Vanya Moneva and several singers of the choir named after her participated in early November in the Japanese edition of the famous Montreux Jazz Festival. Mrs. Moneva is one of the best known ladies in Bulgaria’s modern choir art. The choir that she established back in 1994 and has headed ever since, has gained its international recognition. Their fans would never be surprised by the participation at such a forum. The formation sings works of renowned Bulgarian folk composers such as Filip Kutev, Krasimir Kyurkchiiski, Nikolay Kaufmann, Stefan Mutafchiev etc., but it also impresses with a huge spectrum of music-making across different styles. Its repertoire includes church chants, jazz, pop, world music, cantatas, oratories, film and theatre music. The singers and their leader have received numerous awards through the years and also the applause of the audience. We will sum up those with the deep recognition of US performer and producer Ryan Leslie: “This choir makes my hair stand on end with excitement; their sound extraction takes me into another dimension, thanks to maestro Moneva. She is unique!”

Vanya Moneva tells us more about the recent participation at the Montreux Jazz Festival Japan, about the interesting jazz relation between the Japanese and the Swiss city and also about the well-known love of the Japanese for Bulgarian folklore:

“The long-year cooperation with one of the brightest Japanese composers Jun Miyake took us to this festival. He works in Europe, the USA and Japan, of course. We presented his new works that we had recorded with the choir at Studio 1 of the BNR. That was our first participation in this high-level festival that has been held in Montreux for decades. As of 2015 the event has been organized in Tokyo for the Eastern Hemisphere. My girls and I once again brought to Japan music, created by composer Miyake, but with Bulgarian lyrics. The composer does want us to sing in our own language and says that this is how the voices express best his music. I had written all the lyrics, following his request, as he was giving me directions on the music expressions which he wanted to be close to the Bulgarian soul. That was how we completed his work of art with the Bulgarian voices. The reviews outlined most the warm timbre of the Bulgarian voices during the three-hour-long concert that we spent onstage together with world famous musicians. The variety of the music pattern also impressed the audience and captured the souls of the viewers.”

The choir conducted by Vanya Moneva was a guest in Japan back in 2009, at that time with its previous name – Cosmic Voices. The audience there is well aware of the formation also thanks to the recordings that have reached the numerous fans of our folklore.

“The Japanese have their favorite Bulgarian songs from our repertoire and usually they ask us to sing those. Two ladies from a band that sings Bulgarian folklore came to us onstage during this visit of ours. They both said that they came to Bulgaria each summer and visited all the folklore gatherings – in Koprivshtitsa, Rozhen etc. Over the next summer they will be attending a training course that is held at the Music Academy in Plovdiv. They sang on their own first then we did it together. We promised to meet again during their stay in Bulgaria. The Japanese know us not only due to our visits. The Cosmic Voices sang once the Kimigayo national anthem in Japanese, arranged by Miyake. At the ending ceremony of the Rio Olympics, while the Tokyo governor was taking over the flag (Japan will be the next host of the Olympic Games in 2020) the Bulgarian voices sounded as background. We received the invitation to sing the anthem from the highest governmental level. This incredible chance brought great popularity for us in the Land of the Rising Sun,” Vanya Moneva says in conclusion.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev