Macedonian and Balkan Folk Music

Izumi Fairbanks

Izumi Fairbanks image

Izumi Fairbanks grew up in Turkey and Japan, and began studying traditional folk music after moving to Seattle. She has traveled to Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and New York to study percussion and string instruments (tupan/davul, doli, kemence, gudulka, panduri, baglama) while continuing to study Bulgarian music with Alexander Eppler and Pontic Greek music with Christos Tiktapanidis.

Apart from playing kemence, she collaborates with the Georgian polyphonic choir “onefourfive,” with whom she sang for eight years, and the ensemble “Anadolu Folkdancers” where she studied and performed Turkish folk dances for three seasons. She also plays gudulka and tupan with the Bulgarian traditional music group “Siatliiska Troika.”