Strandja folklore region

Strandja folklore region

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This is another one of Radio Bulgaria’s occasional series on Bulgaria’s folklore and specific musical regions. After exploring the southern region of Thrace in our previous show, today it will be folk music from the region of Strandja in Southeastern Bulgaria, one of the most mysterious and little-known parts of this country.

Strandja is a low mountain in the southeastern parts of Bulgaria. Together with the lower Sakar mountain, it delinates a border area east of the Maritsa and Tunja rivers reaching the Black Sea. The mystical charm of this region is achieved by the combination of mountains, plains and coastline, and in ethnographic terms - by the mixture of cultures of three groups – Ruptzi, Tronki and Zagortsi.
The most numerous and oldest population are the “ruptzi” who have preserved the oldest local traditions. These people inhabit mainly the inside of the Strandja mountain and live in villages along the Veleka river (Rezovo, Balgari, Kondolovo, Gramatikovo, Malko Tarnovo ...). The etymology of their name comes from the word "rupa", which in the local dialect of the Rhodope and Strandja Mountain means an old mining pit. It is a well-known fact that gold mining has an old tradition in the Rhodopes and Strandja - the territory of the two mountains is full of traces of ancient mines.
The second largest ethnic group in Strandja are the “tronki” (from the word "tronka" - "little"). Their villages are located in the mountainous part of the Sredets municipality, upstream of the river Fakiyska. The third ethnic group in Strandja, “zagortsi” are considered to have been migrants from northeastern Bulgaria and they occupy the northern and western parts of the mountain.

In the Middle Ages, the region of Strandja was often a border area between Bulgaria and Byzantium. Strandja is also called the sacred mountain - according to legends part of the area was protected by a magical ring. The famous fire dancing games of the nestinari that keep the ancient rites and are accompanied by predictions for the future are the topic of many songs. Undoubtedly, the Strandja mountain is unique with this mystical ritual fire dance known as “nestinarstvo” in Bulgaria. Preserved until the mid-1940s, in the village of Bulgari near Malko Tarnovo, the ritual is performed in honor of Saints Constantine and Helen on May 21st (old style - 3 June).

The sound of the bagpipe and drum can be heard only once during the year with the ritual of the fire-dancers. Nestinarsko chain dance - Kostadin Varimezov on the bagpipe and Ognyan Vasilev on the drum.

The musical culture of the predominant “ruptzi” population of the Standja mountain is similar to that of the Thracians. But the fire dance and the springtime songs called “fillek” that accompanied the maiden games during the Great Lent make the Strandja folklore unique. For this reason, specialists classify it into a separate musical area.

Here is next a springtime song from the repertoire of Magda Pushkarova from the town of Malko Tarnovo. It tells the story of a young girl who married on a far-away village - the flying giraffes would bring much love to her native village.

Strandja songs can be recognized easily by their characteristic soft production of the sound. The chain dance tunes are mostly in the minor scales and mode and the slow melodies are performed freely - without a defitine rhythm and with a gentle tremolo of the voice.

A song for the chain dance will be next on our show, with Zlatka Stavreva from the village of Kosti near Burgas. The recording once again dates back to the remote 1971.

A well-known singer from the recent past is Komna Stoyanova from the village of Drachevo. Let’s hear a slow springtime tune about the fieldwork in her rendition.

Rituals in Strandja - carolling tradition, springtime maiden’s games, the Easter custom of Mara Lishanka, St. George's Day, the mouse wedding in the autumn after Saint Dimitar’s Day, the wedding rites – all of these were accompanied with many songs preserved to this day.

The singing tradition of the Strandja region is shown in a song performed by the carol-singers the male folk group from the town of Sredets.

The Strandja songs about engagement and marriage often tell the story of a young girl who is sewing in the garden. Doves are flying above her, that are symbols of her matchmakers. The version in Strandja of this very frequent motif in Bulgarian folklore is the song Yana was sitting in the garden, it is in the typical compound beat of 9/8 and is performed by the female folk group from the town of Ahtopol to the accompaniment of the bagpipe.

The most common musical instruments in Strandja are the shepherd’s flute (kaval) and the bagpipe (gaida).
A virtuoso bagpiper from the village of Zidarovo was Stoyan Velichkov who had students from around the world. He was soloist in the folk music orchestra of the BNR, and also participated in a number of smaller instrumental groups with colleagues.
The Strandja band and a group Balkan led by the most prominent singer of Strandja, Yanka Rupkina, have made local folklore famous worldwide when traveling in Europe and USA.

The characteristic ensemble of bagpipe and drum accompanied not only the “nestinari” fire dances but also the former wrestling games of the lads in the village. Another world-renowned instrumentalist from Strandja was piper Kostadin Varimezov who worked together with American ethnomusicologist Timothy Rice.

Apart from magnificent instrumentalists, Strandja has dozens of vocal talents here, but the most remarkable among them is Yanka Rupkina. Her masterpiece "Kalimanku, denku, mari" brings together the most exquisite elements of the incredible melodies and vocal ornaments of the Strandja musical legacy.

Yanka Rupkina’s performance of “Kalimanku denku mari” inspired composer Krassimir Kyurkchiyski to make a choral arrangement of the song and he thus created one of the pearls in his work and in Bulgarian folklore at large.

And here is this choral arrangement of the same song, in the rendition of the folk choir of the Bulgarian National Radio, soloist Yanka Rupkina.

English version Rossitsa Petcova

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Strandja folklore region

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