Black Olive Babes offer an exciting, eclectic mix of Balkan, Romani, Turkish, Sephardic and American roots and original music. These sultry rhythms and soul-stirring melodies create a dance and trance-inducing groove that carries you from the shores of the Black Sea to the foothills of the Appalachians. Founded by 20-year Kitka vocalist Juliana Graffagna, BOB features some of the Bay Area's most innovative interpreters of Southern Balkan and Middle Eastern traditional music. Please note that Paul Brown will fill in for Bill Lanphier for this event.

The Mehanatones perform urban and village dance music from the Balkans & Anatolia. Like the working Chalgia orchestras of the last century, they perform a wide variety of dance tunes from the many ethnic groups living throughout these regions. Their sets include fasils; suites incorporating light classical Ottoman and folk repertoire utilizing typical Ottoman Turkish instrumentation of ney, oud & dajre. You will also hear Slavic & Greek repertoire from the rural villages of Macedonia, Bulgaria & northern Greece performed on gajda, kaval, tambura & tupan. You may also experience urban Greek Rebetika performed on bouzouki & baglama as well as comparatively modern Rom (Gypsy) & Serbian dances performed on accordion, truba, darabuka & electric guitar.

Pangeo, based in Seattle, is drawn together by a passion for the music of Greece and the Balkans. With a taste for old-style dance music, they are equally at home playing ballads from the mountains of Epirus in Greece or lively tunes from the Bulgarian border area. Christos Govetas, clarinet, bouzouki, vocals; Ruth Hunter, accordion, vocals; Kane Mathis, oud, and guest Eleni Govetas, percussion.

After watching Chris Bajmakovich charm crowds at Mendocino Balkan camp until the wee morning hours, we knew we had to invite him to party in the Northwest! Chris pulls together a talented lineup of Balkan musicians from the West Coast, including Northwest favorite John Morovich. This is another just-for-balkanalia! musical opportunity, so don't miss the hottest floor band you'll see in 2009!