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Ravnogor: a bagpipe competition and a mini-festival

БНР Новини
Photo: BULPHOTO

By tradition, the village of Ravnogor in the Rhodope Mountains hosts a few festivals at the end of July: the mini-festival Nabora and since last year, a bagpipe playing competition. They offer a lot of folk music and dances and attract Bulgarians and foreigners alike.

Nabora is a curious local tradition practiced for longer than 100 years. It is dedicated to boys who have recently turned 18. In old times boys held parties before they joined the army as conscripts. In Bulgaria mandatory military service has been abolished but Ravnogor is still the venue of such parties promoting the patriotic spirit of local boys. Dressed in white shirts they play a traditional folklore chain dance and urge relatives, friends and visitors to join them.

The bagpipe playing competition is held for a second year in a row under the auspices of renowned Rhodope folk singer Valya Balkanska and with support from bagpipe player Petar Yanev who plays the accompaniment to her songs. He is among the organizers of the Ravnogor Bagpipe Competition Foundation. One of the initiators of the event is Dr Nina Grantcharova, a Bulgarian residing in Sweden whose husband is an ethno-musicologist and a great fan of Bulgarian folklore. György is Hungarian, plays the low-pitched bagpipe and takes part in various Bulgarian folk festivals, while Nina says she is a volunteer in the organization.

On Friday and Saturday, Ravnogor will echo with pure Rhodope music. The chain dances that form are huge and mostly danced by young people with an average age of 25. On Saturday is the bagpipe race in the locality of St. Elijah Chapel. There is a single condition for participants: they should be able to play the Rhodope low-pitched bagpipe. On Sunday is the gala of the awarded musicians. On the same day is the festival which I and my husband have organized for the third time. Its name is Mini-Festival of Friendship. Participants include local folk groups and foreigners who are fans of Bulgarian folk music. We give advantage to children, so the first performance is by an eight-year-old girl who comes from a family of talented folk singers in Ravnogor. I and my husband have been collecting local folklore for years. We tour Hungary and Romania with the same purpose. We carry everything on our website www.EthnoSpace.com to share the beauty of folklore with those who love it. Currently, there is a group from Sweden in Ravnogor who learn how to perform Bulgarian folk music. In Stockholm there is a Bulgarian Cultural Society with a dance group, a Sunday school and a small choir led by me. I collect songs from Ravnogor and then we learn them with the choir. We take part in events of BCS and of the Bulgarian Embassy. In the summer some of my Swedish friends come to Bulgaria with their families, as well as many Bulgarians who live abroad. They want to show to their children the beautiful face of Bulgaria, the clean nature and the unique folklore. Ravnogor is a perfect destination for such trips."

English version: Daniela Konstantinova


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