“No Illusions, No Exclusions” American Folklore Society 130th Annual Meeting Buffalo, New York, October 17-20, 2018. No Illusions: Music Matters The Role of Balkan Night NW in Bringing Communities Together Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg (Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle) Introduction While in 2013 during the AFS meeting in Providence I was discussing “Balkan Night Northwest: Analytical Observations on the Repertoire,” I was primarily looking at dances that serve as a meeting venue between people of the Balkans and American Balkan music and dance lovers. (Ivanova-Nyberg 2013). Today my study interprets the concept of “meeting point” more broadly. It is interested in:  How and why has this festival become such a successful gathering for both American Balkan music and dance lovers and for local communities with Balkan ties?  What kinds of music is performed and how does “world music” influence this event?  How does the participation of people from the Balkans shape the nature of the festival? (Poster from 2016) At the time I delivered my paper in Providence I had begun serving as an artistic director of Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle – BCHCS (2013-). This position brought new experiences and insights into my continuing fieldwork on Bulgarian and Balkan music and dance in Seattle. Besides my observations on the festival, collected over seven sequential years, and my involvement in the scene, my current paper is influenced by more recent data, collected via interviews, surveys and personal communication with performers and attendees of various ethnic and professional backgrounds. Since the initial motivation for Balkan Night NW was to mimic New York’s Golden Fest I also expanded my data about Golden Fest. 1 The latter includes observations of people who have attended both Seattle’s Balkan Night NW and Zlatne Uste Golden Festival in New York. 2 And, although these perspectives are not fully addressed here, they were also considered. The histories, dynamics and cultural significance of festivals on opposite coasts clearly call for action, further research. The impact travels in both directions: from the Balkans to the States and from States to the Balkans. 3