Bulgaria - The Rhodope Mountains

 

Sign post in Batak in the Rhodope Mountains

Lake Batak in the Rhodope Mountains

The Rhodope Mountains in the south of Bulgaria are a gentle mountain range of spectacular natural beauty and biodiversity and it's picturesque mountain villages are a hotbed of ancient culture and song.  

We begin in the village of Kostandovo, where apparently you just have to nudge the inhabitants to make them sing.  The Boyana Folk Ensemble in the village was established some 50 years ago and is still going strong with traditional song and dance performances.  I was lucky enough to witness one of their full-length performances at the European Permaculture Convergence in the Rhodope Mountains in 2014.  Here is an extract of their performance:

And here an official video of theirs at the Dorkovo Folk Festival in 2012:

Bulgarian Jazz guitarist Hristo Vitchev resides in California these days, I'm not sure where in Bulgaria he is from.  In 2013 he collaborated with fellow Bulgarian clarinet player Liubomir Krastev to produce an album of jazz inspired by Bulgarian folk called Rhodopa, both after the mountains and a mythical Thracian queen.  Vitchev is also an impressionist painter and he painted his own album cover.  Here is the opening track to the album Devoiko Mari Hubava (Beautiful Young Lady):

Fusion duo Flying Nomads consist of Daniel on Bulgarian tambura and Kristina on Daf (Iranian frame drum).  Their sounds are mostly inspired by the nature around them in the Rhodope Mountains, even recording outdoors, as well as by traditional Bulgarian and world music influences.  Here is a song from their 2021 EP Synthesis called Omen, which is said to represent autumn:

Ethno-ambient band Kayno Yesno Slonce are actually based in Sofia, but claim their music is strongly influenced by the folklore of the Rhodope Mountains.  In fact the name of the band derrives from a line of a traditional song from the region, meaning like a bright shining sun.  They do use a lot of traditional instruments such as the duduk, Bulgarian bagpipes, frame drums and Bulgarian tambura, although they give their music very much a modern touch, sounding almost electronic, even though it's all acoustic.  Here is the opening track of their 2017 album Mare Verborum called THALASSA:

Trio Ravnogor are a Bulgarian/Hungarian trio who met in the Rhodope village after which they named themselves.  Nowadays they seem to be based in Sweden though.  They consist of Nina Grantchrova on vocals, darburka and gardon, Mihail Dinchev on Bulgarian tambura, vocals and percussion and Hungarian György Stuber on vocals, duduche flute and hurdy-gurdy.  They call their style Rhodopian Mountain Blues.  Here is the title track to their 2022 album Bergsblått:

That's it from the Rhodope Mountains, next we're heading to Plovdiv and the rest of Bulgaria.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.