Music – Republic of North Macedonia

Last day of our unique online voyage and we are going to navigate through music, dance and traditional songs!

So, let’s start with Kopachkata, a social dance from the village of Dramche, Pijanec, in the Republic of North Macedonia. This traditional dance has been inscribed on UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2014.

Kopachkata is a dynamic and energetic social dance performed by local residents of the village of Dramche in the region of Pijanec. It is danced at weddings, public gatherings and religious holidays by the village’s best male dancers.

The dance is performed in a semicircle accompanied by drummers, a fiddle, and sometimes a tamboura lute or bagpipes. The key roles are the dance leader, who initiates the dance, the last dancer, and the middle dancer who acts as the fulcrum, balancing the left and right sides of the semicircle.

During the dance, the dancers hold each other’s belts with crossed hands, to ensure stability as their movements quicken. The dance starts with a slow walking movement, then changes to swift and short steps, followed by quicker steps and foot stamping. Younger and newer participants learn by taking the last place in the semicircle, and moving closer to the front as their competence progresses.

For local audiences, the Kopachkata dance is a symbol of cultural identity, not only for the community of the village of Dramche, but also for the wider Pijanec region.

If you would like to learn more, do not hesitate to watch the video.

Sources & photographs taken from: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/kopachkata-a-social-dance-from-the-village-of-dramche-pijanec-00995

Photographs No 1 & 3: © Anastasov Kircho/Municipality of Delchevo, 2010

Photograph No 2: © Anastasov Kircho/Municipality of Delchevo, 2013

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