Bulgaria - The Southwest

Dragalevski Monastery on the southern outskirts of Sofia near the village of Bistritsa

 On our way out of Sofia we have to make a quick stop in the village of Bistritsa, where the Bistritsa Babi, The Granny of Bistritsa, were formed in 1939.  They are an all female choir and dance troupe performing very traditional polyphonic singing and rituals from the Shopluk region.  They have even been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.  Here is a a short explanatory video:

Here is a live performance in 2016

For more, check out their 2010 album Authentic Bulgarian Folk Songs.

Next we are heading south to the spectacular Rila Monastery in the Rila mountains.

Photo credit: By Raggatt2000 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29520642

This is obviously the inspiration for instrumental folk band Rila, although I don't know much else about them.  Theirs is music that you would hear at a village fete in Bulgaria.  Here's a track from their 2014 album Bolgárkert entitled Kraidounavska ruchenista:

On the foothills of the Rila Mountains lies the city of Blagoevgrad, which is home to the American University of Bulgaria.  Here's me admiring a sculpture on the main square back in 2012.

This is where folk singer Iliya Arginov (1931-2012) spent most of his career, although he was born further south in Sandanski.  Either way, both places are near the North Macedonian border and his songs large repertoire consists mostly  of Macedonian folk songs.  His son Dimitar went on to a career as a lead singer in a metal band apparently.  Anyway, Iliya recorded more than 200 songs and released 7 albums during his life.  Here is just a flavour of a live performance:

The Trio Bulgarka was a female vocal trio active between 1975 and 1999.  The 3 women actually came from different regions, but as one of them, Stoyanka Boneva, came from the Pirin Mountains, we'll make our next stop in Bansko, at the foothills of those mountains, famous for its sand rock formations and deeply flavoured Melnik wines.

The trio Bulgarka's glittering career included being part of the Mystere des Voix Bulgares and even recording with Kate Bush.  This is the story of the recording with Kate Bush:

Here is a live performance by the trio.  For more check out their 1989 Best of album:

That's it from Bulgaria's southwest, next we are heading into the beautiful Rhodope Mountains.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.