Tamburitza Music from Serbia & Croatia - and places beyond)
Tony Kambic (Brach, Bugarija, Vocals), originally from Pittsburgh, PA., played, sang and danced with numerous groups from the early 1960's, including the Mestrovic Tamburitzans, the McKeesport Tamburitzans, The Ambassadors, and Tamburitza Club Zlatno. He first started playing brac, and then progressed through all the family of tamburitza instruments, primarily playing the bugaria. He performed at the Pittsburgh Folk Festival during the 60's and 70's. While a student at the University of Pittsburgh, he was a member of the Folk Dance Club where he taught folk dancing. He currently resides in Northern Virginia.
Larry Robinson (Prim), who plays 3 of the instruments in the tamburica family of instruments (prim, brac & celo) is recently retired and able to indulge in music almost to his heart's content. He is a much-sought-after harmony man, equally at home in Scandinavian, Klezmer, Blues, Old-timey, Irish, and East European, whether on guitar, mandola, mandolin, or tamburica. When pressed, he confesses to playing accordion, too.
Tom Armstrong (Bass), is an astrophysicist and bass player (usually not simultaneously), who has known and loved the square and contra-dancing scene for many years. He also indulges in Hungarian tanchaz music with Balkanto.
Craig Packard (Bugarija, Prim, Vocals), who used to think of himself mostly as a dancer, can't seem to get enough of the E. European music, whether playing or listening. When performing with Sarenica Craig plays prim, brac and (just to offend the purists) guitar, sometimes while singing. Additionally, Craig plays several kinds of bagpipes [Scottish bagpipes having been his first instrument, begun way back in 1953] and winds and strings and has done music direction for such groups as Zivili, Callithumpian Band, Haiducii, Roundelay (these four in Columbus OH), Tisza Ensemble, Balkanto, and various E. European ensembles in the DC area.
Beth LeaMond (Bass, Dumbek), newly moved to her house in Greenbelt, Beth is both a dancer and a musician with a broad range of enthusiasms for Zydeco, E. European, and American traditional music. She likes the odd rhythms of Balkan music.
Ken Wright (Brach), plays many strings and is a regular at Old-Timey and traditional string band music sessions, with a huge and wide-ranging knowledge of dance music, whether for squares and contras or music from the Balkans. He's at home on mandolin, tenor banjo, and brach, to mention a few of his specialties. He's also sometimes mistaken for the youngest member of the band.
Kelly Marshall (Prim), grew up listening to her grandfather's old 78s and records of tamburica music from the old country (Yugoslavia) and decided, after playing bass for other genres, including Ska, that prim was her calling, so she joined Šarenica and quickly proved how fast and versatile a lead player she is on prim.
Mia Boynton (Brach, Vocals), recently came down from Ithaca, NY to join Larry Robinson and the local music community, bringing her PhD, her ethnomusicological training, and her many years of guitar and Irish music to the local tamburica scene. She has known and loved the Buffalo, NY Serbian community musicians for many years, so there's enthusiasm to add more upstate repertoire to Šarenica's already broad range.
Joan Dubinsky (Cimbalom), To parody some of the ads, "I learned to make music despite years of piano playing..." highlights how Joan has taken to her 100-string cimbalom and enriched the local Hungarian, Romanian, Jewish, and Balkan music scenes. She has studied Greek santouri and had lessons with Kalman Balogh on Hungarian cimbalom. She can make more noise than any other member of the band (that's what 100 strings will allow). She both dances (loves Hungarian) and plays in a wide range of styles.
