From the KUNM website:
“Recorded on March 21, 2014, this edition features the Balkan sounds of Santa Fe’s Rumelia. After recording their debut CD “Lost and Found” the group has expanded their repertoire of traditional songs from Southern and Eastern Europe and the Balkans to over 200 pieces. Performing currently as a quartet, Rumelia played for us in this trio format.”
Alicia Shaw: lead vocals, dumbek
Sitara Schauer: parlor guitar, violin, vocals
Deborah Ungar: accordion, clarinets, vocals
Engineered by Roman Garcia with Marshall Broyles with camera/videography by Jefferson White
“Lost and Found,” considered as a finalist in two categories in the 2014 New Mexico Music Awards.
Best Instrumental Performance
Rumelia
Pajduska Trojka
N. Jensen, S. Schauer, D. Ungar
Monkey House Records
Best Vocal Performance
Rumelia
Nardanina
N. Jensen, S. Schauer, D. Ungar
Monkey House Records
Some of the instruments of Rumelia, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz
Rumelia featured in the March 28, 2014 edition of the Pasatiempo. Read the story by Paul Weideman at the Santa Fe New Mexican’s website.
Talkin’ Balkan: Dedicated musicians of Rumelia
Rumelia at San Miguel Chapel on March 29, 2014, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz
Best Santa Fe Albums of 2013
Rumelia is very pleased to be part of this esteemed list—thank you santafe.com! From the santafe.com website…
We Can’t Say No To An Exotic Instrument
No dark corner of a pawn shop is safe from our creative impulses and no instrument is off limits in the recording studio. Prominent musical roles were given to exotic instruments such as the kora, bouzouki, cajón, djembe, dunun, steam wand, tupan, saz, gaida, calabash, low whistle, mbira, hosho, shekere, segon, ogan, boula, manman, the Haitian rhythm yanvalloux, ney, balafon and tupan – and that’s just the instrumentation on Round Mountain’s “The Goat.”
Other highlights included the Southeastern European instrumentation on Rumelia’s “Lost and Found,” the punk rock-informed drone of the electric autoharp on “Gregg Turner Plays the Hits” and the Middle Eastern stylings of anything tied to the talented Jeremy Bleich (the self-titled Trio Andaluz, Meagan Chandler’s “Sensual”).
For more information and to read the story, visit http://www.santafe.com/article/best-santa-fe-albums-of-2013
Fiddler Magazine
“This trio of young women play the music of the Balkans (Albania, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Bulgaria) with style, skill, and precision. Sitara Schauer is a fiddler with violinistic chops, but a real sense of the regional nuance. She gets a rich tone when called for and knows when more of an edge is needed. Nicolle Jensen on lead vocals and doumbek, riq, and frame drum percussion; and Deborah Ungar on accordion and clarinet are very skilled and know this music intimately. The vocals are both sharp and sweet and sound true to the traditions represented. This recording is a most enjoyable listen, and makes me want to catch them live when I have my dancing shoes with me.”
—Kevin Carr, Fiddler Magazine (Summer Issue, 2013)
Cover art for Lost & Found
We are pleased to announce that our album is completed! Making the album this past year was a great experience for us and we could not have done it without the support from our friends, family, and fans. If you have not already purchased our album, stay tuned to our website as we will be selling the CD here in the coming weeks.
We love and appreciate you!
Rumelia
