Sastale Se Dve Devojke“, or “Two Girls Meet”, is a traditional Serbian-Croatian “kolo“, a circle folk dance tune. Performed by the Sloboda Orchestra, a popular 5-piece Yugoslavian tamburitza band in the 40s and 50s, it features the Director Joseph Grcevich on lead brač, a long neck lute also called a tambour or tamburitza. There are many, many styles, sizes and varieties of these instruments, both single-stringed and double-stringed. The other instruments are the 2nd brač, bass, cello, and bugaria (a Bulgarian-style tambour.) I also hear three or four voices…

The Balkan tamburitza style has evolved in Central and Eastern Europe for almost 200 years, and sometimes has a somewhat “Italian” sound, but not surprisingly: the Croatian Dalmatian coast is directly east of Italy, across the Adriatic Sea.

From 1950 on the Oakland 78rpm label, Kolo Festival.

 

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This a Serbian folk tune which is probably a traditional and has no one author, but through time has changed and evolved as generations of musicians have played it and sang it. “Nas Dva Brata” in the Serbian language is “Us Two Brothers” in English. Two piece vocal duo, guitar and accordion for accompaniment. I would call this a rustic, Balkan toe-tapper, and a great drinking song; and I just love the Italianesque, but very Balkan as well, guitar string work and dense, quick harmonies coming off the accordion against the vocals. Released on Chicago’s PERUN label in the late 1940s, I’m guessing.

 

Nas Dva Brata - Torbica & Velimirovic (PERUN) 78 rpm