The 13^th International Folklore Seminar organized by the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts (AMDFA) in Plovdiv opens on Sunday night. Throughout next week, more than one hundred participants from across the world will explore Bulgarian folk songs and dances on the spot, BGNES reports. The seminar is visited by amateurs who have discover the beauty of Bulgarian folklore and have devoted to it much of their free time. Some of them come to the seminar every year. Like before, this year they will be trained by leading folklorists.

Those interested in dance patterns are the most. In the course of six days, they are going to learn various folk dances with members of folk ensembles from across Bulgaria.Each of the seminar’s days will focus on a different folklore region – Northern Bulgaria, Dobrudzha, Thrace, Shoppe, Pirin, Rhodopes and Strandzha, as foreigners will learn more about their specific traditions.

Japanese Makiko Idzhiri is a chemical engineer and has been to all seminars held so far. Makiko is keen on folk singing. Other participants will train in Rhodope and Thracian bagpipe techniques, accordion, rebec, mandolin, clarinet and violin under the leadership of renowned experts in traditional instruments, including Prof. Todor Kirov, Assoc. Prof. Vladimir Vladimirov, Ivan Georgiev and others. Among the participants is an entire family from Germany, the Tomaseks. When they started coming to the Plovdiv seminar their son was 7. Today is has grown up, and will train in traditional Bulgarian drums. His mom is keen on the rebec and his father – on the mandolin.