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fiercely and flower-decked teenage girls dancing in perfect forma- tion. At the back of the mêlée banging a barrel drum usually, sits Venelin Krustev, long-serving director who had once trained a ten- year-old Dessi when she joined the group.
When the Communist government fell in the early 1990s, public funding for folklore groups dried up here. Dessi was then a teenager with Zagorche, and played a crucial role in raising funds to keep the organisation alive. Generations later, these children still meet three times a week to rehearse, giving up their holidays to perform and tour. It’s hard work on top of a 40-hour school week, so this was an important trip to make. The kids were delighted to see us and couldn’t wait to show us the latest songs and dances they had been learning.
After an exchange of greetings, dances and songs, we headed back to our allotted hosts. Steve and I were to stay with 16-year- old tambura player Yanna and her family, in her grandmother’s home in the nearby village of Han Asparuhovo.
Under the pagoda in their beautiful garden, we enjoyed a leisurely home-cooked feast in that extremely generous Slavic style, with Yanna’s parents, Veneta and Jivko, and her grandmother Stoianka – who had been baking all day. We watched the folklore channel on the outdoor TV set, where music videos can range from sublime to ridiculous. While sweet old men shoulder their belong- ings and sing nomadic airs, the plastic-surgery smiles and enormous cleavages of mainstream female folk singers distinguish Bulgaria’s own brand of fakelore. This does not go down well with Yanna.
“This is not real folk music. Look at their outfits – they are not even traditional, they are just made to look like it. They are hardly even singing!” she cried indignantly. Folk to this Bulgarian family is as sacred as food and water, so for every naff video, Yanna and her friend Dobi made up for it by linking hands and demonstrat- ing one of their dances.
The following evening, the choir debuted Kiril’s new songs at I
the city’s theatre, with the composer himself – an officially hon- oured citizen of Stara Zagora – as their mentor for the concert. The 300-seat theatre bulged with 400 people, and I had to sharpen my elbows to find floor space at the front. This was the moment the tour had been leading up to. Just hours beforehand, Kiril had publicly invited the media to come and see how incredible and authentic these singers were, so the heat was well and truly on.
t’s often these situations that make any performer or group rise to their highest level, especially when a rehearsal on the day does not go well (which it hadn’t). But with Dessi’s pro- fessionalism and faith in the choir, and a little rakiya (brandy) backstage, they stayed together and sang beauti-
fully, and slowly began to enjoy themselves. The heartbreaker for me was Razbolyal Se E Mlad Stuyan, a new piece about a young freedom fighter (Stuyan) dying in a forest. He prays for the rain to come and rot the reins that bind his horse to a tree, so it can gallop back to Stuyan’s mother and tell her that her only son has died. There wasn’t a dry eye in the theatre, or indeed on the stage.
Later that night we returned to Yanna’s family home to cele- brate, swim in the inflatable pool, play with their six-month old husky pup, eat another delicious and slow meal, and teach Yanna how to play riffs by another favourite group of hers: AC/DC.
11-14 August: Bansko. At the world-famous Bansko Jazz Festival, at the foot of Pirin mountain in south-western Bulgaria, musicians mingle with their devoted fans over barbecued kebapche (little kebab) and outdoor pints, and later at the after- party in the tiny Bander bar in the Banderitsa Hotel. It was an odd booking for a folk choir, who opened for Bulgarian jazz legend Camellia Todorova on the penultimate day. The Londoners had drummed up some business earlier by doing a ‘flash choir’ with their newly acquired sign, so there was quite an impressive audi- ence gathered to listen. On a new high after the Stara Zagora experience, the choir were on sparkling form and gave a thrilling performance to a very receptive audience. After the set, everyone made the most of their performers’ passes, and local beer stalls, and boogied in front of the stage to Camellia. The 61-year-old singer was delighted, saying, “Thanks guys. Now I want to see how you dance to this one!” before breaking into Chain Of Fools.
Naturally, the choir started a horo. It was the perfect kind of dance to end a tour that had taken the group to new and profes- sional levels, but having been entirely organised by its members – in the kind of collective spirit that defines and preserves folk music all over the world.
The London Bulgarian Choir will be performing on 13 January as part of the London A Cappella Festival at Kings Place, London N1. F
www.londonbulgarianchoir.co.uk
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