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US musician Christiane Karam holds new master class in Sofia

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A few years ago, we introduced you for the first time to Christiane Karam - a jazz and world music vocalist and composer, an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, a fan of ancient musical cultures, among which Bulgarian folklore occupies a special place. Christiane is the founder of the Pletenitsa Choir which brings together Americans, Europeans, people from the Middle East, from the Balkans...

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Born in Lebanon, she grew up in Beirut during the military conflict, and later later she settled in the United States. She has worked with a number of famous artists. She does not fail to express her respect for Bobby McFerrin, from whom she has learned much of what she is teaching her students now. For the first time she heard Bulgarian folk music as a child and since then she has not stopped searching and studying our songs. Her Bulgarian teacher is the famous folk singer Binka Dobreva from The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices choir.





Over the past few years, Pletenitsa choir has grown and developed. This is no longer just a group of students singing together, but a true musical ensemble with traditions and an interesting repertoire, says Christiane, recalling the history of the group.





Along with her work as a university music professor, choir conductor and organizer of an annual festival, Christiane writes music and constantly carries out her own projects with different musicians. What is her driving force and what is the unifying element among her various paths of professional expression?





Christiane Karam and her Pletenitsa choir are now preparing a new album with Bulgarian and Balkan music.


English Rossitsa Petcova
Photos: Courtesy of Christiane Karam



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