The tradition & historical record
2 min read · 1 sourceČoček (Albanian: çyçek/qyqek; Serbian and Macedonian: чочек, romanized: čoček; Bulgarian: кючек, romanized: kyuchek; Romanian: sistemul; Greek: Tsifteteli) is a musical genre and dance that emerged in the Balkans during the early 19th century. It features prominently in the repertoire of many Romani brass bands. Čoček originated from Ottoman military bands, which at that time were scattered across the region, mostly throughout Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Romania. That led to the eventual segmentation and wide range of ethnic sub-styles in čoček. Čoček was handed down through the generations, preserved mostly by Roma minorities, and was largely practiced at village weddings and banquets. Čoček is especially popular among the Muslim Roma and Albanian populations of Kosovo, South Serbia and Macedonia. When Tanec first came to America in 1956, they performed čoček as a Muslim woman's dance, "Kjupurlika" from Titov Veles. The kyuchek, as a common musical form in the Balkans (primarily Bulgaria and North Macedonia), is typically a dance with a 98 time signature; two variant forms have the beats divided 2-2-2-3 and 2-2-3-2. (This latter meter is sometimes referred to as "gypsy 9".) Roma musicians living in areas of the former Yugoslavia have broadened the form to include variations in 44 and 78. In the international folk dance community, čoček is danced to many melodies.
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Čoček”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.
Čoček is Balkan musical genre and dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 1
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 1