Bulgarian Choir Singing Listening List

          Music has been an important part of Bulgarian culture for as long as it has existed. Before World War I, their music was tied to the changing of the seasons and the rhythm of work. They had many different types of music for different times of the year, and also believed that singing loudly would change the seasons. One type of music was the Koleda, which is what we understand as Christmas caroling. Kukerovden was a form of celebration for the changing of the seasons into spring. Easter Dances were performed at 3-day long festivals called Velikden, and were huge celebrations for entire villages. In the summer, the women would sing harvest songs or “zhutvarski pensi”. The subject matter of these songs were singing about going out into the fields, the hot summer sun the cool evening breeze, and going home from the fields. After the harvest was gathered and stored, the women would gather in homes to make clothes, socialize, and sing. This was also an opportunity for young men to begin courting. They would join the women and sing and dance with the young ladies in their village in whom they were interested.

          After the Communist Party took over in 1944, music in Bulgaria began changing. Traditional Folk music was frowned upon as being a thing of the past, but at the same time, the government liked the idea of rural music being a model for the bright, happy, and prosperous world that could never be achieved in reality. The government commissioned Phillip Koutev to create a State Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance. He got women from different villages and traditions and had them learn a type of “traditional” music that was accepted by the government. This eventually traveled around the globe.

Here is one of Phillip Koutev’s most famous songs, “Polegnala e Todora”.

As the style of music began evolving, composers used Koutev’s basic techniques, but began to change from consonance to dissonance. Eventually “Le Mysterie de Voix Bulgares” (The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices) came into the picture. This group is world famous and has toured around the globe. Here they are performing on an American talk show.

“Le Mysterie de Voix Bulgares” also goes by the name “The Great Voices of Bulgaria Women’s Choir”, and is a successor of The Women’s Choir of Sofia. Here they are singing “Pilence Pee”, a very famous Bulgarian folksong.

Modern choirs still have that mysterious voice, and there are schools in Bulgaria that specialize in this type of singing.

Many people are mesmerized by the sound of the Bulgarian choir and voice. Here is Dessi Stefanova giving an interview on how the sound is achieved.

Bulgarians try to imitate nature when they are singing, and value a sound coming from the "chest" register, where in the Western world we aim to sing in the more "pretty" "head voice" register. This goes to show that there is no "right" way to sing; different cultures appreciate different types of singing and music in general, and that's what makes music so beautiful.

Sources:

123.BG Ltd., Www.123.bg, 359 88 7565-414 Tel./fax: 359 2 8437521. "The Great Voices of Bulgaria." Women's Choir. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Buchanan, Donna A. "Review Essay: Bulgaria's Magical Mystère Tour: Postmodernism, World Music Marketing, and Political Change in Eastern Europe." Ethnomusicology 41.1 (1997): 131-57. Web.

Rice, Timothy. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

"Testimonial - The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices." The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Webster, Jamie Lynn. "The Mysterious Voice! American Women Singing Bulgarian Songs." The Anthropology of East Europe Review 22.1 (2004): 155-67. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.