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Bulgarian Folk Music is nuts. What else should I check out like this?? Also, grab The Complete Pianist here: cornellmusicacademy.com/the-complete-pianist only for a limited time!!
This is awesome. Reminds me of Dune. Also, your passion for music is contagious. I'm thankful because you've kept me invested in playing guitar. We have very short chords because we omit so many nots but it doesn't stop me playing along and annoying my non musical friends with your vids (which I know they secretly enjoy) 🥲😂😂
Thomas Bergersen He makes incredible music, really cool epic pieces but also deep and touching tracks He actually likes to use parts of bulgarian choir music I'm sure you'll love his music
When I attended the Conservatory of Amsterdam I learned about this exact thing! Then later when I heard the tracks 'Irregular God' and 'Alita' in the anime Tower of God, I was like "wait a minute, that kinda sounds like a Bulgarian women's choir. Then I watched a video from Kevin Penkin who made the OST for Tower of God, and he confirmed my suspicions. Anyway, there really is something magical about that sound.
Highly recommend checking out David maxim micic - Wedding. Its an abseloutely amazing progg take on the song you lisstened to. The wedding refferance starts at 2 min
As a Bulgarian who has studied western theory and gets excited over 'jazz' harmony and 'prog' rhythms, it tickles me in a very special way to see the opposite. The way both sides understand it especially. To you rhythmically its some complicated off beat syncopation over 4, while I just count to 4 in Bulgarian [the word 'four' has three syllables creating a 9/8 (2+2+2+3)]. Or harmonically for me hearing 'clusters' in chords in western music was never a special, 'complex' thing it was just a sound I was used to hearing (even though harmonically often it doesn't make sense. I could ramble more but I'll save it for you to google and discover, find ways to interpret/understand. One thing I will say is that often in vocal folk songs there is no 'equal temperment' which is probably why at the end there it was 'out of tune' while technically it was 'in tune' (it just kinda does the jacob collier half modulation thing).
I love that comment about your perception of clusters. I think it might really demonstrate the difference in origins between the western European classical tradition and the Bulgarian folk tradition - like how western classical spent centuries chasing spiritual and religious "perfection" in simple ratios and unchallenging harmonies so as not to upset worshippers, but that is only one path and philosophy in an infinite space of other trajectories. I love it, will be checking out your suggestions too for sure
Once I sat in a cello lesson with my son, when he had to play a major second across two strings. The teacher told him to "tune" it by ear, which blew my mind for a second. We usually hear the beats in major seconds (for example "chopsticks" begins by hammering on a major second interval), but it is also possible to tune this interval, for example by hitting the pitch ratio 9/8. So even a major second can sound BOTH harmonious and dissonant. This reminds us of how at the time of the Gregorian chants the interval of a major third - which we hear as quintessentially harmonious - was heard as somewhat dissonant and used as a contrast with the cleaner intervals of 4ths and 5ths. In non equal tuning musicians and singers naturally tune harmonic intervals to whole integer frequency ratios: Octave: 2:1 Fifth: 3:2 Fourth 4:3 Major Third 5:4 Minor Third 6:5 Major second 9:8
Am I missing something with counting in Bulgarian? I'm only counting 7 syllables, not 9. Едно, две, три, четири... Forget I said anything. I tried counting out loud and it made sense.
It so beautiful, I find it very moving. I've been fascinated by it for maybe 10 years now. The harmonies and the vocal tone especially. Greetings from New Zealand!
@@marcelospaiva you can look all of the songs up if you want literal translations but i can write briefly what they are saying 1. In the first song a girl is talking to her mother. She is saying: "A kaval (wooden bulgarian flute) is playing around the village. I will go to see and hear it. If it is (the player) from our village i will love him until dawn. If it is from a foreign village i will love him for life. 2. second song from what i can hear here is about a girl- roujka knitting a sock 3. the title of the third song means "todora is laying down" and it sounds much like a lullaby. In the song Todora is sleeping beneath an olive tree when suddenly the wind breaks off a branch and wakes her up. She gets mad at the wind and then she sees that while she was sleeping her loved one came to her bringing her a bunch of flowers 4. The fourth song is called "wedding" and it is from the point of view of a woman (i presume) talking to Stoyan (a popular then bulgarian name). She tells him that a great dark fog is coming when then they quickly realise that it wasnt a fog, but a big wedding. hope that helped :D
My father wa working in Bulgaria and he was gifted a CD of the Bulgarian National Folk Singers, and no one ever tried to Listen to it with the photo of a Group of Ladies all dressed in traditional dress on the cover, I do not know why someday I decided to listen to it, AND BOY WAS I HOOKED, They HYPNOTIZED ME !!!!
I also shed a tear. It's not the first time I listen to Bulgarian folk music, but I can't help crying every time I hear it so beautiful it is. Greetings from Ukraine
It sounds like shape-note singing from Appalachia to me. Each singing style is authoritative on its own. I wonder what developed over time (and when) to create that harmonic sound?
Imagine being a western trained child having a lovely post-championship dinner with the bulgarian gymnastics team and, after dessert, two of them stand up and start singing Dimianinka for you. 40 years later, I still haven' t overcome one of the most glorious moments of my life.🧛🏻♀️🖤
As a Bulgarian you start instantly to cry because this music touches you and unlocks a certain feeling that you can not trigger with anything else in this world ♥️
I'm Croatian, and I got the same emotional response. There's a common thread, the pan-Slavic thing, in women's choirs, the buzzing, alerting, powerful quality in the harmony. Instant goosebumps!
I’ve always thought I was weird because some music just elicits that response from me. But I’ve come to realize truly beautiful music can bring tears to those who recognize it, regardless if it is happy or sad.
I was introduced to Bulgarian folk music in the mid-90s by the Ghost in the Shell (1995) OST by composer Kenji Kawai. 'Making of a Cyborg' uses harmonies common to Bulgarian folk music with Japanese singers and lyrics, and when I heard those unique sounds I became completely enamored and sought out Bulgarian folk music.
There's something so cool about that really stark, resonant, no-vibrato tonality - it's so harmonically rich and focused, and really showcases how good that those true-tempered intervals sound. Everything just RINGS
(And just to say, I'm not one of those people who usually gets too bent out of shape about 12TET vs true temperament, but in this it's just SO important to the sound and it's amazing!)
@@nsiepmann 12TET tunes everything in a specific way. Other tunings do it in a different way. Its a different flavour. I for one am kinda tired of 12TET, and get a more viceral feeling from these different tunings. But there definitely is music that cannot function without 12TET.
This may seem like a weird comparison, but drum corps has a similar sound quality to it. Especially in the 80s-early 2000s era. It was all about fat brass chords and they often featured contemporary classical, jazz or Latin music.
Bulgarian voices! They start like little rain and then progressively hit you like hurricane from all sides. I have heard Bulgarian choirs live and they are great. Greetings from Greece.
And I forgot to mention that the singers imitate several instruments with their voices. When you hear "Titi titi" you can guess there could be a gajda (bagpipe) there. Also a kaval (flute) or a tapan (percussion).
Bulgarian Women's Choir was huge in the US in the 80s. They appeared with Johnny Carson. I saw them in Minnesota. All I could think was, "Bartok would be so proud."
In my teenage "buy anything that looks weird" years I bought a CD box set just called Mystic Chants (by Hildegard von Bingen) without really knowing what it was. Turned out to be two discs of Bulgarian folk music. No regrets.
I went to see a Bulgarian Folk Music concert in Madrid in '95 and it's the only concert where I have wept tears of uncontrollable joy. Marked for life.
(Bulgairan) kaval palyer here. Plenty of rhytms in our folk music are complex odd meters (5, 7, 13, 15, 17,...) or actually measureless. The way we think of it is however a series of "short" and "long" steps. So a 2+2+3 measure of 7/8 is thought of as short-short-long. Oddly enough, most our Christmas songs are in 2 or 5. And 3/4 is really rare and pretty much limited to a certain region. As for the harmony; "Kaval Sviri" has been composed by Peter Lyondev, a classically trained composer. Most of the choral pieces one can easily find are at least arranged by classically trained composers. Several regions do have authentic polyphony, but it is structured differently (most often two groups of singers overlapping endings and beginnings of phrases and the harmonies are less complex, but using a lot of secons and fourths. Search for "Abagar Quartet - Шопски припевки" for a compilation of melodies and techniques typical fo the Shopluk Region or "Родопите. Неделино - Преди ми, преди, руданче" for an example of Rhodope polyphony.
Just want to chip in and say that I admire you for playing kaval. I play flute and also have a kaval, but it's a whole different world of difficulty. It's incredible when properly played, though. Someday I'll give it the time and devotion it requires.
@@jcortese3300 That's very kind of you, thank you! I do not think it is more admirable than playing any other instrument though, and the flute is lovely as well. They're surprisingly different, though, when it comes to playing, so it may well be even more challenging coming from the flute than staring with a blank slate, though I know musicians who play both masterfully. Biggest tip for a beginner coming from the flute would be to practice in front of a mirror and watch your embochure like a hawk. Unlike with the flute you want your lips relaxed and extended a bit, kind of like saying the word "you". Don't think about whistling, that will bring in tension that you do not want, as the tension of the lips is how you switch between registers. Also, quite importantly; are you oiling your kaval? If it is wooden it requiers to be oiled to protect it from several enviornmental influences.
I am so fascinated! Thank you for sharing. To my western ear, I’m hearing this embrace of microtones, a deliberate push away from just intonation. Would I be correct in assuming this isn’t so much deliberate as it is a natural progression of your folk culture, and just done by feel and listening? What instruments do you use when trying to get on the same tone in a choir? I know it’s a barrage of questions but I’m so intrigued!
Thank you for this info. I was under that impression: "Bulgarian voices" is one thing, Bulgarian Folk is a whole lot of other things. I was wondering if you can share examples of authentic Bulgarian harmony?
I heard this song first on Adam Neelys "Tik Tok and dissonance do not mix" and I keep coming back! It's so powerful, I love it! Great harmonic analysis!
Same. At first I was like, aint ot from the Ghost In The Shell anime, and only then realised that the anime composer was inspired by Bulgarian folk choirs.
THAT'S where I first saw it analyzed. I've heard the song/saw the video before the influx of these analysis vids, but such a cool thing to see them get broken down a bit to see what's going on.
I literally paused when I watched his video. I don't think I ever even finished that video cause I was like "uhhhhh... what was that" and went down the rabbit hole.
I am absolutely thrilled to see Bulgarian music receiving the recognition it truly deserves. It fills me with immense pride for my homeland, Bulgaria, and its rich folklore!
This music is one of those places where timbre shows itself as the king of music, because yes, when you analyze the chord it is some unremarkable minor thing, but what you hear, that is remarkable, and that is timbre. So much of what makes this magical is the sound of voices playing off of each other in a completely analog way that you simply cannot play on a piano or any instrument, so much of it is in the waveforms clashing in a pleasing way, the endless transforms of timbre interacting against each other to create a greater whole. Is good. I like it much.
My wife is Bulgarian; and I got progressively exposed to the music, and each time I was blown away. When I realized that horos were in 7/8, and when I heard the otherworldly dissonant harmonies. It's truly amazing stuff!
My wife too! It’s an incredible culture don’t you agree?! I’m loving this video the most because of so many people coming together for the love of Bulgarian music!
Omg, people are finally listening to my culture’s music! They got a grammy for their singing. Glad people are appreciating Bulgarian music. Nothing quite like it! 😊
I was an early music major in college. I came across Bulgarian music a few years ago and it was like discovering music all over again. So much new and different and wonderful.
Have a listen to Kate Bush’s album The Sensual World. Bulgarian vocals all over the joint 🙌🏼 (I recall Yanka Rupkina was one of the Trio Bulgarka vocalists) (Listen to Rocket’s Tail!!!👍🏼)
Kaval Sviri!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I sang this song with Oklahoma's All-State Choir in January. It was such a beautiful and empowering song to sing and the constrast it held compared to all the other strict, western hymn-type of songs in the concert made it stand out SO MUCH. It's by far one of my favorite songs I've ever sang in all my years of singing. It's so nice to see someone appreciating it to the same intensity us vocalists appreciated it!
They are not hymn-type because they are Western. They're hymn-type because it's Oklahoma. Same problem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Oppressive and Boring.
I'm really happy that you enjoy this amazing song from my country. It's always nice seeing people appreciate your culture, especially when you feel like it's overlooked. Do you have any opinions on the translation?
This first recording of the Bulgarian State Women’s Choir hit North America in the 80s & 90s and blew our minds. It still makes me cry because their music is so beautiful. I used one of their songs in a Music Cognition Research Project.
May i suggest Estonian composer named Pärt Uusberg. Very soothing harnonies and choral sound. Pieces like Õhtu Ilu (is based on estonian folk song) and Õhtul
In high school, my band teacher and choir teacher both made me fall in love with Eric Whitacre. Then in college, I got the opportunity to sing "The Seal Lullaby" with my university's prestigious a capella choir and it brought me to tears. I wish Disney had followed through with making that song into a movie, but it never happened.
Polyphonic music is a tradition for all Slavic people, the South Slavic, the West Slavic and the North Slavic. The women used to sing it in the fields or during the harvest and of course at celebrations. As a child, I really enjoyed listening to the women
Bulgarian here, and I’ve studied folk arts so that was a hoot to watch! Awesomely researched! There’s actually a whole lot of music theory going into these folk adaptations - because this is an adaptation of a folk song made by a composer, even if it’s deeply rooted in folk tradition. There’s several big names that have done adaptations slightly differently, but they’ve all been influenced by classical music and/or jazz. The rhythmic structure you were marvelling at is one of the simpler ones you’ll find in Bulgarian folklore - it’s simply 9/8 (2+2+2+3). The third song is generally 11/8 (2+2+3+2+2). Bulgaria is tiny but has several regions with very distinct music culture. I’m a huge fan of the music of the Strandja region - if you want weird scales and harmony you have got to check it out. There’s also a great deal of instrumental music you might find interesting, though Bulgarian choirs are a gem.
Came to the comment section to say the same - this is not exactly authentic folklore, but choral arrangements by professional composers that have a fair amount of classic and jazz in them.
@@Ubredebre Classical composers most of which studied in Austria and Germany and who are well aware of the music theories of Schoenberg and other mid-XX century composers.
@@Ubredebrecame here to do the same 😉 I often hear people say this is straight-up folk music as would be sung in the village but it’s more a hybrid of folk and art music with a nod to jazz.
As an austrian i always felt i must have been eastern european in my last life because of HOW MUCH i love their music. Like from early childhood on. It is so beautifull and precious.
I am Salesian, I feel at home at eastern music, and foreign at western even though I have been raised in Germany, really odd, it always seems to come from within
@@BarbaraMarieLouise the eastern part of ausgtia yes. But here in vorarlberg we are of a completely different origin. Räther Romanen, Walser and so on.
Same feeling, just that I'm literally in another continent, but Eastern European, Nordic and Irish music always trigger an indescriptible feeling in me. xd
@@fairiIu it was. there's a video here on yt where Kenji Kawai says he was inspired by the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria. he even wanted them to sing in GitS but in the end, I think because of the logistics, he went with Bulgarian style sung by Japanese singers. we can also hear Mysterious Voices in soundtrack for Star Wars: Solo. Kate Bush has them on one album, many music titans we admire admire them.
Coming from The Netherlands i've loved bulgarian music for years. The songs are beautiful but the instrumental music is definitely great aswell. Thank you Bulgaria for giving me countless hours of soultouching music ❤
Non-bulgarian kaval player here. You really have to dig into bulgarian history to have a better grasp at what is going on in that specific vocal music style. Although this kind of song is typically vocal folklore, at the same time it is kind of the academic counterpart of the roots of it. Traditionally this kind of song would have been the main melody with its countermelody, i.e. the one that makes most of the clusters. There is a lot of western ingredients in this kind of arrangement (the size of the choir is one, for instance), but the root and intonation is meant to stay intact. So let's say that, with westerner ears, you can analyse the harmonic movements, but not the harmony itself, especially if you try to play it on a damn piano. One more, and most, important thing, is, what you can hear on recordings is really pale compared to what you could feel live. These type of harmonies and cluster really create a wide array of psychoacoustic effects in the room. You will hear never experienced sounds coming from EVERYWHERE in the room that recordings just cannot capture.
@@trabantdelux I am not sure the quality of instruments has much to do here. Historically, polyphonic vocal traditions were a form of art in itself and was meant to be accompanied with ... vocals. Same for the musical instruments, the repertoire evolved independently, mostly. There are, of course, many exceptions, but the vocal repertoire that has been developed in conjunction with instruments is of a completely different type.
If you don't have Bulgarian genuine friends, you definitely need to and visit Bulgaria with them. The nature, the standard behaviour of people and the quality of life are so heartwarming. Plus their culture is pretty much rich and interesting. I am still stuck with amazement about the family naming systems in Bulgaria, and the things I learnt about folk tradition. I miss Bulgaria.
You had a hand on the faucet of my tears with this video. When I hear their singing, tears come. When you pauswd the singing to break down the chords, my eyes stopped and was consumed with the the theoretical breakdown of the music.
I love your enthusiasm about this music. I'm not Bulgarian but their folk music brings tears to me eyes whenever I hear it. I'm not sure why! One thing I think worth mentioning is the power of their intonation, which our equal tempered keyboards can not replicate. Those harmonies and especially the gorgeous dissonances seem to hit especially hard because of the way they lock in the intonation. Would you agree?
Same reaction here. Instant tears. I wonder why that is. My guess is, that it has something to do with how sincere this music sounds. Like from deep inside the heart or history. I'm at a loss. It's beautiful.
@@allisterhale8229 Yes, this folklore is from Orphey... who had ,,hymns". Bulgarian folklore is directly from Orphey. And later, Christianiy affects it too. Specially the 7/8 rhytm, which is the trade mark of Bulgarian music. And its also the Heart Beat and the same beat of the Planet earth. That beat - 7/8th syncronize you and energize you.
I have a masters in violin performance and I know a LOT of great Bulgarian musicians but had no clue about Bulgarian folk music. It totally makes sense that they descended from a folk culture that makes fascinating and innovative musical choices given the extreme versatility and and creativity of the Bulgarian musicians I’ve collaborated with.
The contrast between the just tuning of the choir and the tempered keyboard becomes so apparent when you're duplicating what they're singing on the keyboard. The tempered tuning does not cut it. I totally share your enthusiasm for this vocal folk music. It is uncanny how sophisticated and artful it is. It sounds so modern. Striking use of dissonance and beautiful sounding chords built on pure and just intervals. And I love how the young women are embracing this wonderful legacy out of cultural pride as well as their love of this fascinating and unique music.
THIS. You can break down the harmonic progressions on the piano, but the sound is totally lost in the shift to mean intonation. It’s the ability of a cappella voices to fall into natural intonation that makes the sound SO transcendent.
@@courtneybrock1 - I wonder if this comes about due to Bulgaria's location at the edge of western cultural influence. Western music became more and more about key changes at the cost of true intervals. Perhaps the frequent incursions of the Ottomans into the Balkans left its mark on the treatment of harmony that to this day has been kept alive by the continuity of these women choirs in Bulgaria.
@@robbes7rh I agree with everything in your comment, but my enthusiastic rely was actually in response to your first two sentences. I got my degree in choral conducting, and what you noticed is actually a phenomenon that happens in all a cappella music. You can’t exactly even temper a human. lol When a trained choir sings with tempered instruments, (like a piano,) they naturally match the tuning of that exact piano. Before concerts, instrumentalists “tune” and warm up, “ However, if a choir’s on their own without any tempered instruments, then they auto-tune to each other. Because you can’t temper a human voice, good choirs ALWAYS slip into natural intonation when singing a cappella as if on autopilot. (It’s the opposite of sliding off into a different key because of that lone, over confident, bass.) The convo comes up in choirs more than you’d think. This is how it goes down in practice. When tuning voices off each other in an acoustically live space, (like a cathedral,) it forces singers into natural intonation. No one notices the phenomenon, it just feels “right.” After the choir’s finished with a song, someone inevitably starts banging out the same cords the choir just sang on a piano. The contrast in sound is so jarring, it’s like someone scraping chalk on a chalkboard. It’s downright painful. But once the initial shock is over, it’s pretty funny. That’s what sparks the conversation. It takes someone playing the piano for choir members to realize they’ve been synched to natural intonation. Which is what you want the choir to do. A cappella choirs slipping into natural intonation, (especially on resting/resolving chords) = correct. The human body’s full of surprises, lol. Of course, some songs showcase this better than others. The dissonance of the Bulgarian women’s folk song does an amazing job.
That is too simplistic. Just intonation is all about pitching notes to match the overtones created by other notes such that they are more in tune with each other than a note constrained by a particular temperament. I do not see how choirs would “naturally fall” into the intonation used in Bulgarian folk music, when what is so distinctive about it is dissonance rather than consonance.
@@JohnSmith-oe5kx "попадат естествено" поради индивидуалните качества на изпълнителите.Автоматично преминават в усреднена тоналност, която е подходяща за всички за изпълнението на дадена пиеса
There is not a single waste of acoustic energy in there sound.The twang they are using is stellar and when you hear this wonderful music with its gorgeous dissonances you can’t help but fall in love with the sound. Congrats on finding this music ,it’s so amazing!🥰🤯🤯🤯🤯
3:45 as a bulgarian classical musician, this bit here is in 9/8 time signature and such "unorthodox" time signatures can be met in a lot of the bulgarian folklore music and the bulgarian classical music too. its uniqueness comes in the irregularity of the beats. it's not 3 equal beats of 3 eight notes each, but rather 4 big beats compiled in 2+2+2+3 eight notes. so you have 4 beats in this particular one, but the fourth is extended with 1 extra eight note. 9/8 can also be changed with 3+2+2+2. there's also other time signatures like 7/8 (2+2+3) or 11/8 (2+2+2+3+2) with the extended times coming on different spots depending on the composition. for ex.: 7/8 can be 2+2+3 or 3+2+2 or even in the middle - 2+3+2. I hope this makes sense ;D Such type of counting, I've seen, is pretty foreign in the west and it can simplify a lot of contemporary pieces that are written nowadays.
More appropriately notated as 9/16 than 9/8, but yes. And it's a fair way of thinking about the rhythmic structure, given the incommensurability of prime numbers (which is what makes something as "simple" as 5/4 or 5/8 the most basic complex meters, due to the division into 2 and 3); it gets even more interesting when you make even larger primes part of those groupings, e.g. like how Stravinsky does in Rite of Spring, but typically the brain falls back on mostly hearing groupings of 2 or 3, i.e. "short" or "long", much like Morse code. A great example is Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War, where he constantly alternates between 2 + 3 and 3 + 2 within the measures, sometimes together and sometimes apart, which at times sounds like two sides at war against one another.
Our Bulgarian folk music is cosmic. No coincidence here. And it is deeply connected with the rituals too. I am glad the rest of the world started paying attention to it. It will only bring peace and love ❤
what I love most about this kind of musician reaction videos is the absolute joy and excitement people can have about learning about a "new" way to do the thing they love
I love this so much. Saw them live more than 20 years ago. And last year in Bulgaria I came across a music festival in a park and the singing was like angels.
Balkan Folk Music has lots of such amazing vocal harmonies and generally they do it naturally and automatically without thinking fifths sevenths ninths etc. It is their heritage. Most of the times they don’t even need a composer or a conductor.
I've sung Kaval Sviri with a choir about 12 years ago. It was my first time getting to learn about Bulgarian music. The teachers we had were great at explaining everything and it forever changed the way I think about harmonies and build them ! Once you hear this song with a full choir, it shakes you to your core and I wish I could sing it again ! Truly an amazing piece.
Being from Croatia, I've heard a lot of these and find them beautiful and often similar to some of our folk music. It seems to be some common theme in Slavic nations, but the Bulgarians also have those little inflections that to my ear sound "like something arabic" and it adds a perfect little extra I find very pleasing. The closest thing to this I've heard is from our region of Medjimurje, they use a lot of those minors and similar harmonies. Pozdravi ot Khurvatiya!
@@nikolapetrov7711 Yep, music is to the globe what paint is to a palette. The closer the two regions/nations, the more similarities they share in music (and cuisine and agriculture and clothing, etc.). The Arabic inflections can be readily heard in Turkish music, a little bit less in Greek music, even less in Serbian, Bosnian, Croatia... The further you move away from the Arabic world, the subtler it becomes, but it's definitely there. A lot of vocal performances in Croatian pop music contains the subtle Arabic-influenced pathos, the lilting inflections that make it sound a little bit Eastern, and that is never heard in the Western music. That's the beauty of living in between worlds, the mixing of culture can create infinite combinations. Harmonically more generally speaking, there is something undeniably Eastern sounding in the elegiac masterpiece "Vehni, vehni fijolica" from Medjimurje although the singing is more straight and Slavic sounding. It's beautiful.
@@viktorvolaric-horvat5190This is not Arabic at aL. These are ancient harmonies, so the Arabs and us had it at the same time. No one influenced anybody. Just because you are more familiar with it from Arabic music, doesn't mean it is Arabic.
I think this kind of music is only common to South Slavs. We have the same kind of thing in southern Serbia but I'm not sure I've heard something similar from the more northern Slavs. I mean, maybe I just haven't heard any examples and they do it too.
I just heard this for the first time just a minute ago and while I hear the dissonances (I'm not a musician in any way), the music establishes tensions and then relieves them in a very satisfying way. I call this the math of the music; I don't know if that's appropriate but it feels right.
George Harrison was a big fan of Bulgarian choral music and became friends with a few Bulgarian folk singers. He was quite into ethnic music (Indian etc).
It does, but I can bet that every one of their voices separately is also powerful. It is a quality of the bulgarian singers to have powerful voices. Just listen to Valya Balkanska for instance. One small woman, such a cosmic voice. Or Stefka Sabotinova, also one of the most renowned traditional bulgarian singers with powerful voice.
@@OnyxianFire yes and no. The blending actually allows them to relax. It’s a feeling like surfing a wave or a laminar flow. They sort of amplify each other.
@@Joggelschorsch And what makes you think that on their own they would not be relaxed? Listen to some solo bulgarian traditional songs and think again 😊
This is my first time hearing Bulgarian folk music and all l i can say is WOW! I've found a new favorite genre of music. The skills of those ladies is like no other
I think one of the things that may be easy to overlook as a western music listener is how powerful the flexibility of intonation for a choir is. Equal temperament has many advantages, particularly the variety of instruments that can play together but you really start to appreciate the purity of intervals when you can hear something like this executed so immaculately
The first time I came into contact with this style of singing was, funnily enough, in the soundtrack of one of my favourite anime movies. Ghost in the Shell. Various pieces in this soundtrack use this style but the choir sings in old Japanese. It's breathtaking, and I had to find out where it came from. These ladies are wonderful and very, very talented. I can hardly imagine the amount of work they have to put in to get this good.
I remember being in college for choral conducting and attending an ACDA conference where I heard this performed live for the first time. “Chills” doesn’t explain it.
I've played many types of music and instruments, gypsy jazz, heavy metal, industrial, european folk, electronic music,.. but Bulgarian music has a BIG spot in my heart. I like to describe it as music that grabs you by the throat and won't let go. Powerful. Personally I love the odd meters used in eastern European music, I enjoy the tension of a rhythm where one step is slightly longer, which is basically what's happening.
Bulgarian folk music has been my favorite for decades. To me, it is a wealthy blend of powerful, complex musical cultures. Mixtures of majors and minors, escaping regular beats and getting into 5, 7, or 11 beats per measure. I hear Roman Catholic choirs, Middle Eastern phrasing, Slavic depth, and much more. I'm always learning some more when I listen. It's expansive.
I love when choral music has dissonant harmonies!!❤ Gregorian and Russian orthodox choirs sound insane. The choirs you showed have such clean harmonies and I love that I can hear each part.
In the late 90s my choir teacher played some of this music for us (a women's choir), and even as a teenager, my mind was completely blown. I borrowed the CD from him and only gave it back when he finally asked for it. When the internet really got going in the early 2000s I was finally able to buy a few Bulgarian choir CDs!
Thank you for doing a video analyzing folk music, especially the wonder that is Bulgarian polyphonic folk music! I wept tears of joy when re-listening these tunes together with your newfound amazement and enthusiasm. I have, for a long time, been watching Western music RUclips channels like yours for the analysis and breakdown of music, but there was never any of my favorite music genres included. I had never come across someone analyzing folk music in this way before this video, so thank you, I’m so grateful ❤️❤️ Greetings from Sweden!
There is something an artist from Portugal has created that is amazing. He invited one if these phenomenal choirs from Bulgaria and sang a traditional portuguese music on top of one of their songs (The traditional portuguese song that he himself performs is a song from a regional part of our country , while he clearly sings in a style of a different part of the country. So it's like.. 3 different cultures mixes) Check it out, I think you will love it : "António Zambujo Chamateia coro Bulgária"
Ahh… welcome to the world of Bulgarian 🇧🇬folk singing… as an American husband to a native Bulgarian wife, I am blessed to experience this wonderful cultural experience every summer we visit her family, and pretty much every day at home lol. I LOVE this music and that you’re analyzing this video. Your piano is not perfectly hitting the same note they’re singing… The one thing you must remember is the microtonal input from Eastern scales influenced by Greek and Arabic sound patterns. кавал свири (kaval sviri) means the “Kaval plays”. A Kaval is a type of flute. I’m absolutely loving your musical reaction to this music!!!! This is by FAR my favorite of your videos!!! Благодария ви много за музикалното приключение!!! ❤
I identify with this guy so much. Brings me back to my high school choir days singing Eric Whitacre! I don’t know why dissonance sounds so much better in vocal music than on instruments!
Because the human voice is able to lock in on the proper intonation each time to make the dissonance maximally resonant whereas instruments, which are fairly fixed and rigid, cannot. Sure, there are often compensators added to various instruments (finger tuning slides, fourth valves, compensating valves, etc.), but they can come nowhere near to being as flexible and free as the human voice. Even strings, which come the closest, are nevertheless tuned to a specific note beforehand.
When I hear this music I hear the resilience of a people facing deep adversity and still choosing to live. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, a recognition of the tragedy and gift of existence. Incredible.
What a treasure it was to see your reaction to this absolutely amazing music! My oldest buddy (friends for 68 years and still counting) had been so mesmerised by the music bed of a local TV advert that he tracked-down the agency that had created it to establish the source of the music. Turned out to be a Bulgarian female voice choir and the CD from which it originated was available in a local (South African) store. When he shared this with me I had the same response that you had! Fabulous music that takes you unexpected places. Thanks for this excellent clip.
Another fellow Bulgarian here. Thank you for appreciating our culture! “Kaval sviri” is written by one of our great composers Petar Lyondev. It was performed for the first time in 1975 and recorded by Ensemble “Trakia” from Plovdiv. This is the recording known and used around the world.
Ugh and I thought Serbian 7/8 time signature is my favorite until I heard this 9/8 beauty! With shifting the longest part too! Amazing!!! Really makes me happy to have Slavic roots
Everyone was blown away when "Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares" was released in '86. It cropped up in samples in Far Out, Papua New Guinea, Two Full Moons and a Trout, etc. Then Pilentze Pee was covered in Ghost in the Shell, and by the end of the 90s everyone knew about Bulgarian Choirs. I'm surprised the younger generation don't know it.
I discovered Bulgarian Folk Music many years ago and have wanted someone to break it down and dissect it for the longest time. Thank you for making this video!
when i was in the seattle women's chorus one of our favorite pieces to perform was "svatba"! every time we performed it we had an absolute BLAST. the sound is so uniquely crunchy and bright, and the energy is unmatched
I did the Bulgarian choral music deep dive during the pandemic. So much music from the Balkans has this amazingly sad but hopeful sound to it. I imagine it has to do with the centuries of war.
I was 10 or 11 years old when I heard Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares for the first time. What a blast! Their music has had a major influence on my taste and preferences ever since. Thanks, Charles, for covering their work in today's video! I'm glad that you allow a whole new generation to get a glimpse of their genius.
0:54 When I hear music like this, it feels like Im watching human history from outside time, just seeing people's lives come and go, and the places where they live change and grow.
If you want to hear the most extreme, densely dissonant version of this style, look up the video “ Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares - Izlel E Delyo Haidutin Mehmetyo (Live on KEXP)”. There are 2 songs in this video, the first is a solo but Mehmetyo starts at about 2:14. It makes everything here sound simple by comparison with the dense clusters some people are saying have 8 different pitches in them and multiple layered groups of singers doing different things at the same time. It’s truly mind-boggling. I hope this incredible music continues to be discovered and bring wonder for many years to come.
I just heard Mehmetyo, holy shit that blew my mind, melted my brain etc. It sounds like ominous church bells, straight out of Midsommar. It is an amazing feat how they made a piece of music sound like the apocalypse with vocals only, huge respect to the choir 🤯
Bulgarian Folk Music is nuts. What else should I check out like this?? Also, grab The Complete Pianist here: cornellmusicacademy.com/the-complete-pianist only for a limited time!!
This is awesome. Reminds me of Dune. Also, your passion for music is contagious. I'm thankful because you've kept me invested in playing guitar. We have very short chords because we omit so many nots but it doesn't stop me playing along and annoying my non musical friends with your vids (which I know they secretly enjoy) 🥲😂😂
Thomas Bergersen
He makes incredible music, really cool epic pieces but also deep and touching tracks
He actually likes to use parts of bulgarian choir music
I'm sure you'll love his music
I believe its felt as "shorts and longs" in a 9/8 time. short short short long 12/12/12/123
When I attended the Conservatory of Amsterdam I learned about this exact thing! Then later when I heard the tracks 'Irregular God' and 'Alita' in the anime Tower of God, I was like "wait a minute, that kinda sounds like a Bulgarian women's choir. Then I watched a video from Kevin Penkin who made the OST for Tower of God, and he confirmed my suspicions. Anyway, there really is something magical about that sound.
Highly recommend checking out David maxim micic - Wedding. Its an abseloutely amazing progg take on the song you lisstened to. The wedding refferance starts at 2 min
As a Bulgarian who has studied western theory and gets excited over 'jazz' harmony and 'prog' rhythms, it tickles me in a very special way to see the opposite. The way both sides understand it especially. To you rhythmically its some complicated off beat syncopation over 4, while I just count to 4 in Bulgarian [the word 'four' has three syllables creating a 9/8 (2+2+2+3)]. Or harmonically for me hearing 'clusters' in chords in western music was never a special, 'complex' thing it was just a sound I was used to hearing (even though harmonically often it doesn't make sense. I could ramble more but I'll save it for you to google and discover, find ways to interpret/understand. One thing I will say is that often in vocal folk songs there is no 'equal temperment' which is probably why at the end there it was 'out of tune' while technically it was 'in tune' (it just kinda does the jacob collier half modulation thing).
I love that comment about your perception of clusters. I think it might really demonstrate the difference in origins between the western European classical tradition and the Bulgarian folk tradition - like how western classical spent centuries chasing spiritual and religious "perfection" in simple ratios and unchallenging harmonies so as not to upset worshippers, but that is only one path and philosophy in an infinite space of other trajectories.
I love it, will be checking out your suggestions too for sure
so nice man thank u so much for this info
Once I sat in a cello lesson with my son, when he had to play a major second across two strings. The teacher told him to "tune" it by ear, which blew my mind for a second.
We usually hear the beats in major seconds (for example "chopsticks" begins by hammering on a major second interval), but it is also possible to tune this interval, for example by hitting the pitch ratio 9/8.
So even a major second can sound BOTH harmonious and dissonant.
This reminds us of how at the time of the Gregorian chants the interval of a major third - which we hear as quintessentially harmonious - was heard as somewhat dissonant and used as a contrast with the cleaner intervals of 4ths and 5ths.
In non equal tuning musicians and singers naturally tune harmonic intervals to whole integer frequency ratios:
Octave: 2:1
Fifth: 3:2
Fourth 4:3
Major Third 5:4
Minor Third 6:5
Major second 9:8
Am I missing something with counting in Bulgarian? I'm only counting 7 syllables, not 9. Едно, две, три, четири...
Forget I said anything. I tried counting out loud and it made sense.
Same! I had to laugh when he felt it off-beat.
Well explained!
As a bulgarian i cannot even express how happy i am that people outside bulgaria appreciate our music so much
Its stunning, friend. Truly something to be proud of.
The Bulgarian Music shown is really amazing.. the reaction stunned with the richness of the music is really deserved. What are they saying the lyrics?
It's so beautiful, complex and sophisticated to American ears!
You should be proud of this! 😀
It so beautiful, I find it very moving. I've been fascinated by it for maybe 10 years now. The harmonies and the vocal tone especially. Greetings from New Zealand!
@@marcelospaiva you can look all of the songs up if you want literal translations but i can write briefly what they are saying
1. In the first song a girl is talking to her mother. She is saying: "A kaval (wooden bulgarian flute) is playing around the village. I will go to see and hear it. If it is (the player) from our village i will love him until dawn. If it is from a foreign village i will love him for life.
2. second song from what i can hear here is about a girl- roujka knitting a sock
3. the title of the third song means "todora is laying down" and it sounds much like a lullaby. In the song Todora is sleeping beneath an olive tree when suddenly the wind breaks off a branch and wakes her up. She gets mad at the wind and then she sees that while she was sleeping her loved one came to her bringing her a bunch of flowers
4. The fourth song is called "wedding" and it is from the point of view of a woman (i presume) talking to Stoyan (a popular then bulgarian name). She tells him that a great dark fog is coming when then they quickly realise that it wasnt a fog, but a big wedding.
hope that helped :D
These dissonant harmonies are UNREAL and their skill is unmatched. Truly a cosmic sound.
what music of the spheres might really sound like
bulgarian folk is actually in space with the Voyager 1 space ship filled with the best music pieces of the human race
@@Simona0707on the golden record?
This is real but only in Blgaria😂😂😂
My father wa working in Bulgaria and he was gifted a CD of the Bulgarian National Folk Singers, and no one ever tried to Listen to it with the photo of a Group of Ladies all dressed in traditional dress on the cover, I do not know why someday I decided to listen to it, AND BOY WAS I HOOKED, They HYPNOTIZED ME !!!!
It's a true!
As a Bulgarian and a fan of this channel, it brings a tear to my eye to see others moved by this music. Truly other wordly, even to me as a native.
First time I listen to this, it is truly fascinating. Very different from what I am used to here in Brazil. Beautiful!
It's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It literally sounds divine.
I also shed a tear. It's not the first time I listen to Bulgarian folk music, but I can't help crying every time I hear it so beautiful it is. Greetings from Ukraine
Yep, just brushed a tear off with a huge smile :)
first time I heard this was on Ghost in the Shell
The way this vocal tone sounds in person too is just INSANE. Feels like your brain is shaking lol.
Like an electric church organ or the start of a horror movie 🍿 😂
It sounds like shape-note singing from Appalachia to me. Each singing style is authoritative on its own. I wonder what developed over time (and when) to create that harmonic sound?
I would be partially paralyzed by the intensity of it 😮
Nice. (New music bucket list item unlocked.)
Shaking in the most wonderful way.
Imagine being a western trained child having a lovely post-championship dinner with the bulgarian gymnastics team and, after dessert, two of them stand up and start singing Dimianinka for you. 40 years later, I still haven' t overcome one of the most glorious moments of my life.🧛🏻♀️🖤
Please, share the names of those gymnasts!!
Wwow! That sound's amazing!!! :D
I remember an album called La Mystere de Voix de Bulgare that was a massive hit worldwide in about 1990. It brought this amazing music to the world.😮
I have it. I have played it to death. ❤❤❤the voices soar up to heaven!
Yes, it was a huge musical fad for a year or so... it was everywhere. They played it in the bookstore I worked in.
As a Bulgarian you start instantly to cry because this music touches you and unlocks a certain feeling that you can not trigger with anything else in this world ♥️
I'm Croatian, and I got the same emotional response. There's a common thread, the pan-Slavic thing, in women's choirs, the buzzing, alerting, powerful quality in the harmony. Instant goosebumps!
same here, i'm not bulgarian but it still made me cry
I'm just an American, but this is absolutely beautiful
I’ve always thought I was weird because some music just elicits that response from me. But I’ve come to realize truly beautiful music can bring tears to those who recognize it, regardless if it is happy or sad.
i'm Czech and literally feel the same❤
I was introduced to Bulgarian folk music in the mid-90s by the Ghost in the Shell (1995) OST by composer Kenji Kawai. 'Making of a Cyborg' uses harmonies common to Bulgarian folk music with Japanese singers and lyrics, and when I heard those unique sounds I became completely enamored and sought out Bulgarian folk music.
This was immediately what I thought of. I was convinced that the style and harmonies were actually Japanese, but I guess I was wrong!
That's where I heard that! Thank you now I can stop wracking my brain
@@fundymentalism Haha glad to help!
I did to, listening to it for weeks. Thought Japanese, to find it's Bulgarian about... right now😃😃😃
Yes! I immediately thought of ghost in the shell as soon as the singing started
There's something so cool about that really stark, resonant, no-vibrato tonality - it's so harmonically rich and focused, and really showcases how good that those true-tempered intervals sound. Everything just RINGS
(And just to say, I'm not one of those people who usually gets too bent out of shape about 12TET vs true temperament, but in this it's just SO important to the sound and it's amazing!)
@@nsiepmann 12TET tunes everything in a specific way. Other tunings do it in a different way. Its a different flavour. I for one am kinda tired of 12TET, and get a more viceral feeling from these different tunings. But there definitely is music that cannot function without 12TET.
This style of singing is called "white voice", it's pretty popular in eastern Europe folk singing like in Ukraine
This may seem like a weird comparison, but drum corps has a similar sound quality to it. Especially in the 80s-early 2000s era. It was all about fat brass chords and they often featured contemporary classical, jazz or Latin music.
Check out Norwegian and Swedish folk (mostly fiddle) music. It has the same quality and awesome harmonies
We love bulgarian music. Greetings from Brazil.
um salve de BR que tbm curte esses tipos de música ♥️🇧🇷
Bulgarian voices! They start like little rain and then progressively hit you like hurricane from all sides. I have heard Bulgarian choirs live and they are great. Greetings from Greece.
And I forgot to mention that the singers imitate several instruments with their voices. When you hear "Titi titi" you can guess there could be a gajda (bagpipe) there. Also a kaval (flute) or a tapan (percussion).
THEY ARE COMMUNIST VOICES
@progresstothestars YES, INSTRUMENTS CAN'T BE DEGENERATE UNTER COMMUNISTS
How beautifully you explained it
Колко е медена устата ти съседе!!😅❤❤
Bulgarian Women's Choir was huge in the US in the 80s. They appeared with Johnny Carson. I saw them in Minnesota. All I could think was, "Bartok would be so proud."
Yes. Great recordings on Nonesuch.
Yes, Béla will always be special to many of us!
Why Bartok?
@@tatianapetseva8455 Sorry, it's not my job to educate you. Take a music appreciation course. There are probably several on RUclips.
@@northernbohemianrealistman cmon 😂
In my teenage "buy anything that looks weird" years I bought a CD box set just called Mystic Chants (by Hildegard von Bingen) without really knowing what it was. Turned out to be two discs of Bulgarian folk music. No regrets.
If you get a hold of some actual Hildegard, that stuff's killer too!
Love Bulgarian music, greets from Serbia 🇧🇬🇷🇸
Българите нямаме нужда от вашата сръбска любов ,ние я знаем много добре ,колко е истинска като руската!
My wife is a polish folk singer and dancer and I can confirm that yes, you have been missing out on Slavic harmonies 😅
most of the world is missing out .
Ukrainian, here. I confirm. Slavic harmonies are a sleeping giant.
Don't call Bulgarians Slavs unless you want to get yelled at lol
@@DemetriosLevi what do you mean? Bulgarians Are Slavs ?
@@anto4759Not completely
I went to see a Bulgarian Folk Music concert in Madrid in '95 and it's the only concert where I have wept tears of uncontrollable joy. Marked for life.
(Bulgairan) kaval palyer here. Plenty of rhytms in our folk music are complex odd meters (5, 7, 13, 15, 17,...) or actually measureless. The way we think of it is however a series of "short" and "long" steps. So a 2+2+3 measure of 7/8 is thought of as short-short-long.
Oddly enough, most our Christmas songs are in 2 or 5. And 3/4 is really rare and pretty much limited to a certain region.
As for the harmony; "Kaval Sviri" has been composed by Peter Lyondev, a classically trained composer. Most of the choral pieces one can easily find are at least arranged by classically trained composers.
Several regions do have authentic polyphony, but it is structured differently (most often two groups of singers overlapping endings and beginnings of phrases and the harmonies are less complex, but using a lot of secons and fourths.
Search for "Abagar Quartet - Шопски припевки" for a compilation of melodies and techniques typical fo the Shopluk Region or "Родопите. Неделино - Преди ми, преди, руданче" for an example of Rhodope polyphony.
Just want to chip in and say that I admire you for playing kaval. I play flute and also have a kaval, but it's a whole different world of difficulty. It's incredible when properly played, though. Someday I'll give it the time and devotion it requires.
@@jcortese3300 That's very kind of you, thank you!
I do not think it is more admirable than playing any other instrument though, and the flute is lovely as well.
They're surprisingly different, though, when it comes to playing, so it may well be even more challenging coming from the flute than staring with a blank slate, though I know musicians who play both masterfully.
Biggest tip for a beginner coming from the flute would be to practice in front of a mirror and watch your embochure like a hawk. Unlike with the flute you want your lips relaxed and extended a bit, kind of like saying the word "you". Don't think about whistling, that will bring in tension that you do not want, as the tension of the lips is how you switch between registers.
Also, quite importantly; are you oiling your kaval? If it is wooden it requiers to be oiled to protect it from several enviornmental influences.
I am so fascinated! Thank you for sharing. To my western ear, I’m hearing this embrace of microtones, a deliberate push away from just intonation. Would I be correct in assuming this isn’t so much deliberate as it is a natural progression of your folk culture, and just done by feel and listening? What instruments do you use when trying to get on the same tone in a choir? I know it’s a barrage of questions but I’m so intrigued!
Thank you for this info. I was under that impression: "Bulgarian voices" is one thing, Bulgarian Folk is a whole lot of other things. I was wondering if you can share examples of authentic Bulgarian harmony?
so you're telling me bulgaria invented breakcore
The part around 3:50 is counted in 9/8 time, SUPER common in Bulgarian and other Balkan folk music. So glad you found this!
So says a 1980's era Robert Fripp interview. :P
Yes, I interpreted it as 9/8 or 7/8 as well. You could see it in the conductor's gestures
@@heatherduke7703 It is, in Bulgarian folklore music odd time signatures are counted as a combination of 2s and 3s. 9/8 in particular is 2+2+2+3.
Look no further than Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk, inspired by a trip they took to Turkey
Thanks I was struggling to puzzle this out 😂
Kate Bush was definitely into it. She had the Bulgarian vocal group, Trio Bulgarka, singing backup on three songs on her album, The Sensual World.
Absolutely and it sounds so great on her albums - they can also be heard on her "The Red Shoes" album.
Thank you 🙏for the Kate Bush tip
No way!!! Her voice sounds like it would fit right in with a choir like this
You just blew my mind! Is this the amazing background I was obsessed with as a child on "Rocket's Tail" ?!?!?!
@@gbb23 Sure is. Sensual World is such a great album!
I heard this song first on Adam Neelys "Tik Tok and dissonance do not mix" and I keep coming back! It's so powerful, I love it! Great harmonic analysis!
Same. At first I was like, aint ot from the Ghost In The Shell anime, and only then realised that the anime composer was inspired by Bulgarian folk choirs.
THAT'S where I first saw it analyzed. I've heard the song/saw the video before the influx of these analysis vids, but such a cool thing to see them get broken down a bit to see what's going on.
Me too
I literally paused when I watched his video. I don't think I ever even finished that video cause I was like "uhhhhh... what was that" and went down the rabbit hole.
Eyyyyy same. This song is so powerful I love it
I am absolutely thrilled to see Bulgarian music receiving the recognition it truly deserves. It fills me with immense pride for my homeland, Bulgaria, and its rich folklore!
This music is one of those places where timbre shows itself as the king of music, because yes, when you analyze the chord it is some unremarkable minor thing, but what you hear, that is remarkable, and that is timbre. So much of what makes this magical is the sound of voices playing off of each other in a completely analog way that you simply cannot play on a piano or any instrument, so much of it is in the waveforms clashing in a pleasing way, the endless transforms of timbre interacting against each other to create a greater whole. Is good. I like it much.
Also this group definitely covered Metallica.
My wife is Bulgarian; and I got progressively exposed to the music, and each time I was blown away. When I realized that horos were in 7/8, and when I heard the otherworldly dissonant harmonies. It's truly amazing stuff!
My wife too! It’s an incredible culture don’t you agree?!
I’m loving this video the most because of so many people coming together for the love of Bulgarian music!
Every time I hear Bulgarian singing, i get goosebumps all over my body. Absolutely incredible!
When the camera pans out at the end and you discover the fact THAT sound was only produced by ELEVEN voices? Head absolutely destroyed!!
Omg, people are finally listening to my culture’s music! They got a grammy for their singing. Glad people are appreciating Bulgarian music. Nothing quite like it! 😊
I was an early music major in college. I came across Bulgarian music a few years ago and it was like discovering music all over again. So much new and different and wonderful.
I bloody love Bulgarian music. Have done for years now. It's unique.
Have a listen to Kate Bush’s album The Sensual World. Bulgarian vocals all over the joint 🙌🏼 (I recall Yanka Rupkina was one of the Trio Bulgarka vocalists)
(Listen to Rocket’s Tail!!!👍🏼)
OMG and just 11 people choir. God Bless Bulgaria.
Kaval Sviri!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I sang this song with Oklahoma's All-State Choir in January. It was such a beautiful and empowering song to sing and the constrast it held compared to all the other strict, western hymn-type of songs in the concert made it stand out SO MUCH. It's by far one of my favorite songs I've ever sang in all my years of singing. It's so nice to see someone appreciating it to the same intensity us vocalists appreciated it!
They are not hymn-type because they are Western. They're hymn-type because it's Oklahoma. Same problem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Oppressive and Boring.
@@needtoknowbasis3499 oppressive? Wow that is harsh. I find hymns beautiful and liberating. When sung properly, near to the level of these Bulgarians.
@doctorhyrulecat Do you have a recording?
I'm really happy that you enjoy this amazing song from my country. It's always nice seeing people appreciate your culture, especially when you feel like it's overlooked. Do you have any opinions on the translation?
This first recording of the Bulgarian State Women’s Choir hit North America in the 80s & 90s and blew our minds. It still makes me cry because their music is so beautiful. I used one of their songs in a Music Cognition Research Project.
I rock my infant son to sleep every night to Eric Whitacre. Those insane harmonies and tetrachords are so beautiful and soothing.
May i suggest Estonian composer named Pärt Uusberg. Very soothing harnonies and choral sound. Pieces like Õhtu Ilu (is based on estonian folk song) and Õhtul
Whitacre is such an amazing idea for rocking a baby to sleep! I am stealing that next time I’m watching my niece 😂
@@joosepjoost3117 What a coincidence! I just heard Õhtul sung live by a Finnish choir last Sunday. Never fails to bring me to tears for some reason.
In high school, my band teacher and choir teacher both made me fall in love with Eric Whitacre.
Then in college, I got the opportunity to sing "The Seal Lullaby" with my university's prestigious a capella choir and it brought me to tears. I wish Disney had followed through with making that song into a movie, but it never happened.
your son will likely become more powerful than we can imagine
Of all European folk music, Bulgarian is probably my favourite.
Polyphonic music is a tradition for all Slavic people, the South Slavic, the West Slavic and the North Slavic. The women used to sing it in the fields or during the harvest and of course at celebrations. As a child, I really enjoyed listening to the women
Bulgarian here, and I’ve studied folk arts so that was a hoot to watch! Awesomely researched!
There’s actually a whole lot of music theory going into these folk adaptations - because this is an adaptation of a folk song made by a composer, even if it’s deeply rooted in folk tradition. There’s several big names that have done adaptations slightly differently, but they’ve all been influenced by classical music and/or jazz.
The rhythmic structure you were marvelling at is one of the simpler ones you’ll find in Bulgarian folklore - it’s simply 9/8 (2+2+2+3). The third song is generally 11/8 (2+2+3+2+2).
Bulgaria is tiny but has several regions with very distinct music culture. I’m a huge fan of the music of the Strandja region - if you want weird scales and harmony you have got to check it out. There’s also a great deal of instrumental music you might find interesting, though Bulgarian choirs are a gem.
Bulgarian here too, what can you recommend from the Strandja region? I have some songs that I love but it is the region I am least familiar with.
Came to the comment section to say the same - this is not exactly authentic folklore, but choral arrangements by professional composers that have a fair amount of classic and jazz in them.
@@Ubredebre Classical composers most of which studied in Austria and Germany and who are well aware of the music theories of Schoenberg and other mid-XX century composers.
@@Ubredebrecame here to do the same 😉 I often hear people say this is straight-up folk music as would be sung in the village but it’s more a hybrid of folk and art music with a nod to jazz.
@@dkokalanov1000%
As an austrian i always felt i must have been eastern european in my last life because of HOW MUCH i love their music. Like from early childhood on. It is so beautifull and precious.
No, we Austrian are German speaking Slavs. That’s why it is always said that the Balkan starts in Vienna! 🤣
I am Salesian, I feel at home at eastern music, and foreign at western even though I have been raised in Germany, really odd, it always seems to come from within
@@BarbaraMarieLouise the eastern part of ausgtia yes.
But here in vorarlberg we are of a completely different origin. Räther Romanen, Walser and so on.
Same feeling, just that I'm literally in another continent, but Eastern European, Nordic and Irish music always trigger an indescriptible feeling in me. xd
Their singing gives me mad Ghost in the Shell vibes, makes ya feel super enlightened after one listen!!
Great stuff imo X33
wasn't the music in GitS inspired by Bulgarian folk music?
So very much yes. I thought the GitS stuff was traditional Japanese but that might have just been the words.
I noticed that too, I had images from the second movie in my mind
That was the first thing that came to mind!!
@@fairiIu it was. there's a video here on yt where Kenji Kawai says he was inspired by the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria. he even wanted them to sing in GitS but in the end, I think because of the logistics, he went with Bulgarian style sung by Japanese singers. we can also hear Mysterious Voices in soundtrack for Star Wars: Solo. Kate Bush has them on one album, many music titans we admire admire them.
Coming from The Netherlands i've loved bulgarian music for years. The songs are beautiful but the instrumental music is definitely great aswell. Thank you Bulgaria for giving me countless hours of soultouching music ❤
Non-bulgarian kaval player here.
You really have to dig into bulgarian history to have a better grasp at what is going on in that specific vocal music style. Although this kind of song is typically vocal folklore, at the same time it is kind of the academic counterpart of the roots of it. Traditionally this kind of song would have been the main melody with its countermelody, i.e. the one that makes most of the clusters. There is a lot of western ingredients in this kind of arrangement (the size of the choir is one, for instance), but the root and intonation is meant to stay intact. So let's say that, with westerner ears, you can analyse the harmonic movements, but not the harmony itself, especially if you try to play it on a damn piano.
One more, and most, important thing, is, what you can hear on recordings is really pale compared to what you could feel live. These type of harmonies and cluster really create a wide array of psychoacoustic effects in the room. You will hear never experienced sounds coming from EVERYWHERE in the room that recordings just cannot capture.
Add the old folk instruments that are hard to tune to precise scale and the flexibility of the singers to match these fluctuations ;)
He is catching the majors and minors but there are deeper layers that make this what it is.
@@phoenixme74 of course. And this is true for any non-tempered modal music.
Preach!
@@trabantdelux I am not sure the quality of instruments has much to do here. Historically, polyphonic vocal traditions were a form of art in itself and was meant to be accompanied with ... vocals. Same for the musical instruments, the repertoire evolved independently, mostly. There are, of course, many exceptions, but the vocal repertoire that has been developed in conjunction with instruments is of a completely different type.
If you don't have Bulgarian genuine friends, you definitely need to and visit Bulgaria with them.
The nature, the standard behaviour of people and the quality of life are so heartwarming.
Plus their culture is pretty much rich and interesting.
I am still stuck with amazement about the family naming systems in Bulgaria, and the things I learnt about folk tradition.
I miss Bulgaria.
You had a hand on the faucet of my tears with this video. When I hear their singing, tears come. When you pauswd the singing to break down the chords, my eyes stopped and was consumed with the the theoretical breakdown of the music.
I love your enthusiasm about this music. I'm not Bulgarian but their folk music brings tears to me eyes whenever I hear it. I'm not sure why!
One thing I think worth mentioning is the power of their intonation, which our equal tempered keyboards can not replicate. Those harmonies and especially the gorgeous dissonances seem to hit especially hard because of the way they lock in the intonation.
Would you agree?
I almost want to say it's just interestingly ornamented hymnal music. In a very good way.
Same reaction here. Instant tears. I wonder why that is. My guess is, that it has something to do with how sincere this music sounds. Like from deep inside the heart or history. I'm at a loss. It's beautiful.
@@grnzrn same here. Cry for the sheer beauty.
@@allisterhale8229 Yes, this folklore is from Orphey... who had ,,hymns". Bulgarian folklore is directly from Orphey. And later, Christianiy affects it too. Specially the 7/8 rhytm, which is the trade mark of Bulgarian music. And its also the Heart Beat and the same beat of the Planet earth. That beat - 7/8th syncronize you and energize you.
I have a masters in violin performance and I know a LOT of great Bulgarian musicians but had no clue about Bulgarian folk music. It totally makes sense that they descended from a folk culture that makes fascinating and innovative musical choices given the extreme versatility and and creativity of the Bulgarian musicians I’ve collaborated with.
So proud that our music and culture are getting the recognition they deserve. Thank you for this amazing video!
Absolutely beautiful musical traditions with so much diversity from your region. May it inspire more and more. 🥰🥰🥰
The contrast between the just tuning of the choir and the tempered keyboard becomes so apparent when you're duplicating what they're singing on the keyboard. The tempered tuning does not cut it. I totally share your enthusiasm for this vocal folk music. It is uncanny how sophisticated and artful it is. It sounds so modern. Striking use of dissonance and beautiful sounding chords built on pure and just intervals. And I love how the young women are embracing this wonderful legacy out of cultural pride as well as their love of this fascinating and unique music.
THIS. You can break down the harmonic progressions on the piano, but the sound is totally lost in the shift to mean intonation. It’s the ability of a cappella voices to fall into natural intonation that makes the sound SO transcendent.
@@courtneybrock1 - I wonder if this comes about due to Bulgaria's location at the edge of western cultural influence. Western music became more and more about key changes at the cost of true intervals. Perhaps the frequent incursions of the Ottomans into the Balkans left its mark on the treatment of harmony that to this day has been kept alive by the continuity of these women choirs in Bulgaria.
@@robbes7rh I agree with everything in your comment, but my enthusiastic rely was actually in response to your first two sentences. I got my degree in choral conducting, and what you noticed is actually a phenomenon that happens in all a cappella music. You can’t exactly even temper a human. lol
When a trained choir sings with tempered instruments, (like a piano,) they naturally match the tuning of that exact piano. Before concerts, instrumentalists “tune” and warm up, “ However, if a choir’s on their own without any tempered instruments, then they auto-tune to each other. Because you can’t temper a human voice, good choirs ALWAYS slip into natural intonation when singing a cappella as if on autopilot. (It’s the opposite of sliding off into a different key because of that lone, over confident, bass.)
The convo comes up in choirs more than you’d think. This is how it goes down in practice. When tuning voices off each other in an acoustically live space, (like a cathedral,) it forces singers into natural intonation. No one notices the phenomenon, it just feels “right.” After the choir’s finished with a song, someone inevitably starts banging out the same cords the choir just sang on a piano. The contrast in sound is so jarring, it’s like someone scraping chalk on a chalkboard. It’s downright painful. But once the initial shock is over, it’s pretty funny. That’s what sparks the conversation. It takes someone playing the piano for choir members to realize they’ve been synched to natural intonation.
Which is what you want the choir to do. A cappella choirs slipping into natural intonation, (especially on resting/resolving chords) = correct. The human body’s full of surprises, lol. Of course, some songs showcase this better than others. The dissonance of the Bulgarian women’s folk song does an amazing job.
That is too simplistic. Just intonation is all about pitching notes to match the overtones created by other notes such that they are more in tune with each other than a note constrained by a particular temperament.
I do not see how choirs would “naturally fall” into the intonation used in Bulgarian folk music, when what is so distinctive about it is dissonance rather than consonance.
@@JohnSmith-oe5kx "попадат естествено" поради индивидуалните качества на изпълнителите.Автоматично преминават в усреднена тоналност, която е подходяща за всички за изпълнението на дадена пиеса
There is not a single waste of acoustic energy in there sound.The twang they are using is stellar and when you hear this wonderful music with its gorgeous dissonances you can’t help but fall in love with the sound. Congrats on finding this music ,it’s so amazing!🥰🤯🤯🤯🤯
3:45 as a bulgarian classical musician, this bit here is in 9/8 time signature and such "unorthodox" time signatures can be met in a lot of the bulgarian folklore music and the bulgarian classical music too. its uniqueness comes in the irregularity of the beats. it's not 3 equal beats of 3 eight notes each, but rather 4 big beats compiled in 2+2+2+3 eight notes. so you have 4 beats in this particular one, but the fourth is extended with 1 extra eight note. 9/8 can also be changed with 3+2+2+2. there's also other time signatures like 7/8 (2+2+3) or 11/8 (2+2+2+3+2) with the extended times coming on different spots depending on the composition. for ex.: 7/8 can be 2+2+3 or 3+2+2 or even in the middle - 2+3+2. I hope this makes sense ;D
Such type of counting, I've seen, is pretty foreign in the west and it can simplify a lot of contemporary pieces that are written nowadays.
More appropriately notated as 9/16 than 9/8, but yes. And it's a fair way of thinking about the rhythmic structure, given the incommensurability of prime numbers (which is what makes something as "simple" as 5/4 or 5/8 the most basic complex meters, due to the division into 2 and 3); it gets even more interesting when you make even larger primes part of those groupings, e.g. like how Stravinsky does in Rite of Spring, but typically the brain falls back on mostly hearing groupings of 2 or 3, i.e. "short" or "long", much like Morse code. A great example is Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War, where he constantly alternates between 2 + 3 and 3 + 2 within the measures, sometimes together and sometimes apart, which at times sounds like two sides at war against one another.
Our Bulgarian folk music is cosmic. No coincidence here. And it is deeply connected with the rituals too. I am glad the rest of the world started paying attention to it. It will only bring peace and love ❤
I had a musical director in high school who exposed us to the Bulgarian Women’s Folk Choir and I was bumping that in my car for a good while
what I love most about this kind of musician reaction videos is the absolute joy and excitement people can have about learning about a "new" way to do the thing they love
I love this so much. Saw them live more than 20 years ago. And last year in Bulgaria I came across a music festival in a park and the singing was like angels.
Actually it’s closer to 30 years ago.
@@annetierney3261 Same here. Even longer. Still had this on vinyl first time around.
Man, this is the stuff I missed the most from my choir days. That dissonance and just beautiful harmonies... *chef's kiss*
I have to say I have already watched this video more than 10 times just to re-experience your pure joy. Congrats and thanks from Bulgaria!
Balkan Folk Music has lots of such amazing vocal harmonies and generally they do it naturally and automatically without thinking fifths sevenths ninths etc. It is their heritage. Most of the times they don’t even need a composer or a conductor.
By the title of this video, I didn't expect to walk away with a 29 song playlist of Bulgarian folk music. But that's exactly what happened.
I've sung Kaval Sviri with a choir about 12 years ago. It was my first time getting to learn about Bulgarian music. The teachers we had were great at explaining everything and it forever changed the way I think about harmonies and build them ! Once you hear this song with a full choir, it shakes you to your core and I wish I could sing it again !
Truly an amazing piece.
Yeah, you are 100% feeling it. The way I can tell is that you're responding exactly the way I do every time I've heard this music since around 1988.
Being from Croatia, I've heard a lot of these and find them beautiful and often similar to some of our folk music. It seems to be some common theme in Slavic nations, but the Bulgarians also have those little inflections that to my ear sound "like something arabic" and it adds a perfect little extra I find very pleasing. The closest thing to this I've heard is from our region of Medjimurje, they use a lot of those minors and similar harmonies. Pozdravi ot Khurvatiya!
"Arabic"?!?!?
@@nikolapetrov7711 Yep, music is to the globe what paint is to a palette. The closer the two regions/nations, the more similarities they share in music (and cuisine and agriculture and clothing, etc.). The Arabic inflections can be readily heard in Turkish music, a little bit less in Greek music, even less in Serbian, Bosnian, Croatia... The further you move away from the Arabic world, the subtler it becomes, but it's definitely there. A lot of vocal performances in Croatian pop music contains the subtle Arabic-influenced pathos, the lilting inflections that make it sound a little bit Eastern, and that is never heard in the Western music. That's the beauty of living in between worlds, the mixing of culture can create infinite combinations.
Harmonically more generally speaking, there is something undeniably Eastern sounding in the elegiac masterpiece "Vehni, vehni fijolica" from Medjimurje although the singing is more straight and Slavic sounding. It's beautiful.
in my humble opinion what is very close to this crazy bulgarian harmonies is the folk music from Herzegovina ruclips.net/video/UYclAeVZG8w/видео.html
@@viktorvolaric-horvat5190This is not Arabic at aL. These are ancient harmonies, so the Arabs and us had it at the same time. No one influenced anybody. Just because you are more familiar with it from Arabic music, doesn't mean it is Arabic.
I think this kind of music is only common to South Slavs. We have the same kind of thing in southern Serbia but I'm not sure I've heard something similar from the more northern Slavs. I mean, maybe I just haven't heard any examples and they do it too.
I just heard this for the first time just a minute ago and while I hear the dissonances (I'm not a musician in any way), the music establishes tensions and then relieves them in a very satisfying way. I call this the math of the music; I don't know if that's appropriate but it feels right.
George Harrison was a big fan of Bulgarian choral music and became friends with a few Bulgarian folk singers. He was quite into ethnic music (Indian etc).
This video is giving me permanent goosebumps. I've always loved the bulgarian sound whenever it pops up in western music. This is so good
The ‘power‘ of their voices… blending the voices plays a big part there!
It does, but I can bet that every one of their voices separately is also powerful. It is a quality of the bulgarian singers to have powerful voices. Just listen to Valya Balkanska for instance. One small woman, such a cosmic voice. Or Stefka Sabotinova, also one of the most renowned traditional bulgarian singers with powerful voice.
@@OnyxianFire yes and no. The blending actually allows them to relax. It’s a feeling like surfing a wave or a laminar flow. They sort of amplify each other.
@@Joggelschorsch And what makes you think that on their own they would not be relaxed? Listen to some solo bulgarian traditional songs and think again 😊
No wander a bulgarian folk song was one of the few things selected to travel on Voyager and represent humanity... Beautiful
This is my first time hearing Bulgarian folk music and all l i can say is WOW! I've found a new favorite genre of music.
The skills of those ladies is like no other
I think one of the things that may be easy to overlook as a western music listener is how powerful the flexibility of intonation for a choir is. Equal temperament has many advantages, particularly the variety of instruments that can play together but you really start to appreciate the purity of intervals when you can hear something like this executed so immaculately
The first time I came into contact with this style of singing was, funnily enough, in the soundtrack of one of my favourite anime movies. Ghost in the Shell. Various pieces in this soundtrack use this style but the choir sings in old Japanese. It's breathtaking, and I had to find out where it came from.
These ladies are wonderful and very, very talented. I can hardly imagine the amount of work they have to put in to get this good.
I was looking for this comment! GitS music is incredibly crafted
I was looking for that comment
I don't know if it's actually a similar style, but it reminds me of music from Nier, which is one of the biggest compliments I know how to give.
Yoko Kanno never misses, man. ❤🎉😂😅😊
@@SakuraMoonflower Yoko Kanno composed the OST for GITS SAC, but not the movie. The OST for the movies was composed by Kenji Kawai.
I remember being in college for choral conducting and attending an ACDA conference where I heard this performed live for the first time. “Chills” doesn’t explain it.
I have been summoned by the echoing sounds of harmony.
Bulgarian folk music and the women’s choir is a blessing straight from the stars and stirs our souls to scrape the heavens!
I've played many types of music and instruments, gypsy jazz, heavy metal, industrial, european folk, electronic music,.. but Bulgarian music has a BIG spot in my heart. I like to describe it as music that grabs you by the throat and won't let go. Powerful. Personally I love the odd meters used in eastern European music, I enjoy the tension of a rhythm where one step is slightly longer, which is basically what's happening.
Bulgarian folk music has been my favorite for decades. To me, it is a wealthy blend of powerful, complex musical cultures. Mixtures of majors and minors, escaping regular beats and getting into 5, 7, or 11 beats per measure. I hear Roman Catholic choirs, Middle Eastern phrasing, Slavic depth, and much more. I'm always learning some more when I listen. It's expansive.
I love when choral music has dissonant harmonies!!❤ Gregorian and Russian orthodox choirs sound insane. The choirs you showed have such clean harmonies and I love that I can hear each part.
In the late 90s my choir teacher played some of this music for us (a women's choir), and even as a teenager, my mind was completely blown. I borrowed the CD from him and only gave it back when he finally asked for it. When the internet really got going in the early 2000s I was finally able to buy a few Bulgarian choir CDs!
Bre, Petrunko is another song like this. Just absolutely mindboggling harmonics.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Bulgarian folk singing. Been listening for years and appreciate your sussing out some of the harmonies.
Thank you for doing a video analyzing folk music, especially the wonder that is Bulgarian polyphonic folk music! I wept tears of joy when re-listening these tunes together with your newfound amazement and enthusiasm. I have, for a long time, been watching Western music RUclips channels like yours for the analysis and breakdown of music, but there was never any of my favorite music genres included. I had never come across someone analyzing folk music in this way before this video, so thank you, I’m so grateful ❤️❤️ Greetings from Sweden!
I was in Bulgaria this last summer. Sofia is a lot of fun and the people are great.
There is something an artist from Portugal has created that is amazing. He invited one if these phenomenal choirs from Bulgaria and sang a traditional portuguese music on top of one of their songs
(The traditional portuguese song that he himself performs is a song from a regional part of our country , while he clearly sings in a style of a different part of the country. So it's like.. 3 different cultures mixes)
Check it out, I think you will love it : "António Zambujo Chamateia coro Bulgária"
Ahh… welcome to the world of Bulgarian 🇧🇬folk singing… as an American husband to a native Bulgarian wife, I am blessed to experience this wonderful cultural experience every summer we visit her family, and pretty much every day at home lol.
I LOVE this music and that you’re analyzing this video. Your piano is not perfectly hitting the same note they’re singing… The one thing you must remember is the microtonal input from Eastern scales influenced by Greek and Arabic sound patterns.
кавал свири (kaval sviri) means the “Kaval plays”. A Kaval is a type of flute.
I’m absolutely loving your musical reaction to this music!!!! This is by FAR my favorite of your videos!!!
Благодария ви много за музикалното приключение!!! ❤
I identify with this guy so much. Brings me back to my high school choir days singing Eric Whitacre! I don’t know why dissonance sounds so much better in vocal music than on instruments!
Because the human voice is able to lock in on the proper intonation each time to make the dissonance maximally resonant whereas instruments, which are fairly fixed and rigid, cannot.
Sure, there are often compensators added to various instruments (finger tuning slides, fourth valves, compensating valves, etc.), but they can come nowhere near to being as flexible and free as the human voice. Even strings, which come the closest, are nevertheless tuned to a specific note beforehand.
I would love to see you dive into bulgarian music more. The harmonies are unreal and almost other worldy. So coo!
When I hear this music I hear the resilience of a people facing deep adversity and still choosing to live. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, a recognition of the tragedy and gift of existence. Incredible.
What a treasure it was to see your reaction to this absolutely amazing music! My oldest buddy (friends for 68 years and still counting) had been so mesmerised by the music bed of a local TV advert that he tracked-down the agency that had created it to establish the source of the music. Turned out to be a Bulgarian female voice choir and the CD from which it originated was available in a local (South African) store. When he shared this with me I had the same response that you had! Fabulous music that takes you unexpected places. Thanks for this excellent clip.
Another fellow Bulgarian here. Thank you for appreciating our culture! “Kaval sviri” is written by one of our great composers Petar Lyondev. It was performed for the first time in 1975 and recorded by Ensemble “Trakia” from Plovdiv. This is the recording known and used around the world.
my eyes water automatically whenever I listen to Bulgarian choir music, it accesses something so universally primal 💯
Ugh and I thought Serbian 7/8 time signature is my favorite until I heard this 9/8 beauty! With shifting the longest part too! Amazing!!! Really makes me happy to have Slavic roots
Everyone was blown away when "Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares" was released in '86. It cropped up in samples in Far Out, Papua New Guinea, Two Full Moons and a Trout, etc. Then Pilentze Pee was covered in Ghost in the Shell, and by the end of the 90s everyone knew about Bulgarian Choirs. I'm surprised the younger generation don't know it.
Strangely and amazingly, listening to the Bulgarian state women’s choir, I was able to heal from a bad breakup.
I discovered Bulgarian Folk Music many years ago and have wanted someone to break it down and dissect it for the longest time. Thank you for making this video!
when i was in the seattle women's chorus one of our favorite pieces to perform was "svatba"! every time we performed it we had an absolute BLAST. the sound is so uniquely crunchy and bright, and the energy is unmatched
Glad someone put you on this! Much love from Greece to you and all the bulgarian brothers n sisters!
I did the Bulgarian choral music deep dive during the pandemic. So much music from the Balkans has this amazingly sad but hopeful sound to it. I imagine it has to do with the centuries of war.
Which one of the 4 songs do you find sad?
I was 10 or 11 years old when I heard Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares for the first time. What a blast! Their music has had a major influence on my taste and preferences ever since. Thanks, Charles, for covering their work in today's video! I'm glad that you allow a whole new generation to get a glimpse of their genius.
0:54 When I hear music like this, it feels like Im watching human history from outside time, just seeing people's lives come and go, and the places where they live change and grow.
Neli andreeva, malka moma was my first step ton bulgarian voices.... And yeah, makes me cry !
I discovered Bulgarian folk music years ago and absolutely love it!!!! It's so rich and exciting to listen to.❤❤❤❤
I'm so glad you've finally analysed Bulgarian music. I found out about it while in university for music, in a history class. It is...hypnotizing.
If you want to hear the most extreme, densely dissonant version of this style, look up the video “ Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares - Izlel E Delyo Haidutin Mehmetyo (Live on KEXP)”. There are 2 songs in this video, the first is a solo but Mehmetyo starts at about 2:14. It makes everything here sound simple by comparison with the dense clusters some people are saying have 8 different pitches in them and multiple layered groups of singers doing different things at the same time. It’s truly mind-boggling. I hope this incredible music continues to be discovered and bring wonder for many years to come.
I just heard Mehmetyo, holy shit that blew my mind, melted my brain etc. It sounds like ominous church bells, straight out of Midsommar. It is an amazing feat how they made a piece of music sound like the apocalypse with vocals only, huge respect to the choir 🤯