The Lerin Region Macedonian Cultural Association was formed five years prior to the November twentieth Dance of 1999. The reason for forming this Association is to gather all the people who came from this Region to spend an evening together and enjoy each other's company, so they do not forget each other. Each year the Lerin Region Association puts on a dance in November, a picnic in August and one general meeting in March. The fourth annual Lerin Region Dance was coming up, and my second year as President, I was feeling a bit nervous. So far each event has been a tremendous success but none of the prior events had a young man named Kosta Talidis who came directly from the Lerin region to entertain us. My first impression of the young man was good, as I got to know him more I was impressed, but still I could not help feeling nervous, I had yet to hear this young man sing.

I remember growing up in the Aegean part of Macedonia and how restricted was the Macedonian language. One time when my cousin Menka, a lady who spoke only Macedonian and loved singing while coming home from the fields, was taken by the Greek authorities and interrogated for singing in Macedonian. And yet, after fifty years of forced education, how well was this generation going to sing in Macedonian.

The dance was held at St. "Clement of Ohrid" Macedonian Orthodox Church, in the big hall, which was decorated in beautiful Macedonian costumes and pictures from the Lerin region. Over five hundred anxious people were in attendance, including Council General of the Republic of Macedonia, all asking the same question... How good is his Macedonian? How good is his singing?

Then the moment had come in which I introduced this eighteen-year-old singer to begin his performance. He walked up to the microphone and shattered the exited tension with a confident rendition of "Yas Soum Chisto Makedonche" (I am a pure Macedonian). The crowd immediately broke out into cheers and applause as Kosta began to take over the night's festivities with his sweet voice. His melodic trumpet playing accompanied by the "Boys from Bouf", led the crowd to dance into the early morning hours, and I was feeling happy, fully satisfied that the dance was a success.

I would like to thank everyone who came at the Lerin Region Dance and made the evening a great success. I would like to thank the Committee for their dedication and hard work and especially Kosta Talidis and the "Boys from Bouf" for the great night of entertainment.