This year the folklore ensemble "Pirin" – Blagoevgrad celebrates its 65th birthday. The list of awards won in Bulgaria and around the world is impressive. Among them is a "Grammy" for participation in the second album of the series "Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares" produced by Marcel Cellier, "Crystal Lyre", "Nestinarka" – for contribution to Bulgarian folk art, "Golden Karagöz" from Turkey, and many others. To its rich collection of awards Pirin Ensemble has recently added the first prize from the Mallorca World Folk Festival, which took place in early April. Danislav Kehayov, head and chief artistic director of "Pirin," told us aboutthe festival and about an idea of organizing a concert on the occasion of the anniversary of the ensemble.

“Indeed, the ensemble performed great at the Spanish festival, which has competitive nature and competition was indeed strong. Once again we showed that Bulgarian folklore is interesting and attractive and our members showed their best on stage, which I thank them for. They showed that Pirin is one of the most attractive folklore ensembles in Bulgaria, one of the business cards of Bulgaria and emblem of Blagoevgrad. The contest was in several stages and we were able to show a rich palette of dances and music typical of different folk areas of Bulgaria. Outside the official festival program we also sang along with colleagues and friends and at meetings with the festival management. It was very nice and pleasant. We have won not only the award of the international jury but also the hearts of people. The audience was applauding wildly, getting up on their feet after each performance and the final concert was indescribable. After it finished we went out of the hall and started dancing a Bulgarian horo that included participants from other countries and Bulgarians from the diaspora in Palma de Mallorca ...

We are currently preparing a performance that we will be dedicated to our 65th anniversary. We will show some of our most emblematic music-dance productions, choir and solo songs, as well as new repertoire. In my opinion the most important thing is that the ensemble has its own style that makes us unique. Going out on the stage, we demonstrate high professionalism and at the same time, our art is close to the ground, to our roots, to the spring.”

Danislav Kehayov also recalled that the Pirin Ensemble has performed in over 60 countries on all continents. With music, dances and Bulgarian rhythms, the ensemble have revealed the richness of Bulgarian folklore in prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall – New York, Kennedy Center - Washington, Orchestra Hall – Chicago, Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Toronto , "Tchaikovsky" – Moscow, "President Alvear" – Buenos Aires and many others. For accumulating its rich repertoire, the ensemble has collaborated with the greatest artists in Bulgarian folklore art – composers Kiril Stefanov, Alexander Kokareshkov, Stoyan Stoyanov, Nikolay Kaufman, Milcho Vassilev, Petyo Krastev, Dimitar Hristov and others. The list of names of well-known choreographers who left a lasting trace in Pirin's repertoire is not short, as well. Among them are Kiril Dzhenev, Kiril Haralampiev, Kiril Apostolov, Nikolay Tsvetkov, Todor Bekirski, Georgi Hinov, Georgi Karov...

English: Alexander Markov