Bulgarian Folk Songs with a Hungarian Accent....

One of my longtime friends, a folklore fan born in Budapest, Hungary, visits the Universe of YouTube when she has a few minutes to spare. She is an avid dancer, like myself, and we have gone to dances and festivals together many times over the years.

She enjoys music from the Balkans and knows that I'm fond of unusual folklore videos. One of the signs of a good friendship is that she knows my taste in music, and she has emailed me some really good stuff. Judging by what she's sent, the Hungarians admire Bulgarian folk music.

The first song is Young Girl at the Spinning House, and the rhythm here is 7/8 (apple-apple-pineapple). This is the rhythm for rachenitsa, the national dance of Bulgaria.

The performer is Szilvia Bognar, who sings this delightful and lively song in Hungarian. Note: Hungarians use the last name first.  This article on Wikidpedia explains why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_names



This high energy song Meggyujtom a Pipam (I light my pipe), is performed by the Hungarian group Besh O Drom. Those who are familiar with Bulgarian folk music will recognize it as the dance Graovsko Horo. It has English subtitles, so I didn't have to resort to Google Translate :)



Bulgarian folklore fans will also recognize the next song, the Hungarian version of Dilmano Dilbero. It has been renamed Falcon Song and it's based on a poem by László Nagy. Márta Sebestyén is a well known performer of Hungarian folk music, and here she's accompanied by Szilvia Bognár, Palya Beáta, and the Sebő Ensemble.


The original song, performed by the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, is the one most people know.


If you enjoyed this you may also like Bulgarian Folkore Travels Abroad and Modern Versions of Traditional Bulgarian Folk Songs.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/06/bulgarian-folk-music-travels-abroad.html

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-versions-of-traditional.html

For more on Bulgarian rachenitsa read:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/07/flavors-of-bulgarian-rachenitsa.html


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