BALKANIZE!, Richmond, Virginia’s Old World Turko-Balkan folk music ensemble, is proud to announce the release of our first CD, ‘Balkan Eyes,” featuring eight traditional songs from Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia & Turkey.

Available for $8.00 at all BALKANIZE! performances.
Please add $2.50 for postal orders.
Visit us at www.balkanize.net or contact us at balkanize@verizon.net for more information.
As always, thank you for supporting BALKANIZE! & all local Richmond music!

BALKANIZE! IS RICHMOND, VA'S ONLY OLD WORLD TURKO-BALKAN FOLK MUSIC ENSEMBLE.
We play acoustic folk dance and belly dance music from Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Syria & Turkey using a combination of Western & traditional Eastern European folk instruments.

We are currently auditioning for additional MALE and FEMALE VOCALISTS.

A lot of passion for & a little bit of knowledge of traditional Balkan, Turkish and Near Eastern folk music are non-negotiable requirements!

We are looking for women with strong singing voices, creativity, maturity, responsibility, independence, open-mindedness (especially with regard to the Macedonian Question), a desire to put in a little hard work, & a willingness to sing in many different languages. Knowledge of basic music theory and / or an ability to play a musical instrument are great but certainly not requirements.

BALKANIZE! rehearses for several hours every Sunday at 1pm. We tend to do live performances every ten weeks or so, and we are currently recording and mixing our first CD.

If you are interested or need more information, please contact Geoff at balkanize@verizon.net. Also, please visit our web sites at www.balkanize.net and www.myspace.com/balkanize for a better idea of what we're all about.

For those of you who know her but may not have heard the sad news, Laurie Hribal, our good friend, BALKANIZE!'s violinist / vocalist, and a very dear, deep soul, finally lost her fight with cancer yesterday morning, Sunday, April 5th, 2009, in the home of her daughter Roxanne in Ann Arbor, MI.

I have no words right now. All I can say is that Laurie's boyfriend Louis, her son Jamie and her daughter Roxanne, her sisters, her parents, her grandchildren, her friends, her fellow dancers in the Richmond International Folk Dance Club and in Shari's Intermediate Belly Dancing class, her colleagues and clients in the Richmond holistic healing community and her bandmates in BALKANIZE! all are glad that her suffering has ended but still miss her.

There will be a memorial service this weekend, most likely on Saturday. I will post details as soon as I get them.

I would very much appreciate it if anybody who feels comfortable doing so could post a line or two about Laurie, about a meaningful or funny shared moment with her ... anything to better remember her by. Thanks.