Jane Elliot
The quote above could have been said about a regional dish in Bulgaria: the Shopska Salad, as well as about regional differences in Bulgarian folk music.
Today's post is about how to recognize regional differences in Bulgarian folk music. After many years of listening to and dancing to Bulgarian folk music, I've learned how to recognize subtle regional differences.
The first example is a song from the Rhodope region, often accompanied by a large bagpipe, the kaba gaida. It has a distinctive sound. The songs have an otherworldly quality about them.
The song, Bela Sum Bela Junace is about a shepherd who finds a blonde girl in the fog. He asks her to marry him.
Songs from the Shope region can be distinguished by the "whooping" sound. The harmony in this is amazing. This song was featured on the Bulgarian National Radio's website in Musicbox Bulgaria for the month of July. It takes true musical ability to sing like these women do.
Chichovite Konje translates to Uncle's Horses. Anyone know where I can find the lyrics and a translation?
The next folklore region is Dobrudja. The example in Video #3 is Tervelska Tropanka. You can hear the stamps in the music even without looking at the dancers. The main instruments in this piece are the accordion accompanied by a bagpipe.
There are a number of dances unique to Dobrudja: Tropanka, Sborenka and Opas (Dobrudjan Pravo Horo). All of them are punctuated with stamps. Tropanka is accented with strong arm movements (see video below)..
If you are a frequent reader of The Alien Diaries, you will recognize the Chinese "Bonding Folkdance Class."
The Bulgarian Thracians love clarinet music and the dance Pravo Horo. There are many variations of the Pravo; and many regional differences in style. Bachkovsko Horo is an example of a Pravo from Thrace.
Notice that the music is played by a brass orchestra, which is more typical for northwestern Bulgaria than Thrace. The clarinet comes in loud and clear at about 2:14.
The dancers are from the city of Stara Zagora.
If you enjoyed this you may also like:
Bulgarian Singing Demystified
More Stamping it Out: Bulgarian Folk Dances from the Folklore Region of Dobrudja
Dancing Across Bulgaria: The Pravo and Regional Folk Dance Styles
Part Two will be about the music of Northwestern Bulgaria and Pirin.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Brass bands became popular in the South/Thrace as well, later on. Brass bands came into Bulgaria after the Liberation in the late 19th century, in the north at first, but there were many in the South by the mid-20th century. The tune in the last video is played by either the Purvomay band or the Sadovska, both of which are from Trakia. And the steps are what an average Bulgarian would call Dunavsko horo :)
ReplyDelete