Music of Bulgaria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bulgarian music is part of the Balkan tradition, which stretches across Southeastern Europe, and has its own distinctive sound. Traditional Bulgarian music has had more international success than its neighbors due to the breakout international success of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a woman's choir that has topped world music charts across Europe and even farther abroad.

  • NOTE: Bulgarian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, so transliterations into the Roman alphabet will result in minor variations of spelling (e.g., paidushko and padushka, gadulka and g'dulka).

Bulgarian vocals are said to be "open-throated", though this is actually a misnomer. Singers actually constrict their throats to amplify the voice's focus and strength, giving it a distinctive sound.

Contents

[edit] Folk music

Regional styles abound in Bulgaria. Dobrudzha, Sofia, Rodopi, Bulgarian Macedonia (the Pirin region), Thrace and the Danube shore all have distinctive sounds. Folk music revolved around holidays like Christmas, New Year's Day, midsummer, and the Feast of St. Lazarus, as well as the Strandzha region's unusual Nestinarstvo rites, in which villagers fell into a trance and danced on hot coals as part of the joint feast of Sts Konstantin and Elena on May 21. Music was also a part of more personal celebrations such as weddings. Singing has always been a tradition for both men and women. Songs were often sung by women at work parties such as the sedenka (often attended by young men and women in search of partners to court), betrothal ceremonies, and just for fun. A special form of song, the lament, was sung not only at funerals but also upon the departure of young men for military service.

The most important state-supported orchestra of this era was the Sofia-based State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances, led by Philip Koutev. Koutev has become perhaps the most influential musician of 20th century Bulgaria, and updated rural music with more accessible harmonies to great domestic acclaim.

The distinctive sounds of women's choirs in Bulgarian folk music come partly from their unique rhythms, harmony and polyphony, such as the use of close intervals like the major second and the singing of a drone accompaniment underneath the melody, especially common in songs from the Shope region around the Bulgarian capital Sofia and the Pirin region. In addition to Koutev, who pioneered many of the harmonies, and composed several songs that were covered by other groups, (especially Tedora), various women's vocal groups gained popularity, including Trio Bulgarka, consisting of Yanka Roupkina, Eva Georgieva, and Stoyanka Boneva, some of whom were included in the "Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices" tours.

During the Communist era, some musicians lived outside the state-supported music scene. Without official support, wedding bands were also without official limitations on their music, leading to fusions with foreign styles and instruments. Thrace was an important center of this music, which was entirely underground until 1986, when a festival of this music, which became a biennial event, was inaugurated in the town of Stambolovo, and artists like Sever, Trakiîski Solisti, Shoumen and Juzhni Vetar became popular, especially clarinetist Ivo Papasov.

An orchestra in a Bulgarian mehana, with, from left to right, musicians playing the tapan, accordion, kaval and gadulka
Enlarge
An orchestra in a Bulgarian mehana, with, from left to right, musicians playing the tapan, accordion, kaval and gadulka

[edit] Instruments Used in Bulgarian music

Bulgarian music uses a wide range of instruments. Many folk instruments are variants of traditional Turkish instruments such as the "Saz". More modern style instruments are often used in the more modern dance music that was an offshoot of traditional village music.

[edit] Folk instruments

Bulgarian bands use instruments that commonly include:

  • The gaida, a traditional goat-skin bagpipe. There are two common types of gaida. The Thracian gaida is tuned either in D or in A. The Rhodopi gaida, called the kaba gaida, is larger, has a much deeper sound and is tuned in F.
  • The kaval, an end-blown flute that is very close to the Turkish kaval, as well as the Arabic "Ney."
  • The gadulka, a bowed string instrument perhaps descended from the rebec, held vertically, with melody and sympathetic strings
  • The tǔpan, a large frame drum worn over the shoulder by the player and hit with a beater ("kiyak") on one side and a thin stick ("osier") on the other
  • The tambura, a long-necked metal-strung lute used for rhythmic accompaniment as well as melodic solos
  • The tarabuka or dumbek, an hourglass-shaped finger-drum. It is very similar to the Turkish and North African "darbooka" and the Greek "doumbeleki"

[edit] Dance instruments (modern "Bulgarian Wedding Music")

The new professional musicians of traditional Bulgarian instruments soon reached new heights of innovation, expanding the capacities of the gaida (Kostadin Varimezov and Nikola Atanasov), gadulka (Mihail Marinov, Atanas Vulchev) and kaval (Stoyan Chobanov,Nikola Ganchev, Stoyan Velichkov). Other, factory-made instruments had arrived in Bulgaria in the 19th century, and included the accordion. Bulgarian accordion music was defined by Boris Karlov and later Gypsy musicians including Kosta Kolev and Ibro Lolov. In 1965, the Ministry of Culture founded the Koprivshtitsa National Music Festival, which has become an important event, held once every five years, showcasing Bulgarian music, singing and dance. The last festival was in August of 2005.

[edit] Folk Dances

Main article: Bulgarian dances.

The most distinctive feature of Balkan folk dance music is its complex rhythms (compared to Western music), which are built using combinations of groups of 2 ("quick") and 3 ("slow") beats. All of the basic folk dances use a distinct combination of these rhythmic "units". Some examples are lesnoto, "the slow one,"(7 beats divided 3-2-2), kopanitsa (11 beats divided 2-2-3-2-2), rachenitsa (2-2-3), paidushko (a skipping beat of 2-3) and "pravo horo", which can either be standard 4/4 or 6/8. Some rhythms with the same number of beats can be divided in different ways: for example, 8-beat rhythms can be divided 2-3-3, 3-2-3, 3-3-2, 2-2-2-2, 2-2-4, 2-4-2, 4-2-2, or even 4-4.

[edit] Selected discography

  • Music of Bulgaria Original 1955 Recording (Nonesuch 9 72011) Early recordings of Philip Koutev and the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic.
  • Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (Nonesuch 9 79165 in the U.S., 4AD Records CAD603CD in the UK) The Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Choir, directed by Philip Koutev and Krasimir Kyurkchiyski. This is the world hit that introduced many to Bulgarian music. It is actually a collection of recordings by various artists and groups. A group that included some of these singers (and others) toured under this name.
  • New Colors in Bulgarian Wedding Music, the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble (Traditional Crossroads 4283). Yunakov, a Bulgarian Roma saxophonist, is one of the creators, with clarinetist Ivo Papazov, of the modern Bulgarian "wedding music" movement. This album highlights his amalgamation of traditional Bulgarian music with more modern elements from rock and jazz.
  • Village Music of Bulgaria (Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79195) Two albums of field recordings on one CD (A Harvest, a Shepherd, a Bride, and In the Shadow of the Mountain). One of the tracks, a recording of "Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin", was included by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan on the Voyager Golden Record.
  • Balkana The Music of Bulgaria (Hannibal HNCD 1335) Many of the songs are by Trio Bulgarka or one of its members.
  • The Forest is Crying (Lament for Indje Voivoda) by The Trio Bulgarka (Hannibal HNCD 1342)
  • Two Girls Started to Sing ... Bulgarian Village Singing (Rounder CD 1055) Field recordings

[edit] Pop and rock

[edit] Rock and metal

[edit] Reggae

  • Root Souljah - roots reggae pioneers in Bulgaria

[edit] Rap

  • Misho Shamara (Former Member of Gumeni Glavi)
  • Vanko 1
  • Spens
  • Slim
  • O.C.G.
  • X-Team
  • Rumaneca & Enchev
  • Upsurt
  • DRS (Dope Reach Squad)
  • FARS (Funatic Adventures of Rhyme Sapiens)
  • Horata na Izgreva (The Sunrise People)

[edit] Pop

[edit] Pop - Folk

[edit] Classical

[edit] Orchestras

New Symphony Orchestra

[edit] See also

Music of Southeastern Europe

Albania - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - Greece - Macedonia
Montenegro - Roma - Romania - Serbia - Republic of Macedonia - Thrace - Turkey

[edit] References

  • Burton, Kim. "The Mystery Voice". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 36-45. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
  • Vollan, Ståle Tvete. "Bulgarsk folkemusikk - musikktradisjon og feltarbeid". 1999. Trondheim, Norway. Master Thesis in Musicology + 1 CD, NTNU More info.

[edit] External links

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