Customer Reviews

Music of Bulgaria

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is where the whole Mysterious Voices began, with this 1955 recording of the Koutev Ensemble. The sound is clean and the music is sublime. Don't be put off by the recording date, the performance is timeless. A rich variety of choral songs with some smaller vocal groupings; soft melodies and mountain style hollering. The exotic dance tunes make a pleasing contrast. I have never tired of hearing it. Guaranteed to make you tingle!

When I was growing up in the US it was still very difficult to buy Bulgarian music, even for a Bulgarian-American living in a major US city like myself. Luckily I owned this, along with another similar LP and I can honestly say I've listened to it (on LP and later CD) thousands of times in my life.

This CD represents many kinds of traditional Bulgarian music, from chorals to gaida (bagpipes) to horos (dance). They're nice examples. I can't say they've compiled the most famous or popular traditional songs of Bulgaria, but it is a nice cross-section. It also has musical styles from several regions throughout the country.

The number four track; Ogreyala Mesetchinka (The Moon Shines) is particularly noteworthy for those interested in vocal styles.

If you're interested in Bulgaria's place in traditional world music this should whet your appetite for more. It should direct you to the genres you like best. And like I said earlier, I relied on this album for nearly two decades, so you can't really go wrong!

Although Bulgarian music became a major fad in the West in the late 1980s with the "Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares" series of recordings, those same state musicians had toured abroad over thirty years previously. This Nonesuch recording captures one of these concerts of the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic. It's mainly choral material, with a few tracks with instruments and two fully instrumental tunes.

It must be said, this is generally not authentic Bulgarian folk music. Rather, we have here a lot of Communist-era arrangements of folk material that make the music more closely stick to Western common practice tonality. "Polegnala e Todora" doesn't even use folk music and just combines its modern music with a "folk-inspired" text. On one hand, one could respect the arrangers for their effort to preserve Bulgarian music in the face of the inevitable end of village cultures by arranging it in internationally palatable ways. On the other hand, one could condemn them for excluding some of the unique "dissonant" features of traditional Bulgarian music. Nonetheless, some songs here do approach real village stylings, such as the exciting dance from the Shopsko region on track 3 and the against the grain harmonies of the song "Ogeyala mesechinka".

The first two volumes of the "Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares" series of recordings remains the best introduction to the faux folk music of Bulgaria. The sound quality of this concert recording makes it less important. Nonetheless, if you've heard "Le Mystere" and want more music in the same vein, this will probably be quite entertaining.

i remember reading an interview with frank zappa in downbeat in the middle 70's, (bulgarian music was way below the radar at that time) they asked him what he was currently listening to, and he mentioned this album. could zappa be wrong?

a w e s o m e v o c al s a n d e n e r g y v e r y h i g h

I was dissappointed in this music.I like most music but some tracks on this CD were grating on my nerves.