Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
Recently I have been watching excerpts from Slavi's Show on YouTube. The host is a very talented man who has captivated late night Bulgarian TV watchers since 2000.
This show features Bulgarian pop and folk music and Slavi (full name Slavi Trifonov), with his Ku-Ku Band, have hosted numerous performers. It is the Bulgarian version of the Tonight Show (the older version with Johnny Carson as MC.) Unfortunately, the last broadcast of Slavi's Show will be on 31 July 2019.
Video #1 is a sing-along. The song is Nazad, Nazad, Mome Kalino. I don't know the name of the woman who sings with him, if anyone out there knows who she is, please post her name in the "comments" section.
Note: in the lower right hand corner of the video, there is a logo for Seven-Eight Productions. 7/8 is a very common dance rhythm in the Balkans (especially in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Romania). There are different forms of 7/8: lesnoto, chetvorno, and rachenitsa. depending on the grouping of the beats. This song is a 7/8 lesnoto.
In Video #2 Slavi sings Svatba. This is a different song from the one that we dance to (sung by Nikolina Chakardakova). It means "wedding" in Bulgarian. If anyone out there can get me the lyrics for Svatba, please post them in the comments.
The drummers in the intro are amazing. They play for nearly two minutes!
Video #3 is another Slavi sing along. This time it's the Bulgarian National Anthem. You can feel the excitement here, as well as the Bulgarians' love for their country (too bad the end was cut off abruptly).
If you enjoyed this, you can watch many more excerpts of Slavi's Show on YouTube or on his official site. You may also like these posts:
Variations on the Bulgarian folk dance: Svatba
Folklore and Eurovision
Bits and Pieces: More Folklore and Pop Culture from the Universe of YouTube
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
