Museums & music · 39 of the best in Sofia
The Bulgarian voice: women’s choirs and folk song
The back story
About The Bulgarian voice: women’s choirs and folk song
Bulgarian folk singing, with its bright, open-throated tone, tight dissonant harmonies and asymmetric rhythms, became world famous through the recordings of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, and it still lives in villages, festivals and concert halls around Sofia.
The sound
Bulgarian folk song is unmistakable: a bright, forward voice, close intervals that ring against each other, ornaments that flicker around the melody, and dance rhythms counted in uneven groups, such as 7/8, 9/8 or 11/16. The rhythms come from the horo, the chain dances still danced at weddings and village fairs.
From village to the world
In the 1950s, the composer Philip Koutev began arranging village songs for professional ensembles, and the female choir of Bulgarian Radio and Television carried that style abroad. In the 1970s and 1980s, the recordings released as Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares introduced the sound to listeners all over the world, and the second volume won a Grammy.
Bulgarian women’s choirs sing in harmonies that sound almost electric.
Bistritsa and the Shopluk
The countryside around Sofia is called the Shopluk, and its singing is among the oldest in the country. The grandmothers of Bistritsa, a village at the foot of Vitosha, sing in an archaic two-part style with a drone, and their tradition has been recognised by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Where to hear it
Folk ensembles and choirs appear at Bulgaria Hall, the National Palace of Culture and in festivals across the year, and many traditional restaurants in Sofia have live folk music in the evenings. In summer, village fairs (sabori) and folklore festivals fill the calendar.
Our advice: check the programmes of Bulgaria Hall and the National Palace of Culture for folk ensemble concerts, and if you are in Bulgaria in August, look out for the national folklore festival at Koprivshtitsa, held roughly every five years.
Why it's on our list
- The sound
- From village to the world
- Bistritsa and the Shopluk
- Where to hear it
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Bulgarian voice: women’s choirs and folk song before you go.