The Bulgarian choir waves its magic They produce sounds of the most peculiar vocal timbre, almost as if it was not produced by the human vocal apparatus at all but by an instrument from some foreign corner of the world. They glissando, shout and embellish, combine crazy rhythms, stack their voices to form audacious chords.


The album presents an opportunity for professional ethno-music speculations and analysis but the main idea is to share with the listeners the pleasure of the music. Each song brings its own touch or colour to the kaleidoscopic picture , which reveals the musical atmosphere and temperament of the Bulgarian folklore. The variety of performances highlights the remarkable singing qualities of the 20 singers – a polyphonic instrument in the hands of their conductor and soloists – successors of ancient art of singing. One of the unifying musical elements in this project is the rhythm. The Bulgarian folkmusic is famous for the abundance of irregular, asymmetric measures – dubbed by Bela Bartok the “Bulgarian rhythm”. Many of the songs on the album are built on such a meter and rhythm base. The sound of the drum in Bulgaria is asymbol of the feast and of dancing horo (round chain dance). We can hear it in some of the authors’ arrangements, performed by one of the best Bulgarian percussionists –Stoyan Yankulov.

In the mosaic structure of the program cohabit contrasting in their characteristics – solo, choral and in some of them instrumental accompaniment. The folklore, ancient and modern, is present with elegant balance between tradition and modern approach. Choir and soloists pursue strictly the respective region, local style and musical dialects. They recreate the patterns of the old musical folklore in a mode close to the old traditions from the different regions.

A musical surprise in this album is a song taken from the folklore of an ethnic group karak.......
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