Valya Balkanska

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Valya Mladenova Balkanska (Bulgarian: Валя Младенова Балканска) (born 8 January 1942) is a Bulgarian folk music singer from the Rhodope Mountains known for singing the song Izlel e Delyu Haydutin, part of the Voyager Golden Record selection of music included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.

Born in a hamlet near the village of Arda, Smolyan Province, Balkanska has been singing Rhodopean folk songs since her early childhood. She has been performing her reportoire of over 300 songs in Bulgaria and abroad. Balkanska is most famous for Izlel e Delyu Haydutin, which she recorded in 1972 accompanied by the bagpipe (gaida) player Dimitar Petkovski.

Balkanska has been working with the Rodopa State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances from Smolyan, of which she is a soloist, since 1960. Her album "Glas ot vechnostta" ("Voice from the Eternity"), released in 2004, is a compilation of her best known songs, including A bre yunache ludo i mlado, Goro le goro zelena, Maychinko stara maychinko.

In 2002, Balkanska was awarded the Stara Planina Order (the highest Bulgarian award).[1] She was honoured with her own star plate on the Bulgarian Walk of Fame in Sofia in December 2005.[2]