This is the last volume in the World Library serie and it’s another stunning sampler of traditional music, this time from Bulgaria. It was recorded in the field by english folk singer and collector of folk song A. L Lloyd in the fifties. Most of the pieces here, either vocal or instrumental use a kind of minor scale and some assymetrical meters typical of balkan dance music. Some instruments heard here are the gaida (goat-skin bagpipe), the kaval (a end-blown flute), the gadulka (bowed string instrument similar to the rebec) and the tambura (lute). The vocal pieces are poweful and moving, sung in open, full-throat style.
This excellent vinyl rip was contribued by a reader of this blog a few months ago and i thank him very much fort this. The zip file includes a pdf with the inside liner notes and photographs.
If you’re a fan of bulgarian traditional music like me, there are other great records available. A few years ago, Yazoo Records issued ” Song of the crooked dance”, a great collection of 78rpm records of Bulgarian music edited by Lauren Brody. And this days the english JSP label just released a whole box set of traditional bulgarian music on 78rpm records called “Outsinging the nightingale” edited by the same Lauren Brody. You can order this box set and learn more about her research on vintage bulgarian music by going to the “Song of the crooked dance” website.
