Re: klezmer/sephardic/Bulgarian

[Carol Freeman <tsipra...>]

Lucy Fisher wrote:

> Re les mystere des voix bulgares and the bulgarian/sephardic sound... where
> do the Trio Bulgarka (who I far prefer to the mysteres) fit into all this? Is
> this the Bulgarian village sound?
>

Janka Rupkina, Eva Georgieva, and Stojanka Boneva (all wonderful singers!) were
long-time members of the State Radio and Television Choir (Le Mystère des Voix
Bulgares, or Mysteria, as the singers now call it.) Individually they sing
beautiful traditional repertoire (from their stylistically different regions),
but  as Trio Bulgarka they are performing arranged material that is close to
what the ensemble does, just on a smaller scale. (These small ensembles are an
offshoot of the larger ones - Trio Bulgarka was one of the many ones that exist
- the difference is is that they were "discovered?" a Western record executive.)
Ensemble singers work with a choir master, and often their vocal technique for
their choral repertoire is different from what they might use to sing songs from
the village. (Not only did these singers grow up with songs of their native
villages, but up until recently,  all the members of this ensemble were required
to periodically make trips into "the village" to collect  additional traditional
repertoire from the "babi" (grandmas, or village elder women.)

To get some understanding of Bulgarian village singing styles, you need to
listen to field recordings and solo professional recordings. There's lots out
there but to start out, try getting a hold of A.L. Lloyd's Bulgarian recording
on Topic (I believe you're in the UK - should be easy to find there.)

> PS You mean it's *OK* to find les mysteres too 'arranged'?

Those of us involved with the music (in my case, for over thirty years) dislike
this ensemble music, although we love the singers. A lot of the singers
themselves dislike the choral arrangements as well.

Carol

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