A comparatively small country, Bulgaria nevertheless has a remarkably rich heritage of folk songs, tunes and dances. Musicologists have divided the country roughly into six major musical regions, each with distinct linguistic peculiarities and musical style.
We offer you a selection of folk songs and dances selected from the rich treasury of the music of Bulgaria’s Middle Western regions.
And here is the first track – Borislavsko chain dance, the performance is of legendary Bulgarian accordion player Hristo Karlov.

The music born in the area known as Shopluka (or Shoppe region), which is the folk name of the middle parts of Western Bulgaria, perhaps describes in the best way the people who created it. The Shopi are hot-headed and stubborn, with a remarkable sense of humor and self-irony. And curiously enough, the Shopluk region is not an isolated area. The flat Sofia plains and the beautiful Vitosha Mountain lie at the heard of the region, and Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia is nestled at Vitosha’s foothills. The Shoppe folk songs portray the Shoppe plains and mountain as being the most beautiful in the world. And the Iskar River that runs near Sofia is said to be the deepest. “There is no mountain higher than Vitosha, and there is no river deeper than the Iskar” – these are the lyrics of the next song you will hear. The performance is of Pavlina Gorcheva, Slavena Ivanova, and a Shoppe folk ensemble– the name of the song is Oh You Shope Shope.

A popular anecdote tells that when a resident of the Shoppe region saw a giraffe in a zoo for the first time, he exclaimed: “Such an animal cannot be!”. Yet, the notorious conservatism of the Shops has a positive side, as well – their traditional culture is very well preserved. The songs and dances of the Shoppe region are quite distinct from those in neighboring folkloric regions.
And here is next one more of them – the jolly tune Yove, Yove in the rendition of Vesselina Radeva.

The tambourine is among the traditional instruments in the Shoppe region in Western Bulgaria. And here is next the famous master of the tambourine - Rumen Sirakov and his Zhochkino chain dance. 

The double-voice melodies of the Shoppe region are another distinct feature of the folklore of the region. The sound combinations are sharp and piercing, and the double-voice method is used in performing songs of various content. In musical terminology, this is called Shoppe diaphony. And here is one example of it – the jolly and playful tune of the song Lele Svashke, performed by Bulgaria female singers Kremena Stancheva and Vasilka Andonova. 

The dance melodies of the Shoppe region carry the character of the particular type of horo chain dance they accompany. The Shopi have the fastest-paced chain dances. And the specific movements of the body and the feet are recreated in the music by unique vocal ornaments and embellishments.
Next we have one such song – Dena started dancing, performed by Snejana Borissova. 

Oh you Earth, beware because the Shops are stamping on you – this exclamation is shouted by all men at the chain dance, a picture worth seeing. The last tune today – Rudarsko men’s chain dance – the performance is of Lyubcho Mitrov on the gadulka (traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument) and the Folk Music Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, conducted by Kosta Kolev. 

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova