates with listeners all over the world regardless of age, native language, or national boundaries.
Dragi & Macedonian All Stars Band
Dragi Spasovski was born in the small village of Studena Bara, near Kumanovo, only 25 km from Skopje. His family moved to Skopje when he was 4, and Skopje is the place where he made his first steps in exploring life, art, music and dancing. He was “the” actor in elementary school drama, then joined the school ballet group, and finally, influenced by his mother’s singing, mostly in their home, he found himself swept away by the folk spirit.
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Christos Govetas, Clarinet and Voice
Ruth Hunter, Accordion and Voice
Eleni Govetas, Saxophone and Violin
Bobby Govetas, Bass
Mik Bewsky, Guitar
Nico Sophiea, Drums and Doumbek
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Eleni Govetas Kompania showcases Eleni’s original Balkan-inspired original compositions on violin. Eleni Govetas writes and performs music in the Balkan style, using a musical vocabulary that permeates that whole region. Soulful melodies with a healthy dose of grit layered with Mik Bewsky’s surf-punk inspired guitar virtuosity introduce you to a whole new genre of music you never knew you needed!
She joins forces with brother Bobby Govetas holding it down on Bass, and Nico Sophiea on Drums.
Gin & Pontic
We play the music of the Greek communities that once lived on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Songs of love, loss, & life are sung in the Pontian dialect to the beat of the daouli and the sounds of the kemence (Pontian lyra.) Dancing is highly recommended!
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Gora Gora Orkestar brings the sounds of the Old World to the Rocky Mountains performing high-energy Balkan and Klezmer music. Formed in 2009, this 11-piece brass band is dedicated to making the audience dance with driving rhythms and innovative approaches to the traditional music of Eastern Europe. Since its formation, Gora Gora has focused on learning this music with attention and authenticity, and its members have had the chance to learn from experts in the field at events such as Balkan Camp and KlezKanada.
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Christos, Eleni and Bobby Govetas of Dromeno play traditional music from Serres, Greece on zournas and daouli. They will play as a part of this year’s Kukeri performance
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Kavak
We are Kavak, the Seattle-based band fusing Turkish and Greek folk/pop. Led by Ece’s vocals, joined by Kyriakos on bouzouki, Mithat on oud and ney and Onur on guitar. Our sound is mellow yet energetic, and appeals to world music fans!
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Based in Eugene, Kef has been performing dance music of Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania and Greece since 2006. Members are a mix of conservatory-trained and traditional folk musicians with a broad range of professional experience. Instrumentation consists of two trumpets, alto sax, accordion, cello and drums.
Kišobran
Tamburaski Orkestar Kisobran is a Seattle based tamburitza orchestra and choir playing folk and contemporary music of Croatia and beyond. For the last 12 years the group, under the direction of John Morovich has performed across the US and in 2024 in Croatia.
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Nihad SAZ
Born where East meets West and West meets East and Raised trough child hood until 17 in eastern Bosnia, beginning of 90’s as war started and break up of Yugoslavia I moved to Germany where I finished school and started introduction to SAZ, moved to US spring of 1998 and continued my life journey and SAZ music, played on numerous festivals, like ” Folk Life, Turk fest, Nights of sevdah, Sevdah of NW, Balkan night NW” etc, marred to a beautiful wife of mine Edina with whom I am raising two children, a boy and a girl.
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Lox Stork and Bugle
Veterans of the Bucharest Drinking Team, Freylekh, and Sub Masa come together to graft new ideas and influences to our sturdy Balkan and Yiddish roots. Join Kevin Stevens (bass), Kim Goldov (violin), Marchette Dubois (accordion), and Peter Lippman (trumpet) on a musical journey to lands familiar and forgotten, real and imaginary
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Orkestar RTW is a five-piece band based in Seattle, Washington that began in 1987 as the house band for the Radost Folk Ensemble. Named in the tradition of post-World War II Balkan radio and television house bands (such as Orkestar Radio-Televizije Beograd), Orkestar RTW (Radio-Televizije Washington) plays the music of those bands, primarily traditional dance and folk music from the countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Serbia.
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Palamidi
Palamidi is a West Coast Greek music collective made up of musical friends that have performed in many different venues over the last 10 or so years, including (but not limited to) Greek delis and restaurants, tea houses, Irish pubs, and cabins in the woods. They are named after a historic fortress in the city of Nafplio, where Tony Maroussis (Nick’s dad) hails from, and are known for an epic and timeless take on Rebetika, Ipirotika and beyond. For Balkan Night Northwest, their line up is Gregory Masaki Jenkins on clarinet and vocals, Nick Maroussis on laouto, Eleni Govetas on violin, Jenette Sellin on accordion, and Bobby Govetas on percussion.
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Michael “Osem” Lawson (accordion) and David “Devet” Bilides (percussion) perform music from the Balkans. They are joined by vocalists Tedy Dimitrova and Dina Trageser. Opa!
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Shpilkis is an 8-piece Seattle-based Klezmer brass band bringing you old-school Yiddish grooves with tuchus-shaking energy. Founded in 2017, Shpilkis continues to highlight a thriving repertoire mixing old country archives and American modernity.
Will we play at your wedding, b’mitzvah, bris, or block party? Yes, we will.
FB/IG: @ShpilkisSeattle
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Sinovi Tamburitzanzs, formed in the fall of 1980, perform traditional tamburitza music of Croatia and beyond. The group was born out of the Seattle Jr. Tamburitzans for which it served as the music combo for the dance section of SJT. The group consists of two brothers, Tom and George Jovanovich (Brac and Bugarija) and their sons, Nick (brac) and Jake (bass). Lead singer is John Morovich (brac and accordion). They are often joined by Tim Jovanovich on Cello and Steven Mataya on brac.
The group has performed extensively in the Pacific Northwest and California and nationally regularly participating in Tamburitza Extravaganzas since 1981.
Sinovi specializes in the becar style of tamburitza music popular in the turn of the century Croatian American immigrant communities. The group has a large reportoire of traditional Kolo dances and popular Croatian songs.
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Slavej
Slavej, which means “nightingale”, performs dance music of Slavic and Romani communities in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and South Serbia. We are: Carol Silverman (vocals), Mark Levy (clarinet), Michael Lawson (accordion), Cody Simmons (trumpet), and David Bilides (tapan). If we added up our combined experience with Balkan music, it would probably be several hundred years. Band members are from Eugene, Seattle, and central Washington.
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Svirci
Dejan Subotic and company play lively Serbian Tamburica music for singing and dancing!
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Taman
Talia McGill and John Morovich, is a vocal duet based in Seattle which specializes in sweet, danceable tunes of Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia and beyond. They are often accompanied by Anton Kirilov on Bulgarian tapan. The group has performed for listening and dancing pleasure for a decade.
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Taraf Dulce & Amar (sweet and sour)
Born in Chisinau in 1981, Moldova, Sergiu Popa is a member of a well-known Roma (Gypsy) musical dynasty in his country. He, like several generations before him, is a virtuoso accordionist who plays not only traditional folk and Gypsy music of Eastern Europe, but is classically trained as well. Sergiu is a master musician at home in the styles of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and so much more! He is joined by cellist Noémy Brown (Nomy) and Balder Ten Cate on cimbalom.
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Taraf Pajura
Taraf Pajura is a folkloric and Balkan rock band.
We are searching for sounds that unite the people of the Balkan region and beyond. We play mostly Romanian folkloric songs, respecting our background and ancestor’s heritage, but we explore further south of the Danube river. The rich culture of the Balkans inspire us to create music that brings an original flavor to the existing modern culture and music scene.
We post regularly on our youtube channel, Alexandru Mihai, and intend to grow our audience slowly but surely.
Check us out on Facebook as well, on our page: Taraful Pajura.
Subscribe to our youtube channel and our facebook page and help us grow our presence.
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Toroman
Toroman is a Seattle-based multigenerational folk band delving into Pirin and Shope musical styles, built around the father-son core of Dimitar (vox/guitar) and Georgi Toromanov (vox/percussion).
After starting out as a duo with special guests at BNNW and Folklife NW 2024, Toroman grew over the summer to add Milka Bosilkova (darbuka, vocals); Jana Rickel (tupan, vocals); Shaun Burley (clarinet); and Andy Wickell (violin). The tradition to invite special guests continues, and in December 2024, Toroman played a full set at the Hall of St. Demetrios, with special appearance by Vasil Denev and Dragi Spasovski.
Georgi (Toromanov) – vocals and percussion, 14 year old Georgi has been on stage singing and playing drums since first grade.
Dimitar (Toromanov) – vocals and guitar, is delving deeper into his Pirin and Shop interest, bridging familial roots from across the Balkans.
Milka (Bosilkova) – classically trained percussionist and experienced folk singer with BG voice of Seattle takes care of the top end harmony and tarambuka.
Jana (Rickel) – a longtime lead dancer at SBD and experienced musician with RTW and Zakuska, Jana brings her powerful alto and booming tupan to the band.
Shaun (Burley) – clarinet, is balancing his love for Balkan and Eastern Europe tonalities with classical orchestra engagements across PNW.
Andy (Wickell) is an established violinist in repertoire orchestras around Seattle, and is equally at home leading classical, hidjaz, and kletzmer numbers.
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Trio Shlokovitsa
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Yuri Yunakov Ensemble
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Slavej (nightingale) performs the folk music of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia with an emphasis on Romani repertoire. We are composed of seasoned performers living in Eugene and Seattle who helped establish the Balkan scene in the US, researchers with years of experience in Balkan communities, and more recent devotees.
Slavej members are:
Mark Levy, Clarinet
Michael Lawson, Accordion and Vocals
Cody Simmons, Trumpet
David Bilides, Tapan
Carol Silverman, Vocals
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Portland’s only four-member trio, Trio Tsuica plays café and dance music from Romania, Hungary, and nearby countries on violin, accordion, cimbalom, and bass. The group takes its name from the homemade plum brandy of Romania. Like the spirit, the music will bring fire to your heart, a dance to your toes, and a smile to your face.