The Near Eastern & Balkan Ensemble of Yale University’s Department of Music performs musics of West Asia and Southeast Europe, featuring sacred and secular styles from countries such as Bosnia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Lebanon, and Syria. Students in the group interpret diverse repertoire through characteristic approaches to ornamentation, improvisation, and meter (including additive aksak meters like 7/8 and 11/8) on their own instruments and voice parts, as well as on traditional regional instruments (particularly on Balkan drums and tambura string instruments). The ensemble offers a performance rooted in their study of the theoretical, cultural, and aesthetic traditions of diverse styles and ethnic groups, such as Bulgarian horo, Romani chalgiya, and Arabic classical music.