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Remembering self-made talent Krum Mateyn

Photo: library



Near Sofia, at the foot of the Vitosha Mountain, the village of Bistritsa is situated. This is the place where a gifted man lived and worked. Krum Mateyn was a rebec player and singer. People in Bistritsa keep the memory of him and in May they are to mark the 100th anniversary since his birth with festivities. Days ago in the Radio Museum, associate professor Vencislav Dimov of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and rebec-player Rosen Genkov - concertmaster of the Folk Music Orchestra of the BNR, presented recordings and memories of Krum Mateyn. Krum Mateyn started singing and composing melodies as a child. In high school, he wrote poetry, and in the army created songs, and humorous plays. He later founded the Bistritsa orchestra and toured Bulgaria for thirty years. In his songs he shows his attitude towards topical everyday-life issues. Integral part of his work is the unique sense of humor. The song "See me off, sweetheart” presented by Rosen Genkov was a favorite of Krum Mateyn. The performer recorded it the way Krum used to sing it. It is included in the album "Confused Family,” created at the initiative of Vesela Mateyna, daughter of the talented man. Titles like "One was Vela", and “Song of the Shops” are included there.

“I knew him personally. He and my father were great friends with my father. Krum Mateyn was a charismatic person. He managed to turn and event into a song and to laugh at bad qualities and deeds without insulting anyone. For a short time he managed to attract many listeners. Many of his songs are known today from the repertoire of other folk singers. The original songs are very long as this was the way Krum Mateyn told his stories. But in the years of socialism many truths had to be hidden. Recordings of his voice are very rare. Elderly people still remember him. Even before September 9, 1944, he toured all across Bulgaria with his band, not just the Shopluka region. He created various melodies and some of them are not typical folk songs but have urban influence in them. The audience liked them and listened to them with pleasure. He was not looking for great popularity but for the love of people. He managed to influence them in a positive way.” 
 
Vera Zlateva wrote about Mateyn Krum in the Bulgarian Folklore Magazine: “A gifted author and performer, who has developed his own distinctive style, in which the rich expressiveness of the Shop’s dialect is combined with rhyming verse. His melodies are strongly associated with the Shop folk song (mostly horo songs) - yet these are original tunes with their distinct face."

English version: Alexander Markov




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