A Conversation with Bulgarian Folk Singer Valya Balkanska [Interview Video]

In November 2019, Smithsonian Folkways released Martin Koenig’s documentation of Bulgarian folk music and culture as ‘Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World.’ In this video, he interviews Valya Balkanska who is featured on the album singing the Bulgarian folk tune “Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin (Delyu the rebel went out).” Balkanska talks about the origins of the song and its inclusion on the Voyager Golden Record, her earliest memories growing up with folk music in the Rhodope Mountains, and more.

Video Production Directed by Gena Traykova, Martin Koenig, and the film crew from bTV
Camera and Sound by Boris Pintev and Evgeni Genov
Filmed at the National Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria
Video Translation by Detelina Kokarchina

'Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World' is available as 2xCD Book Set and Digital.

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Between 1966 and 1979, educator and cultural documentarian Martin Koenig made half a dozen trips to Bulgaria. Working in villages throughout the country, Koenig filmed, recorded, and photographed the lively, yet endangered, aspects of Bulgaria’s traditional culture. The results are indelibly gathered in Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: the vibrant rural life he experienced, the virtuosic musicians and dancers he met, the extraordinary music they made, and the joyous rituals and festivals he witnessed. This collection celebrates a way of life that has largely vanished due to industrialization, technology, globalization, and emigration.

Valya Balkanska
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