Finding Aid for Donna Buchanan Papers and Balkan Music Ensemble "Balkanalia" Records, 1985-2026 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

By Nolan Vallier

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Collection Overview

Title: Donna Buchanan Papers and Balkan Music Ensemble "Balkanalia" Records, 1985-2026

ID: 12/5/93

Primary Creator: Buchanan, Donna (1960-)

Extent: 1.25 cubic feet

Arrangement: Materials are arranged in two series: Series 1) Papers and Series 2) Balkanalia Records.

Date Acquired: 07/17/2026

Subjects: Dissertations, Ethnography, Ethnomusicology, Faculty, Field Work, Folk music, Folk music--Bulgaria, Folk music - Music teachers, Music, School of, Music -- Bulgaria, Music -- Bulgaria - Religion and Sociology, Musicology, Russian Area Studies, Society for Ethnomusicology

Formats/Genres: Correspondence, Posters, Scrapbooks, Sound Recordings

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Consists of scrapbooks, research, and correspondence, documenting Donna Buchanan's career as an ethnomusicologist and faculty member at the University of Illinois. Also includes posters, concert programs, photographs, sound recordings, organizational records, and video recordings of her Balkan music ensemble, Balkanalia.

Biographical Note

Donna Anne Buchanan (1960- ) is an ethnomusicologist and professor emertia of musicology at the University of Illinois. Born in Malone, New York on July 29, 1960, she is the daughter of Elizabeth and John Buchanan. After attending Salmon River Central School in Fort Covington, New York, she attended Belloit College (WI). Buchanan received her bachelor's degree with majors in music and modern languages, with an emphasis in anthopology, in 1982. Following this, she earned both her MM (1985) and PhD (1991) degrees in ethnomusicology from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Gerard Behague, Steven Feld, and Stephen Slawek. From 1992 to 1997, she served as an Assistant Professor and Ethnomusicology Program Coordinator at New York University. She joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1997 and, in 1998, founded Balkanalia, the University of Illinois Balkan Music Ensemble. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003.

Between 2004 and 2007, and again from 2018 and 2019, Buchanan served as the Director of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois. She is the recipient of many grants and fellowships, including a 2010 Fulbright-Hays Research grant, which was used to study music in Bulgaria. Between 2013 and 2016, she served as chair of the musicology division. In 2017, Buchanan received the Chancellor's Distinguished Promotion Award and was named an associate of the UI Center for Advanced Study. The following year, she received fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her forthcoming book.

Buchanan is the author of Performing Democracy: Bulgarian Music and Musicians in Transition and served as the editor for both Balkan Popular Cultre and the Ottoman Ecumene:Music, Image, and Regional Political Discourse and Soundscapes from the Americas: Ethnomusicological Essays on the Power, Poetics, and Ontology of Performance. Her research interests have included acoustemology, performativity, postsocialism, cosmology, and social power.

She has served as the dissertation supervisor for many distinguished ethnomusicologists, including Carol Muller, Sandra Graham, David McDonald, and Magarethe Adams, among many others. Her contributions to the field of ethnomusicology include her service as a Council Member, Member of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Nomination Committee, and Member of the Long Range Planning Committee of the Society of Ethnomusicology. She has also been actively involved in the promotion of folk music research inside Bulgaria, serving as a member on the Council of Member Institutions for the American Research Center and as the co-founder and member of the Board of Directors for the Vergilii Atanasov Founation for Bulgarian and Balkan Ethno-organology.

Buchanan retired in 2024, but continues to lead and perform with Balkanalia.

Subject/Index Terms

Dissertations
Ethnography
Ethnomusicology
Faculty
Field Work
Folk music
Folk music--Bulgaria
Folk music - Music teachers
Music, School of
Music -- Bulgaria
Music -- Bulgaria - Religion and Sociology
Musicology
Russian Area Studies
Society for Ethnomusicology

Administrative Information

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Access Restrictions: Access to the collection's content must be approved by Donna Buchanan until July 17, 2036.

Acquisition Source: Donna Buchanan

Acquisition Method: Gift

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Papers, 1985-2017],
[Series 2: Balkanalia Records, 1998-2026],
[All]

Series 2: Balkanalia Records, 1998-2026

Consists of concert recordings, photographs, posters, news clippings, and concert programs, documenting the University of Illinois Balkan Music Ensemble, Balkanalia, from its founding to the present. Materials are arranged chronologically.

Box 1

Folder 5: Balkanalia 2001 Performance and 2004 WILL Performance, 2001 and 2004: Two VHS Tapes.

Box 2

Item 2: Scrapbook, 1998-2022: Includes concert programs, posters, and news clippings.

Box 3

Item 1: B.M.E. (Balkanalia Music Ensemble), April 13, 1999: DAT Tape.
Item 2: Debut Concert / Balkan Relief Fund Benefit Concert, April 13, 1999 and February 22, 2000: CD, Copy 1 of 2. Includes Concert Program. Soloists: Donna Buchanan, Devon Mackinac, Kevin O'Connor, Joanna Bosse, Nesve Turan, Margarethe Adams, Julia Cortinas, Tamra Gingold, and Denise Fill. Contains 15 tracks: 1) Makedonsko Oro, 2) Ovdoviala Lisichkata, 3) Snoshti Vecher u Vas Byakh, 4) Nihavent Longa, 5) Rano Mi Velko Podranila, 6) Adana, 7) Trugnal mi Yane Sandanski, 8) Aj, 9) Apo tin Athina/Azizie, 10) Kalaidzhisko, 11) Zhogom Selo, 12) Istenem, Istenem, 13) Kush Ma i Pari Bani, 14) Kad Ja Podjoh na Benbasu, 15) Omorfoula.
Item 3: Debut Concert / Balkan Relief Fund Benefit Concert, April 13, 1999 and February 22, 2000: CD, Copy 2 of 2. See Program Above.
Item 4: Balkanalia, February 22, 2000: CD, Copy 1 of 2.
Item 5: Balkanalia, February 22, 2000: CD, Copy 2 of 2.
Item 6: Balkanalia: Turkey to Transylvania, A Traditional Music Triptych (1 of 2), April 16, 2000: CD.
Item 7: Balkanalia: Turkey to Transylvania, A Traditional Music Triptych (2 of 2), April 16, 2000: CD.
Item 8: Balkanalia Spring Concert, 2001: CD.
Item 9: Balkanalia, April 17, 2001: CD.
Item 10: Balkanalia Concert, February 10, 2002: CD.
Item 11: Balkanalia (1 of 2), April 14, 2002: CD.
Item 12: Balkanalia (2 of 2), April 14, 2002: CD.
Item 13: Balkanalia Photos and Video Sample, Spring Concert, April 14, 2002: CD. Photoshop TIF Files and MP4 sample.
Item 14: Balkanalia: Balkan Potpourri, April 12, 2003: CD Master.
Item 15: Balkanalia Spring Concert, 2003: CD
Item 16: Balkanalia REEEC Holiday Reception, December 2003: CD.
Item 17: Balkanalia (1 of 2), April 24, 2004: CD.
Item 18: Balkanalia (2 of 2), April 24, 2004: CD.
Item 19: Balkanalia Spring Concert, 2004: CD.
Item 20: Balkanalia Spring Concert (1 of 2), 2004
Item 21: Balkanalia Spring Concert (2 of 2), 2004: CD.
Item 22: Balkanalia WILL Concert, May 2004: DVD.
Item 23: Balkanalia Pictures, 2004-2005: CD. Includes Photoshop TIF Files.
Item 24: Balkanalia: Soyuz (1 of 2), March 4, 2005: CD. Recorded in Bloomington, IN.
Item 25: Balkanalia: Soyuz (2 of 2), March 4, 2005: CD. Recorded in Bloomington, IN.
Item 26: Balkanalia with the Hellenic Student Association Dancers (1 of 2), April 23, 2005: CD. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 27: Balkanalia with the Hellenic Student Association Dancers (2 of 2), April 23, 2005: CD. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 28: Balkanalia with the Hellenic Student Association Dancers and Professor Sherban Lupu, violin (1 of 2), April 8, 2006: CD. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 29: Balkanalia with the Hellenic Student Association Dancers and Professor Sherban Lupu, violin (2 of 2), April 8, 2006: CD. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 30: Balkanalia: Balkan Bouquet, Ten Years of Musical Favorites, April 13, 2007: Two CDs. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department at Smith Memorial Recital Hall, with the Hellenic Student Association Dancers.
Item 31: Balkanalia with Georgi Andreev, April 25, 2009: Two CDs. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 32: Balkanalia Concert, 2009: CD. Werner Version.
Item 33: Balkanalia Spring Concert with Georgi Andreev (1 of 2), 2009: CD.
Item 34: Balkanalia Spring Concert with Georgi Andreev (2 of 2), 2009: CD.
Item 35: Balkanalia, April 24, 2010: CD. Recorded by the School of Music Audio Department in Smith Memorial Recital Hall.
Item 36: Balkanalia Spring Concert, April 2014: CD.
Item 37: Balkanalia REEEC Concert, December 2014: CD.
Item 38: The Best of Balkanalia, v. 1, undated: CD Master, Copy 1 of 2.
Item 39: The Best of Balkanalia, v. 1, undated: CD Master. Copy 2 of 2.
Item 40: The Best of Balkanalia, v. 3, undated: CD Master. Copy 1 of 2.
Item 41: The Best of Balkanalia, v. 3, undated: CD Master. Copy 2 of 2.

Box 4

Folder 1: Ink Drawing of Balkanalia Musicians, undated
Folder 2: Concert Posters, 2007-2026

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Papers, 1985-2017],
[Series 2: Balkanalia Records, 1998-2026],
[All]