“The festival always brings a typically Bulgarian atmosphere to the town. This forum goes back 10 years and offers a stage for people to perform on; but it is also a venue for an exchange of creative energy. It affords school and university students an opportunity to learn from the best – instrumentalists and singers. As organizers we always invite different kinds of lecturers for the young to learn the trade from. The festival is a venue for a creative exchange and the stage is the place where the performers compete. So, at the evening concerts the audience is able to listen to different generations of performers. This year, the participants in the master classes come from different music schools in Kotel, Shoumen, Turnovo, Yambol, Plovdiv and Varna. We have been working with the young talents in an effort to preserve the most authentic, the most typical elements in the folklore of each individual region.”

At the 10^th edition of the Turgovishe Folklore Festival, Zhechka Slaninkova will be tutoring the young participants in Strandja-style singing. The Thracian style will be in the hands of singer Vanya Vulkova, the style from Dobroudja – of Galina Dourmourshliiska; Nelly Andreeva will be passing on the subtleties of Rhodope singing and Roumyana Filkova – of Pirin singing. Four lecturers from the Plovdiv Music Academy will have master classes: Temelko Ivanov, shepherd’s flure, Nikolay Paskalev, rebec, Vladimir Vladimirov, pandore and Ivan Simeonov – bagpipes. They will be working with everyone who has applied for their master classes. Elena Vassileva:

“Ethnomusicologist, Prof. Roumyana Tsintsarska, whom we are all very fond of, will be lecturer at the traditional conference within the frameworks of Bridging the Generations on 8 November. We invite everyone who loves Bulgarian folklore to come and give their support to the young talents at the Turgovishte Youth House and the Napreduk culture community club.”

By a tradition, the schoolchildren from the Prof. Nikola Marinov school and from the Shareno Gerdanche (colourful necklace) folklore ensemble in Turgovishte also take part in the Bridging the Generations festival. They will be performing on the first night. The festival ends with a gala concert featuring performances by the tutors of the young talents.

English version: Milena Daynova