Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Dragostinfolk celebrates its 20th anniversary with concert and short Christmas tour

БНР Новини
The choir and Stefan Dragostinov after the celebration and before the tour in Germany
Photo: BULFOTO




The Dragostinfolk National female ensemble has turned 20. The group marked its anniversary with a concert at the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia. Its concert hall appeared to be small for all the fans of the singers.

Prominent Bulgarian composer Stefan Dragostinov set up the group, interweaving his surname into its name. He composed all songs and arrangements from the repertoire of Dragostinfolk. The melodies come from different folklore areas, collected with the idea to present the richness of Bulgarian folk music.

The choir has recorded 11 CDs with an overall length of more than 700 minutes. All albums go under the slogan The Sonic Icons of Bulgaria. The curious thing is that this title was first born in its English version, where the words “sonic” and “icons” have the same letters in different positions. This is only a part of the magic signs that connoisseurs can find. The covers of the series of CDs under this title are decorated with paintings of pioneer masters of Bulgarian art – Boris Georgiev, Vasil Stoilov, Vladimir Dimitrov – The Master, Ivan Markvicka etc. The recordings were broadcast by radio stations across the globe and topped the rankings. The first performances of the choir were in 1994 in Hungary and Slovakia. In 1998, the prestigious British edition Classic CD ranked the album A Love Story first due to the contemporary sound and undisputed professionalism of the performers.

In 2011, Dragostinfolk was selected by the Bulgarian National Radio to represent Bulgaria at the Let the Peoples Sing international contest, organized by the EBU and the BBC. The group was ranked second there after its exceptionally successful renditions. The singers have had concerts in Germany, Austria, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia among others.

The personal achievements of Stefan Dragostinov are impressive, as well. He has been awarded top prizes from prestigious international contests in composition, being the first Bulgarian ever in most of those, earning success with his original works. Prof. Dragostinov is a lecturer with New Bulgarian University where he picked up the latest members of the choir, along with graduates of the National School of Music in Sofia. Two of the singers of the famous Slavei quartet joined the festive concert of Dragostinfolk – Svetla Karadjova and Vania Vakari, along with famous percussionist Stoyan Yankulov – Stundji. A day after the success in Sofia the choir leaves for Germany for a short Christmas tour.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Daniel Spasov

The forgotten meaning of caroling traditions revealed by singer Daniel Spasov

Every holiday has its own flavour, its own 'clothes' and its own tunes. Christmas is no different. "Little is known about traditional Bulgarian carols and their purpose, little is said, and even the wrong things are said. But the most important thing is..

published on 12/26/24 8:15 AM

The magic of Christmas – from the ancient blessings of carolers to the appearance of Santa Claus in our lands

On Christmas morning the glad tidings have spread that the Son of God was born, making it a special day celebrated with a lot of festive rituals. After Christmas Eve, when families get together for a festive meal, comes Christmas. On 25 December the..

published on 12/25/24 9:00 AM

"Come down, Dzherman, and dine!" – the lost magic of Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, once called Budnik, Little Christmas or Neyadka, was considered part of a dark, frightening period, charged with the potential to influence the entire upcoming year. For this reason, the night before Christmas was associated with..

published on 12/24/24 5:30 AM