Ivo Papasov's Wedding Band & Balkan Clarinet Music

I first discovered Balkan clarinet music while wandering through Athens, Greece and stumbling upon the Museum of Folk Music. Inside the museum were folk instruments from around Greece with headphones that could be used to listen to different instruments. I was amazed to hear the clarinet recordings by Nikos Karakostas because they sounded a lot like Klezmer music. I bought as many clarinet recordings as I could afford...

I started listening to a lot of Balkan clarinet folk music and eventually came across Ivo Papasov's band (Bulgaria). Check it out:


This was labeled as Bulgarian clarinet music:


This one is called "Azat - The Macedonian King of the Clarinet", but it sounds like it might be Turkish:


A song from Epirus in Greece:


Macedonian clarinet music: