Zdravo kako si! (Hello how are you?) My name is Cohenlm and I'm a tamburitza! What's a tamburitza? Oh my, oh my, oh my. You have a lot to learn my friend.
Tamburitzans, also called Tammies is what I like to call a group of people who have fun while singing and dancing to ethnic songs. We perform dances and songs from Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Serbia, Italy, and many, many, more. We even play their songs with instruments such as a prim, brac, or bugarija. Each of these make beautiful sounds that will impress all. (The instrument below is a prim. Pronounced: Pr-eeem)
What Do They Wear?
Tamburitzans wear what the people from the region they are singing/dancing about wear. For example, if a tamburitzan were to be doing a Slovakian dance, a little girl may wear a white blouse (with varied accessories such as roses and other buttons and such), a long skirt (color may vary), an apron (decorations will vary), tights, and black shoes with a slight heel. A little girl's hair may be braided and put into a bun, may be put into one or more braids, or have a hat put on. A women or young women's outfit may consist of a blouse, skirt, apron, tights, and black heels. They would most likely have something placed on their head or have a braid. Men or young boys will have a vest, shirt, pants, and black boots. Nothing would be put on their head.
Why Do They Do This?
People become tamburitzans for several reasons. They might like to be exposed to different cultures. Perhaps a family member was a tamburitzan. They're interested in dancing/singing -- the possibilities are endless. Now, if you were to ask me why I do tammies I'd say this. "I do tamburitzans because in first grade my mother forced my brother and me into our church's tamburitzans. Our instructor was quite mean, so my mother moved us to a closer and much friendly group. My brother pleaded to quit because tammies wasn't his thing. However, I still had to do it. Now, I love it. I like making new friends and performing, but sometimes I don't really feel like going. I guess I can say I'm embarrassed because people look at me and go, 'What is tammies?' All I say is, it's dance. It's my type of dance."
Where Can I Find A Performance?
Well, many groups are around the world. Some are in Croatia, Canada, the United States, and I'm sure in other countries as well. If you're interested in finding groups from Canada, the US, and Croatia, you can attend the Annual Croatian Fraternal Union Festival (CFU). The CFU is held in a different place throughout Canada, America, and Croatia every 4th of July weekend. Here you will find several tamburitzan groups performing a short performance consisting of a song and dance. The first group to open up on each day (the Festival has half of the performers on one day, half the other) gets to sing the American, Croatian, and Canadian Anthem in the language sung in that land. So, the Croatian Anthem is sung in Croatian!
You can also find a few colleges that have professional tamburitzan groups. These groups are normally amazing and very hard to get in. One very nice group is the Duquense Tamburitzans. Duquense is a college in Pennsylvania, USA. They hold several performances around the country each year. They take in both boys and girls, like most groups. You can find their website here: http://www.tamburitzans.duq.edu/
I'm Interested In Joining, How Can I?
Well, there's not an official paper to sign-up for tammies. However, you can go on the Internet and search, "Tamburitzan Groups In (insert neighborhood). You can also go to local dance studios asking if they know about any groups. If all fails, create your own group! If you succeed with finding a group, make sure to ask questions such as, "Is their a certain religion I must be to be in your group?" (some groups only allow certain religions) or "What dances/songs will you be performing?" After that, the group will help with the rest!
I hope you enjoyed this article, it may be short but hey, can't great things come in small packages? I think so! See ya on the dance floor, Whyville!
Author's Note: You can find many videos on Youtube with tamburitzans performing. I advise you watch a few. I would have included a few, but was not sure if I could. Also, sorry about not having pronunciations. I looked hard for them, but was unable to and wanted to give clear ones rather than my bad ones. Hopefully you can at least get prim. If you want . . . here are my BAD ways of teaching how to say each word:
1. Prim (Pr-ee-m)
2. Brac (Bra-ch)
3. Bugarija (Bew-Gah-De-Ah)
For the opening, I am actually am unsure of the pronunciation of that. Sorry guys.
