One can easily describe instruments, such as piano, violin and guitar. However, it is a bit more difficult to do it for dvoyanka, pipe, mandolin, if you are not a professional musician. Those are exactly the people that find it essential to discover the best instrument, their Stradivarius, no matter their status of folk musicians. Plamen Petrakiev is one of the craftsmen in Bulgaria that create authentic folk instruments. He was born in the town of Pleven, but nowadays he works in the city of Plovdiv. He started to play the drum with one of the folklore ensembles in his native town, when he was a kid. Then a music school for folk songs and instruments was established in the Rhodopee town of Shiroka Laka. Plamen became one of its first graduates.
“I joined the school in Shiroka Laka. Besides the drum, I started playing there another folk instrument – the mandolin or tambour,” Plamen says. “After graduating the high school I entered the Music Academy in Plovdiv, with mandolin again. Later on I started to teach in the school in Shiroka Laka, then I returned to Plovdiv and settled in here. My father used to create mandolins when I was a kid. I found it really pleasant to watch him work and I learned a lot. Mandolins were the first instruments that I started to create on my own and for myself. Then later I turned into a professional and started to do it for a living. I used to produce a Greek instrument too – bouzouki, which was later followed by pipes, dvoyankas, shepherd’s pipes… No one has taught me – I learned myself, I just had the passion for it. Sometimes I meet other craftsmen with the idea to see their work. I love it, when the instrument, created by me, plays a tune – this is the greatest pleasure!”
According to Plamen Petrakiev one needs to be good with the wood, in order to become a good craftsman, but he also has to be a musician. He tells us more on the love for music in his family.
“My grandfather used to play the pipe a long time ago. He was one of the best in his village – people invited him to play at gatherings, weddings etc. The pipe is like shepherd’s pipe, only shorter. I have received many strange orders for the creation of funny music instruments, along with the traditional ones – mandolin, drum, shepherd’s pipe, pipe, dvoyanka. However, each professional has his or her own requirements. Of course, they all want quality and good sound. Many Bulgarians that live abroad also order instruments here. I receive calls from France, from Spain. I have received offers to go abroad, but I don’t have much time and that is why I work only in Bulgaria.”
Plamen is a member of the Fellowship of Craftsmen of Artistic Crafts in Plovdiv. He is often invited to different exhibitions all over the country and his work is very well accepted. A few years ago he decided to create smaller replicas of all folk music instruments. Thus miniatures of shepherd’s pipes, bagpipes, fiddles, mandolins, sized 10-15 cm appeared. At first the idea was that those would only be souvenirs. However, later on Plamen made them play too. Currently all his family is involved into a common artistic process, related to folklore crafts. Plamen’s wife weaves, she creates different leather and fur handiworks. Cases and special bags for folk instruments are produced that way. Wool is used for the creation of colorful bags, which impress foreigners a lot. The master’s son and daughter create some of the souvenirs – smaller replicas of objects from the old lifestyle in Bulgarian villages that can be seen nowadays only in museums. Plamen says that there are many young people today, who want to learn how to create folk instruments. However, they will need a lot of time, patience and love, if they want to become good craftsmen.
English version: Zhivko Stanchev
