Tag: folklore

What is Bulgarian folk singing?

Bulgarian folk singing is a traditional vocal style that emerged many centuries ago. It has evolved significantly over time and continues to change today—shaped by history, culture, and modern musical influences.

Bulgarian folk songs reflect important historical events, as well as elements of mythology, religion, beliefs, and legends. Folklore has always been and still is—a mirror of Bulgarian life in every period of our existence. Folk songs arise from an inner need to express lived experiences and emotions. They have been sung in times of sorrow and joy: on great holidays, during work, at celebrations, and also in difficult moments of Bulgarian history, when they helped awaken and reinforce national consciousness.

You can learn more about their origins in my other article, here. 

How Bulgarian Folk Singing Has Changed Over the Years

When I listen to great Bulgarian performers like Nedyalka Keranova, Nadka Karadzhova, Valya Balkanska, Hristina Lyutova, Nadezhda Hvoineva, and many others, I’m reminded how different the world was when they were creating their art. For a long time—before recording technology—folklore wasn’t simply “music to listen to.” It was something people lived: woven into everyday life, community, work, celebrations, and the stories that shaped people’s lives.

In the early 20th century, this began to change. The first recordings of Bulgarian folk music appeared on gramophone records, and with them came the first performers whose voices could travel far beyond their home region. Recording transformed our relationship with the song: it could be heard again and again, learned from, compared, and passed on in new ways. Little by little, folklore gained a new place in society—not only as a living village tradition, but also as heritage worth preserving, understanding, and sharing. And for us as musicians and singers, knowing that past matters: it gives us a foundation to build on as we grow and create in contemporary directions, without losing our connection to the roots.

The traditional way of singing Bulgarian folk music is quite different from the way many folk singers perform it today. We live in a time when, wherever we are in the world, we have instant access to all kinds of information. We can listen to countless singers and styles and explore different vocal techniques with just a few clicks. Naturally, this influences Bulgarian folk singers too, who experiment more and more with new and interesting approaches.

Some worry that this is a bad thing—that we are losing the traditional sound and forgetting where we came from. In a way, they are right: we are moving away from certain traditional practices. But I don’t believe this is entirely negative.

In Bulgarian folk singing, there has never been a single, unified way of singing or teaching. Many of us learn first at home from family members, and later in school or at university. Even there, we learn mainly by listening and imitation, copying famous singers, or adopting the vocal approach of our teachers, which is shaped by how they were taught and what they believe is beautiful or correct.

This is wonderful in many ways—it preserves personality and creative freedom, but it also has its limits.

Imagine two singers: one has naturally good posture, the other doesn’t. The first can sing and breathe correctly without thinking much about it, and their voice flows freely with little effort. The second struggles, and no matter how much they imitate the sound they hear, they can never quite reach it in the same way. What I’m trying to say is that everyone has different challenges and most of the time, we need a teacher who can identify our specific issues and help us work through them.

A few years ago, I had serious vocal problems and, for a long time, I lost my singing abilities. I didn’t realize that my main difficulties were connected to singing posture, breathing while singing, and a lack of understanding of vocal anatomy—until I later began taking pop and jazz singing lessons. This immediately improved my singing, regardless of the style I was performing, and helped me understand how to use my voice correctly.

But I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the foundation I received in Bulgarian folk singing—first at school and later at university. Now I have that solid base, as well as the opportunity to explore healthier ways to preserve the traditional sound without constantly worrying about losing my voice again. As a teacher, it’s also very important to me to pass this knowledge on to my students so they can apply it in their own singing and develop healthier vocal habits.

💡 Teacher’s Corner: 3 quick reminders for healthier folk singing

• Singing posture: A stable, upright posture frees the breath and lets the voice sound natural and resonant.

• Breath control: Aim to inhale only as much air as you need, and practice maintaining that control while singing. Too much air often creates unnecessary muscular tension.

• Tradition + healthy singing: The two can go hand in hand. You can keep the traditional sound and “folk colour” while releasing muscles that shouldn’t be involved in singing and activating the right ones. This helps you sing longer and keep your voice in its best shape.

What is Ethno-Jazz, and how do modern musical styles influence Bulgarian music and singing?

As I mentioned above, today we are influenced by many different sources. We listen to all kinds of music and whether we want it or not, it affects us. We begin to think differently as singers and musicians.

I don’t think musical experiments began because someone simply sat down and intentionally said, “I want to do an experiment.” They began because someone felt the music differently—heard it differently in their mind—shaped by everything they had listened to up to that moment, and needed to express that feeling through sound. I see this as a completely natural process. This is how many musical styles have been born throughout history.

In the 20th century, new hybrid styles emerged more and more often as ideas travelled across borders through recordings, radio, and touring. In that global context, jazz began to meet and blend with local musical traditions, giving rise to styles often described as ethno-jazz or world jazz. [7]

Musicians like John Coltrane are frequently cited among early jazz artists whose work explored connections beyond the standard American jazz vocabulary. [10] He drew inspiration from African, Middle Eastern, and Indian musical ideas, especially in rhythm, modality, and approach. One early piece often discussed in this context is his 1961 track “Dahomey Dance” (from Olé Coltrane). [11]

Early jazz echoes in Bulgaria, and the road toward Bulgarian Ethno-Jazz

In Bulgarian jazz history, some accounts point to a striking early moment: in the winter of 1911, violinist Wallace Hartley and his orchestra performed in Varna, and the story is often linked with the arrival of Irving Berlin’s newly published “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”—a piece sometimes described as an early bridge toward American popular music styles of the era. [3][4]

After the Second World War, under Bulgaria’s communist period, the arts were shaped by ideological pressures, and musical experimentation often faced obstacles. In this period one of the major figures in Bulgarian jazz emerged: Milcho Leviev—composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. His career includes work with Bulgarian Radio’s Big Band in the 1960s. [5][6]

Leviev regarded Bulgarian folk music—with its uneven, complex rhythms, characteristic melodic patterns, and strong focus on virtuosity and improvisation—as a natural fit for jazz. In pieces such as “Blues in 9,” he fused asymmetrical Bulgarian meters with jazz language in a way that later writers frequently point to as foundational for Bulgarian ethno-jazz. [7]
I was fortunate to experience the genius of this remarkable musician personally, and to sing in one of his projects in Sofia.

He studied composition with the great Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov, who also explored folk influences extensively in his works and composed many outstanding classical works. I can’t help thinking that this connection—and Vladigerov’s openness to folk elements—may have been one spark that encouraged Milcho Leviev to explore the path he did. [13]

Bulgarian folk singing on the world stage

So what happens to Bulgarian folk singing amid all these global changes and cultural transformations? Naturally, modern influences that reached Bulgaria began to shape its sound. Bulgarian folk singing started to adapt so it could sit more naturally within modern musical contexts—while most singers still try to preserve its identity.

These changes have helped Bulgarian folk singing step onto the world stage. What once lived mainly as a village tradition has become a recognised vocal style and a source of inspiration for composers, musicians, and singers worldwide.

Today, we hear Bulgarian folk singing woven into countless genres, each offering a new interpretation of its traditional sound. And famously, it even travelled into space with the voice of Valya Balkanska and her recording of the traditional song “Izlel e Delyo Haydutin”, included on the Voyager Golden Record. [1][2]

In conclusion: Bulgarian folk singing has changed greatly through the years. But as long as we folk singers stay rooted in the tradition and pass its foundations to the next generations, we will never lose the spark that makes our Bulgarian voice unique.