Bulgaria/Music

Music is the thing which accompanies us from the cradle to the grave. Bulgarian music is various and lively. The instruments are also many and diverse. They can be divided into three groups: single and two-voice wind instruments (pipe, shepherd's pipe, bagpipe, wooden pipe), string instruments (rebec, pandore), and percussion instruments (drum). A confession for Bulgarian folk music is that among the selected recordings of mankind's musical treasury, sent in space on "Voyager" spaceships, along with a Beethoven symphony, there is also a Bulgarian Rhodopes song "Isleyal e Delu haidutin", which is sung by Valia Balkanska. Folk songs are the basis of contemporary Bulgarian music in all its different genres. Compositions resting on, and stylized in a folk style, are distinguished by originality and are greatly valued in Europe reaping successes on the international stage. During the last 20-25 years, Bulgarian performers have won more than 39 Gold prizes from prestigious folklore and singing contests in Gorizia, Arezzo and Agrigento in Italy, Middlesbrough and Llangollen in England, Dijon in France, Debrecen in Hungary, Cork in Ireland, even from Spain and Poland and elsewhere. These distinctions are the cause for Bulgaria being regarded as a country with exceptional singing traditions.

 

 

This audio clip is of a Bulgarian womens chorus

Wedding 

 

You can find information on individual instrumentsmusical that are
typical to Bulgarian music here:
Instruments Page 1 »