On April 29 and 30, the first edition of the National Competition "With the ‎songs of Zlatka Stavreva" will be held in Burgas, in which nearly 1,000 ‎performers from 44 towns and villages throughout the country will participate. ‎

The idea for this folk contest came from the Youth Folklore Union in the person ‎of its chairman, Dr. Nikolay Gurbanov, and vice-chairman, Kostadin Mihailov, a ‎researcher of the cultural and historical heritage of the Strandzha region. 

"They ‎gave the  idea to organize a contest with the songs that I perform and connect it  ‎to my 70th anniversary and 30 years since the creation of the first Strandzha duet ‎‎"Stavrevi Sisters" - shared Zlatka Stavreva to Radio Bulgaria and added that ‎among Among the participants there is also one representative of Belarus - Olga ‎Naskovich.‎

‎"In Strandzha, all people sing because they sing in harmony with nature - this ‎beautiful mountain, the vastness that Strandzha possesses and this beautiful ‎ornamentation cannot be sung by every artist, but there are also songs that suit ‎them and they are excited to perform. There is another thing - people from the ‎interior of Bulgaria are interested in the folklore dialect of Strandzha and how ‎this complex ornamentation is produced. One life for the song is not enough – ‎the folklore are, as we know, is the deep essence and life force of our people. ‎And the most important thing is that this is an inviolable sign that our people ‎were, are and will remain strong, because Bulgarian folklore art has become a ‎symbol of Bulgaria in the world."‎

The songs from the Strandzha region are the most beautiful thing that is related ‎to me, Zlatka Stavreva tells us and adds that she can convey her love for the ‎song to anyone, as is the case with a group from Canada - guests at the ‎international folklore festival "Atliman necklace" who stayed in Bulgaria to learn ‎two Strandzhan songs from the source.‎

‎"All the songs are very nice to me, they are all my favourites, but one of the first ‎songs that my sister Irina and I sang together, and the sorceress of Strandzha ‎Magda Pushkarova supported us, is "Last night I went to Brodilovo selo", and ‎also "Despinka was saying to her mother". One of my ‎emlbems as a solo song is ‎‎"She was leading the round dance fast".‎

These and many more songs from Zlatka Stavreva's rich repertoire will be ‎performed in Burgas by folk singers and groups from all over the country. ‎‎"Our ‎goal is to give way to young talents and to stimulate interest among younger ‎people in the folklore wealth of Strandzha and of Bulgaria," Zlatka Stavreva ‎shares.‎

Photos: archive, personal archive