“It has been my dream to be a folk singer since I was a little girl – like the celebrated singers from Strandja I have learnt from,” says Irena Stankova.

She recently recorded several songs for the Bulgarian National Radio audio library, together with the BNR Folk Music Orchestra with conductor Dimitar Hristov. But she has made recordings at different folklore festivals and competitions since she was a child.

Irena Stankova is from Bourgas on the Black Sea. The young singer has performed in this country, but also in Italy, Croatia, Russia, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey. She usually sings together with the Zhar (embers) orchestra and sometimes in duet with Lazar Nalbantov, whom she has also made recordings with.

“The songs I perform are from the Strandja folklore region. I learnt my first melodies from my grandparents who were always singing. I was very little when I took part in a competition dedicated to the songs of renowned singer Magda Pushkarova, organized in Malko Turnovo. She really liked my rendition of one of her celebrated songs and symbolically gave me her own name, calling me Magda Pushkarova Jr. I have learnt so much from her and from the other famous singers from the Strandja region – Kalinka Zgourova, Yanka Rupkina. Taking part in competitions has also taught me a great deal. In 1995 I took part in the famous festival in Gramatikovo village and I won first prize. That same year I won first prize at the biggest national folklore festival in Koprivshtitsa. I have other prizes at practically all folk music forums in the country, but I would especially like to mention the special prize at the Orpheus fount festivalin Sofia and the two awards at the Folklore Wreathes, as well as the first prize at the Folklore without borders festival in Albena-Dobrich.”

The songs Irena recently recorded at the Bulgarian National Radio are also from the Strandja region. She says that they are all, without exception, about love. They are songs she has learnt from older people and she doesn’t know if they have ever been recorded before. This is something of a tradition in this country – for young singers to add unknown or scarcely known songs to their repertoire, recording them “from the fount”. The talented young singer loves to experiment, blending Bulgarian folklore with different music styles.

English version: Milena Daynova