La Saint-Lazare • Лазаровден
La
Saint-Lazare (St. Lazarus Day), is a springtime folk ritual in Bulgaria during which young girls wear their prettiest costumes to sing and dance throughout the village. In Montreal, since 1974, this tradition was celebrated for almost 20 years by Yves Moreau, world-famous specialist in Bulgarian folk dance and Les Gens de Mon Pays Folk Ensemble during a big week-end gathering where fans of Bulgarian folklore and Montreal's Bulgarian community got together.
After many years of absence, we are reviving a special edition of this event for 2010, with Saturday and Sunday workshops featuring renowned dance teacher Iliana Bozhanova from Bulgaria. She will be accompanied by accordionist and singer Todor Yankov. One of the exciting moments of the week-end will take place on Saturday night with a big Bulgarian and Balkan dance party hosted by Yves Moreau and Jocelyne Vaillancourt and featuring the «Na megdana» Orchestra, especially created for the occasion and composed of: Vassil Markov (kaval), Nikola Markov (tambura, saxophone), Petâr Markov (accordion, tâpan) and special guest soloists from the USA: Vassil Bebelekov (gajda), Nikolay Kolev (gâdulka) and Donka Koleva (singer) who will be joined by Iliana
(she sings tooi !) and Todor.
Also, during the Saturday party, there will be a short performance by the «Bâlgari» Dance Group of the «Paissi Hilendarski» Bulgarian-Canadian Cultural Center of Montreal.