The authentic folk music we have selected for you today takes us to Kostandovo, a small town in Chepintsi valley the Western portion of the Rhodope Mountain. It is close to the village of Dorkovo, also famed for its original folklore.

You just have to nudge them, and they will start singing and dancing – that is what they say about the people born in Kostandovo. Nikola Burzakov, chair of the Enlightenment – 1919 chitalishte (community culture club) says that all traditions are strictly observed to this day. Just as they have done for centuries, the local people observe all rituals on Annunciation day, Midsummer and Granny’s day etc. Since childhood Burzakov himself has been a member of the Boyana authentic folklore ensemble, which comprises different formations.

For a number of reasons, the Kostandovo tunes have the markings of the music from the Pirin and the Rhodope folklore region. The amateur performers from the Boyana ensemble say they do not want to imitate any of the leading Bulgarian folklore ensembles which perform mostly folklore arrangements. The people living in this beautiful Rhodope town want to preserve the original sound; the repertoire of the formations includes only local melodies and dances. The singers and the instrumentalists never stray from what they were taught by the older local musicians. Their performances seem to take listeners to a genuine village feast, to a time at least 100 years ago.

“The ensemble was set up 40 years ago,” Nikola Burzakov goes on to say. “Before that we had a group for authentic folklore. I have been a member of different formations since my childhood years. To this day I cannot imagine life without dancing and singing. Unfortunately, in recent years we have had to make certain changes. There used to be 100 amateur performers, now we have “shrunk” down to 42. But we are still touring the country and traveling abroad. We have presented Bulgarian music at concerts and festivals in Greece, Macedonia and elsewhere. At the International Folklore Festival in Zapokane, Poland we won second prize and were awarded a Silver Axe and a Silver Bell. We have taken part in all national festivals and competitions and invariably win first prize. We have a huge collection of gold medals. We always perform our local songs and dances, nothing else. And they are different from the folklore from the other towns and villages in the environs – even those that are just a few kilometers away. Our national costumes are also different, though the customs are practically the same. Many people settled in Kostandovo from Pirin and Aegean Macedonia after Bulgaria’s liberation in 1878. The mixture of local Rhodope singing tradition and the folklore brought here by the settlers is what ultimately gave rise to this unique style we want to preserve at all costs. We, the performers from the ensemble, are constantly on the lookout for songs – we record them as our mothers and grandmothers sing them. We call them “inherited songs”

English version: Milena Daynova