Balkan Grooves

I'm spending fourteen months in Macedonia doing research for my Ph.D. in ethnomusicology. On this page you can journey with me as I explore the sights and sounds of life and music in Macedonia.

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Thessaloniki.

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Not bad, 2013, not bad.

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Walking home. #nofilter

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Walking to a gig. #nofilter

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Sometimes we play on the radio. Other times we play all night. No matter what he always lays down just the right beats with a smile. Love this guy. #jazzhouse #dwil #jazzfm #kala

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Sometimes you move to the other side of the world, you make new friends, you play music together, and they invite you to their wedding the day before its happening. #macedonia #wedding @djshortypofficial #starogradska #unforgettable #djmaci #bffs (at Restoran Uranija)

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About to play some house jams with my boy Маци at Кала #macedonia #house #kala #dewars #novatafazavomakedonijaemojaomilena (at Kala)

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Jammin with my boy @djshortypofficial last night at Pivolend beer festival in Skopje! #macedonia #hiphop #feelssogood #boom #dwil (at PIVOLEND)

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Today I spent from 9am to 4pm working on getting my saxophones from the customs hall at the airport. After two trips to the airport and one visit to the Ministry of Education, I found out I only need 3 more documents to finish the job. I plan on getting those tomorrow! In the mean time, I'm at a rehearsal of the band DNK, Macedonian for "DNA" and will hopefully play with them at Pivolend (Beer-land) festival tomorrow night (if I get the horns)!

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Gettin work done. #jazz #cafe #swiss #flies (at Berne, Switzerland)

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Other views on my run #notmacedonia #sunset (at Berne, Switzerland)

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Sometimes you go for a run and Beethoven makes you stop outside the neighborhood church #notmacedonia (at Berne, Switzerland)

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On the way home from Ohrid....

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Favorite place. (at Sveti Jovan)

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One of the interior walls at Izlet, where I played tonight with DJ Maci. I only played flute--I'm still working on getting my saxophones out of customs here in Skopje. We just finished and now it's on to Sektor 909 to hear jazz guitarist Vladimir Cetkar, a Macedonian who lives in New York. My good friend Andrew Perusi in LA played with Cetkar at Catalina's once a year or two ago. I think his music is kind of smooth jazz if I remember right. We'll see what the Macedonian audience is like here in a few minutes.

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View from the stage at Sektor909. Saxophones held up in customs so I’m playing the flute w my brotha DJ Maci, G Sareski, and Dzijan Emin. #housemusicallnight #westartedat1am (at Летен клуб СЕКТОР909)

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Toni Kitanovski-guitar, Oscar Salas-congas, Kiril Tufekcievski-bass. Playing at bookstore/bar Magor. Owner Maya was super cool. Owner of MKC stopped by too. Here we go. #hang #jazz #skopje (at Кафе книжарница Магор)