kosa

Music for download - „Kosa

Kosa (Scythe dance) is a so-called “harvest” dance, also called “the scythesʼ dance”. It originates from traditional dances of the Bukovina region performed by the so-called czadecki highlanders. Kosa is a very dynamic dance composed of two parts and played in 4/4 meter. The most recognizable element of kosaʼs choreotechnique is the movement, which “imitates” the action of scything – it is from this action that kosa got its name. In kosa,  the man plays the role of a “reaper” and his female partner plays the role of a “scythe” (the man manipulates the woman like a scythe).

The origin of the dance is worth mentioning. Cioban is an example of a dance characteristic for the group of highlanders described in the literature of the subject as czadecki highlanders, although they should, however, be more appropriately described as Bukovina highlanders. Nevertheless, the highlanders themselves tend to directly refer to this name (e.g. “Watra” ensemble from Brzeźnica), as well as to the names derived from the names of the places inhabited by their ancestors before 1945–46 (e.g. the so-called pojańczycy – Poiana highlanders).

This community is of Silesian and Małopolska (Lesser Poland) origin and a significant part of it for some time inhabited the valley of Kysuca and Pohorele in the territory of present-day Slovakia. At the beginning of the 19th  century, within the framework of the Habsburg colonial policy, this community was resettled to Romanian Bukovina.

> Read more

After World War II, some of the Bukovina highlanders have undergone voluntary repatriation and settled in several villages in the historical Lower Silesia region. The time that the members of this community have spent in the multi-ethnic environment of Bukovina, left a significant mark on their traditions, turning them into a fascinating combination of the elements of Carpathian culture, mixed with the elements of dances characteristic for several communities of emigrants that arrived to Bukovina from different parts of the Habsburg Empire. Kosa is a good example of a dance that was brought to Bukovina and is originally known from several regions in todayʼs Romania.