The title translates as “Dance from the Danube River Area.” The Danube River forms the natural border between Romania and Bulgaria. The influence of the Vlach minorities is very present in the musical and dance folklore of North Bulgaria. The Vlachs (derived from Wallachia, now a province of Romania) were originally a nomad tribe. They settled in different areas of the Balkan Peninsula. Many villages in N.W. Bulgaria and the Danube plain region have a high concentration of Vlachs or Vlach-related descendants. They brought with them their own language, traditions, and costume. One of those is the ritual known as Kalušari. The North Bulgarian dances with Vlach influences are known as Vlaško or Krajdunavsko. Very characteristic are the syncopations in the rhythm and stamps of the dances. The following Krajdunavski variations were learned by Jaap Leegwater from Jordan Jordanov in the town of Russe in the spring of 1979.

Presented by Jaap Leegwater in 2011. View pdf here.