Romanian Christmas Carol Workshops In Your Home This Winter

I’m offering a special kind of workshop this December and January: Romanian Christmas Carols from Maramures, the region of northern Romania, on the Ukrainian border and near Hungary, where I spent many years researching traditional music. Here’s an opportunity for a multi-faceted cultural adventure, with all the cosiness and spirituality required by the time of year! The learning of enough Romanian (with at least a hint of dialect) to sing the songs - is a linguistic adventure as suited to small children having their first experience of a foreign language, as to accomplished adults wishing to broaden their horizens, to give but two examples. There’s lots of opportunity for cultural insight, with traditional costumes, embroidery and a few artefacts to display and / or hand around, together with lots of photos and descriptions of the way Christmas and other winter festivals are celebrated. And of course singing! Everyone sings the same thing, and is accompanied by a fiddle, doubling the tune, so no need to worry about not being able to hold a tune or read music (some sheet music will be available for those that it helps, but we’ll mainly work by ear). The workshop will be one hour long, and you’ll be left with plenty to sing after I’ve gone!

In keeping with the spirit of the carolling tradition, the workshops will take place in clients’ homes, in a family-type setting. To book a workshop, please contact me by email to arrange a date and time and to pay the workshop fee, then just gather together a handful* of family and/or friends - (mixed age groups ideal but not obligatory) - and either share the costs with them, or treat them!

*I aim to be flexible about numbers. As a guideline, 3-6 people would be best, as long as they fit comfortably in the domestic space you wish to hold the workshop (with room for me, my fiddle, and a few accessories too!), but a couple more or less should be ok - please let me know how many you envisage attending at time of booking. The spirit of the occasion should be domestic but hospitable. I will consider larger events, but will have to negotiate the price, and possibly adapt some aspects of the workshop, accordingly.

Fees:
For venues within Leicester’s Outer Ring Road: £30 (existing clients: £25)
For venues further afield, please contact me to negotiate! (existing clients: £30). Will travel far and wide, but distance has to be reflected in the cost!

A word about religion: the carols themselves contain a mixture of Christian and Pagan imagery, and are sung out of Church, in the Community. This workshop will not be presented from any particular religious perspective, but simply as a cultural experience with something to say to us all.