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After a two-year absence, Bulgaria’s top Balkan-wedding band Kabile returns to Ashkenaz near the end of an intense four-month U.S. tour. The group of multitalented musicians from Thrace, in southern Bulgaria, played together for nearly 20 years until two key members emigrated to the U.S. in 1995, after the collapse of the various Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. For tonight’s show the reunited Kabile is a quartet of virtuosos: Donka Koleva is the lead vocalist, with Dzhenko Andreev on gaida (the goatskin bagpipe), singer-accordionist Ivan Handzhiev, and Nikolay Doktorov on the flute-like kaval. Based in the city of Yambol, the band took its name from the village of Kabile, where they performed one of their earliest gigs. During its heyday, the band played almost every weekend at weddings, baptisms, and cultural festivals in Thrace. |