The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir is an internationally renowned,

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-winning musical ensemble that performs modern arrangements of traditional Bulgarian folk melodies. It is most recognized for its contribution to

Marcel Cellier Marcel Cellier (29 October 1925 – 13 December 2013) was a Swiss organist, ethnomusicologist and music producer, internationally known for introducing the singing of ''Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares'', and the playing of Gheorghe Zamfir. Cellier ...

's Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices) project. First created by Georgi Boyadjiev in 1952 as the Ensemble for Folk Songs of the Bulgarian Radio, the choir is now directed by Dora Hristova. It was granted the name Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares by Marcel Cellier in 1997, in recognition of the fact that it had contributed most of the songs on the original compilations.

Membership and methods

Singers are chosen from country villages for the beauty and openness of their voices, and undergo extensive training in the unique, centuries-old singing style. Influenced by Bulgaria's

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

, Bulgarian, Ottoman and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

history, their music is striking in its use of diaphonic singing and distinctive timbre, as well as its modal scales, unusual meters (such as 7/8, 9/8, and 11/8), and dissonant harmonies (abundant second, seventh, and ninth intervals). All of these are characteristic of

Bulgarian folk music The music of Bulgaria refers to all forms of music associated with the country of Bulgaria, including classical, folk, popular music, and other forms. Classical music, opera, and ballet are represented by composers Emanuil Manolov, Pancho Vla ...

History

In 1951,

Filip Kutev Filip Kutev (), often anglicized Philip Koutev (13 June 1903 – 27 November 1982), was a Bulgarian composer, arranger and founder, with his wife Maria Kuteva, in 1951, of Bulgaria's first professional, state supported ensemble, the State Ensemble ...

and Maria Kuteva founded the first professional national folk music ensemble in Bulgaria, the State Ensemble for Folk Song and Dance, now known as the Filip Kutev Ensemble. The State Television Choir followed in 1952. Though the latter choir became widely known when the trend-setting English alternative record label

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

reissued a pair of anthology albums in 1986 and 1988 with the now famous title ''

Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ''Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares'' (translated as "The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices") is a compilation album of modern arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs featuring, among others, the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir, with s ...

,'' their recordings date as far back as 1957. The first pressing of the Voix Bulgares album was the result of 15 years of work by Swiss ethnomusicologist and producer

and was originally released in 1975 on his Discs Cellier label.

Ivo Watts-Russell Ivo Watts-Russell (born 1954) is a British music producer and record label executive. He was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the independent record label 4AD. He has produced several records, although he prefers to use the term "musical director" ...

, the founder of the 4AD Records label, was introduced to the choir by a third- or fourth-generation audio cassette lent to him by Peter Murphy of the band

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

. He became entranced by the music, and tracked down and licensed the recordings from Cellier. They were one of four choirs to appear on the album ''Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Volume Two,'' This album won Cellier a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 1989. The group has since performed extensively around the world to wide acclaim. In the late 1990s, the choir became known in the U.S. for its contributions to the music of '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', whose theme music

Joseph LoDuca Joseph LoDuca (born 1958) is an American television and film score composer best known for his work writing television scores for the series ''Spartacus'', '' Leverage'', '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', '' You ...

developed from "'' Kaval sviri''", one of the Bulgarian folk songs that form the bulk of their repertoire.

Trio Bulgarka

Three prominent soloists of the group have also performed together as

Trio Bulgarka Trio Bulgarka (; also known as "Three Golden Coins", previously known as "Bulgarka Folk Trio") were a Bulgarian vocal ensemble. They gained international prominence through their contributions to the groundbreaking 1975 world music album ''Balk ...

, known in the West primarily for singing on the

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

albums ''

The Sensual World ''The Sensual World'' is the sixth studio album by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush, released on 16 October 1989 by EMI Records. It entered and peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonogr ...

'' and '' The Red Shoes.'' The trio also performed with the Italian rock band Elio e Le Storie Tese on the single ''Pipppero'' from the album '' İtalyan, rum casusu çikti,'' and has released two albums of its own. The three women in the trio are Stoyanka Boneva from Pirin, Yanka Rupkina from Strandja and Eva Georgieva from Dobrudja.

Discography

*1975

, Compilation, Disques Cellier *1987 Cathedral Concert (Live), PolyGram (re-released in 1992) *1988 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, volume II, Disques Cellier *1989 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, volume III, Disques Cellier *1993 From Bulgaria with Love: the Pop Album, Rhino/Atlantic *1993 Melody Rhythm & Harmony, Rhino/Atlantic *1994 Ritual, Nonesuch/Elektra *1995 Box Set: Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, volumes I - II and Ritual, Nonesuch/Elektra *1998 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, volume IV, Philips *2001 Bulgarian Custom Songs, Gega *2003 A Portrait of Nikolai Kaufmann, Riva Sound / KVZ Music Ltd. *2008 Music From Alone in the Dark, composed by Olivier Derivière, Milan Records *2017 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ft.

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard ( ; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer and member of the group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique (glossolalia). She has a ...

- Pora Sotunda (Single on a vinyl & digital) *2018 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ft. Lisa Gerrard - BooCheeMish (New album)

References

External links