We interrupt the beginning of this script to tell you some new developments in one of the projects of this web site. In the recent past, several older dancers have dropped off vinyl records of israeli and other various forms of folk dancing. In our digital age, most people no longer have equipment to run these vinyl recordings and certainly cannot copy these into mp3 files. What to do? Certainly the disk coordinator doesn't have this expertise. So. in asking around, he found a source of computer equipment. This is Juishi Duan, of Apex computer, pictured on the left.

One of the local Israeli dancers swears by Josh's (and we are taking the liberty of using his nickname) expertise. And, we conclude the same. Josh went to work researching the possibilities once we told him of our need. And, through Josh and Apex, we acquired a Grace Digital Audio Vinylwriter Pico device. The picture to the left shows Josh as he is unwrapping this for us in his office. To the right is the package's contents.

And, back we went with this equipment. This web site is unique, generally having absolutely no expertise in anything done. Certainly, converting vinyl to mp3 is beyond the scope of our normal activities. Luckily, this web site can call on support in terms of various issues. To the left and right, you can see a copying of a vinyl 45 RPM record in progress supervised by Pi. It was through her expertise that software was installed on one of her laptops, a USB connection was made and the laptop took the music being derived by the Grace mechanism as a microphone recording. This was converted to an MP3 file and later loaded into the Nero wave editor to trim and finalize the music. Declicking was also established - this pertains to additional sounds derived from these types of recordings being edited out. No wonder Pi was so tired given all these technical manipulations to go through.

On a more serious note this section deals with conversion of 45's and 78's into digital format. Somewhere below in one of the panels the 78 format is discussed. Here let's say a few words about the 45 format. Research on the internet seems to indicate that it was RCA Victor that pushed this format introducing it in early 1949. In the case of RCA, and David Sarnoff, this would not be the first time they pushed something that no one else wanted to deal with. 45's were said to be less tonal than 78's making the sound worse. Also, any new format made standardization difficult at least for the first few years after the 45 introduction. Eventually turntables that could do 33,45 and 78 were developed which included a little device put on the turntable to deal with the 45's wider center hole.

Notes:Somewhere in the right most panels the name of the dance is in red lettering. Click this red link to hear the music. Click it again to stop or click another red link selection to interrupt the current selection and replace it with the new one. And, we should add, this is not the only transfering of media project on this web site. Click here for a script dealing with LP's (33 rpm).

As you can see here, Worldtone is attributable as the record company and it even goes further, by including a division, Folk Music International, as the ultimate issuer. Today, Worldtone provides shoes for the entertainment (especially dancing) industry and has been featured on "Dancing With The Stars". Folk Music International was an on-going concern as of 1974 having been created by Kenneth and Nomi Spear. Their address was at 56-40 187th St in Flushing NY. Today this shoe company has shops in Los Angeles and New York and the company is run by Spear's daughter Lani pictured here. With some of these records, a listing of the steps was included. We don't have that for either side of this record. What's even more interesting is that at the present time Nigun Atik is a very easy introductory israeli circle dance. As you can see on the label of the record, it is claimed as a couples dance. Research will have to be done per this fact. Anyway, no doubt you are asking how did PI do for this first set of tries using a vinyl rendition of Nigun Atik (designated as Zemer Atik on the label) and Rakefet? We'll let you decide as you can hear this by clicking the link (and this is followed for the most part throughout this script). As to Nigun Atik, there is some warpage at the end of the record which has been deleted - and now you know why it ends so abruptly. There seems to be a change in arrangement as the chorus consistently lacks a set of notes the more modern versions of the music includes. It is impossible at this moment to tell whether this is consistent with the record or is a result of the copy. As to rakefet, you can hear this music by clicking here. This has also been put through the process of declicking. This again ends abruptly. We don't know if that is how all these records were set up or just an aberration of this process of copying.

You can see the two sides of this record, Ma Navu and At Va'ani. The record is attributed to Tivka records. Apparently this would not be the only web site inquiring about Tikva records which apparently disappeared sometime in the '70s. The web site www.tikvarecords.com also is of an inquiring mind. We can give you some information per Ami Gilad and his orchestra and this will also date when the record was pressed. Gilad was a musican in the Israeli army and when he got out, he began touring with several dancers and singers. Apparently one of the gigs would have gotten him on the Ed Sullivan show (as a musician acoompaning some one or some group). He decided to stay in the United States, no doubt augmented by his marriage and the birth of his two children. And, he began studying how to be a conductor and when he was proficient enough, he conducted the accompanying musicians of several Israeli artists as they toured the US and Canada. He accompanied one of these singers, Shoshana Damari, for 8 years around North America. Pictured here is one of Shoshana's albums from the late 50's. Late in the 1960's, Gilad was asked by the aforementioned Tikva records to record Israeli dance albums and you will be able to listen to some of this right now. Apparently, he is still active as a musician in South Florida. about Ma Navu and Va Ani.

This is another Tikva labeled record. Side A has Hora Bialik and side B contains Mit Yitneini Ohf We went onto Aura's database to look up information about Hora Bialik. She has the dance being created in 1962 which gives you an idea that this record was probably created in the early to middle 60's. The choreographer is Yo'av Ashriel, pictured here. You can read an interview with this choreographer by clicking here conducted by the Harokdim web site. We used Aura's database to look up the other dance and the closest we could find was Mi Yitneni Of aka Shirat Hanoded choreographed in 1961. about Hora Bialik and Mit Yitneini ohf

These pictures are of both sides of a 45 rpm issued by the Israeli Music foundation. There are three tracks on this record. The first side presents Sherele. Sherele is claimed to be similar to the term Shir, meaning dance. The second side has two selections: One is Hanoded and the other is Cherkessia. We don't know if Cherkessia is real music or just a tune to help teach that step of Israeli dance but we do know that Hanoded is a dance created in 1948. The steps and the music for this dance are by Sarah Levi and the singer is Martha Schlamma. Sarah Levi (Tanai), pictured here, is one of the giants of early Israeli dance having created the Inbal performing group in 1949 which continues to perform today. pertaining to the steps of Sherele, Hanoded and Cherkessia.

Here is some documentation about the steps to all three dances

This record is a composite of both Israeli and Greek dancing with Side B being the Israeli dance, sher. One might think that this is a misspelling of shir, but in looking at Aura's database on Israelidances.com, sher (also known as Simchat Chasidim) does appear. The label here indicates this to be a wedding dance. The written instructions pertaining to Sher indicate it to be of square dance style. The sideA music is the Greek dance Karagouna seemingly played by the same band and instruments that are used in the sideB rendition of Sher. pertaining to steps of Sher.

This record (along with the next two) were presented by an elderly couple to Grant during a class in 2012. One record was of interest to Israeli dancers (having 2 playable sides) pertaining to songs sung by Maya Zephrir. These records are dated to 1950 and the songs are part of the International folk dance repertoire although rarely played. The records are published on the ASP label. ASP is the shorthand for an avid folk dancing instructor, generally dealing with Mexican dance lore, named Albert S Pill who in Mexican garb is in the middle of the adjacent photograph. It's tough to find ASP records today and those found are of Mexican folk dances which seemed to be the general focus of interest for Pill. It's possible that this may be the only Israeli dance record produced on that label. The singer is Maya Zaphrir and there is no other record of her singing, not to mention existance, that can be found on the internet. Our capture of the music suffers from the 78 hiss that is present in records created at that time. By the way 78's date back to the first attempts to record music. Later replaced by long playing 33s and individual recording 45's, these newer technologies dealt with music in a more natural way than the 78s as you will hear. Click here to listen to Bona Habanot[h] and click here to listen to hava netze bmahol

The next two records, part of international dance, were also a gift from the couple indicated above. If you listen to either selection, supposed Russian partner dances, if seems like you are listening to a waltz or possibly a slow polka. Here's Espan and here's Pas D'espan. This brings up a question not often posed. What is the difference between a ballroom dance and a folk dance. Folk dances are already choreographed while a ballroom dance, with a partner (male) and a follower (generally female) is choreographed on the spot by the leader. A folk dance could be a line, a circle or a partner while a ballroom dance is always a partner. But there is also a difference in music. Folk dances can change beat anytime within the selection given that the choreographer takes this into account. A ballroom dance cannot change. Once the beat is established the dancers know what type of ballroom dance it is and the expectation is that this will be consistent throughout the course of the music. These two selections are 100% waltzes. If a Russian choreographer came up with steps that the dancers followed, then this is a folk dance. If the dancers go their merry way doing their own version of a waltz where the choreography is set by the leader of each of the partners, then we have a waltz.

Here are two Russian folk dances, one especially from the north of that country. You can listen to Sheena and Alexandrovska. These are using 78 media. 78's are somewhat interesting. If you research this, Edison, who creates the concept of electrified sound, used 80 revolutions per minute and the grooves worked themeselves into the center and then out. Besides the question of copyright, it must have been tough to figure what groove to use to start the process although we're sure it was marked. When other companies started to create record players, they opted for a different speed - 78 rpm - and having the groove work out-to-in making it easier to start the record. The 78s size allowed for about 3 and a half minutes of sound so most selections (unless a side was split) ran about that time. This led generally 3 or more iterations of music. In the early 50's the 33 was replaced with the 45 RPM which allowed for a smaller disk. Probably the disk was even shortened so that only 2 iterations were needed. for the steps of Alexandrovska. The documentation is credited to Andrew Carnie and this can be found on the folkdancemusings web site.

Also included is this 45 record consisting of Miserlou (greek) and Vranjanka (from southern Serbia). Miserlou is familiar to all dancers as it is the most famous of Greek folk dances. Besides folk dancers, the song is very recognizable to the American baby boomer generation. This web site thinks that this is in conjunction with the movie "Never On Sunday" where the title song has some reminiscence of Miserlou. You can hear both Miserlou and Never on Sunday in the youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ugFjqK3PqI - listen carefully to the changes in tempo of Miserlou. Before discussing the dancing, let's give a special tribute to Julius Dassin, the director of Never On Sunday. He also is the male lead in the film. Coming from a completely different background, he fell in love with Greece, Greek culture and a Greek, Melina Mercouri, who also starred in the film. Dassin started the heist film genre with Rififi and then topped that with Topkapi. Looking at the dancing of these dances, let's start with Vranjanka. Apparently the steps and the music are separate as the steps can also be danced to several other international dances. The lyrics to the music apparently are another rendition of a Romeo and Juliet story except this time the girl is Moslem and the boy is Christian. for the steps of Vranjanka (Taken from the Phantomranch website. As far as dancing the miserlou is concerned, we were once told by Don Schillinger that there are at least seven different set of steps to one of the parts of Miserlou and perhaps one day this web site will document all of these.

Nordic music, which includes German, is especially percussion based. These pieces of music come from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, etc). If you listen to the music, it really is different than some of the previous selections. Here we have the Scandinavian Polka and Hambo. Hambo is often played at International dance sessions in the Phila area. We should note that a local Israeli dancer has attended workshops in Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway) in what she calls Swedish couples dancing. Of course, since we are speaking of Lee Friedman, Lee has attended dance sessions of all types around the world which you can read about by clicking here There are many sites on the internet that discuss the history and steps of the Hambo. Click here for to access a page discussing the steps.

This record has side 1 featuring a Bulgarian folk dance, Daichovo Horo, with the Macedonian folk dance, Bavno Oro, being on the second side. What Israeli dancers call the mayim step apparently originated with Romanian dancing with the step being called the Hora and spread through the balkans. Horo, this websitre has been told, is the Bulgarian version of Hora. We assume ORO to be the Macedonian variation. XOPO is a record label that specialized in Balkan dancing and they also produced a long playing record of Balkan dancing where Daichovo Horo was the third track on the first side of the album. You will notice the artists mentioned in this record are the Boris Karlov orchestra. We think this is the accordianist Boris Karlov, pictured here, plus some pick up musicians to accompany him. Apparently Karlov was very well known in Bulgaria for his musical skills. for the steps of bavno oro (Taken from the Phantomranch website.)

Pre World War II there was a village of Buf in what was then Macedonia. WWII changed the borders and the village's name, now that it was within Greece, was changed. Bufcansko, which translates to Buf village dance, is a reminder of the historical aspect of that town. This record, under the Folkraft label, had a crack in it and yet our technical staff was able to copy and provide trhis web site with digital copies of the music on both sides with the other side being the Dzangurica dance.

We've seen the Folkraft label before. This time we are dealing with some more Bulgarian dances. Side B is pleskavac, Side A, Ekizliisko Horo (supposedly translated as Grapevine Horo) is accompanied by the accordianist Koco Petrovski, pictured here. pertaining to steps of Pleskavac and Ekizliisko.

The label, Songs Of Epirus, probably tells it all. Epirus is the region of Greece directly below Albania and Greek folk music can easily be broken further down into the various sections of Greece. Both sides are led by Tasos (also spelled as Tassos) Halkias, pictured here, who apparently was a master of the clarinet and you can hear the clarinet in these pieces. Side A features Sagorisios and side B features Sagoritikos.

We have no information about the Mediterranian record label but the two dances are documented as far as the steps are concerned at www.phantomranch.net, a web site operated by Dick Oakes pictured here leading a session. The dances are pasarelska and pinosavka. pertaining to the steps of Paserelska and then Pinosavka.

These next two songs are recorded under the Nina Record Company label. Looking through internet sources, apparently Nina was founded in the late 1950's by the Greek composer and musician Petros Nikolaou. You can see that part of the record's lettering is in Greek and the same internet sources say that the company was also active in Greece creating music content. Side A contains Soysta Kphtikh (where the S is replaced by the Greek letter sigma) and Side B contains Ta Maypa Poyxa

The label says RCA but this probably pertains to RCA Mexico. The date is 1955. Obviously these are two Mexican folk dances that are part of the International dance repertoire. The band playing the music has some reknown: Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlan has been in existance from 1897 and at the time of this recording was led by Ruben Fuentes pictured here. Fuentes is well known for his contribution to Mariachi music. The dances are Sentimiento and Azul Cielo. pertaining to the steps of Azul Cielo.

Below, included with the donated 45's, are two American western square dances. One assumes that modern western square dance is an offshoot of English dancing, modified to contra when situated into this country and further modified when done in the frontiers. This is only speculation. The only known factor is that this type of dancing was introduced into England during World War II by American GIs and continues today. Anyway, the next two 45's are called (on one side) and uncalled (on the reverse side) music used in modern American western square dance.

In January 1969 John Fogerty, shown here, and his band Creedence Clearwater Revival introduced this song, Proud Mary (also known as Rollin Down the River). Many famous musicians have performed this but this version, distributed by the Kalox Recored Distribution Company, is a western square dance version. Called by Billy Lewis on the A side, it seems as if it is sung by him on the B side although the credits go to the Kalox Rhythm Boys which no doubt would be the house band of the record label. Click appropriately for side 1 and side 2. pertaining to the steps of Proud Mary.

Side A is Grand Square called which is done to the music of "Bye Bye My Baby". Click side B to just listen to the music. It is called by Bob Osgood and the music is by a group called the Squareabouts. The label 'Sets in Order' really says alot about this record. Bob and Becky Osgood started the magazine Sets in Order in 1948 and for the next 37 years they published this magazine, dedicated to Square Dancing, while also producing records similar to this one. The image shown here is the cover of the first issue. You can see more about Sets in Order by clicking here to see a web site dedicated to preserving the magazine's memory. pertaining to the steps of Grand Square.