To listen to audio on Rock Paper Scissors you'll need to Get the Flash Player

Sample Track 1:
"Sama li si den zhanala (Were you in the fields alone?)" from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares
Sample Track 2:
"Zapali se planinata (The Burning Mountain)" from Le Mystere de Voix Bulgares
Buy Recording:
Le Mystere de Voix Bulgares
Buy Recording:
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares
Layer 2
Mystery behind choir's unique sound lies in ritual folk songs

Click Here to go back.
Edmonton Journal, Mystery behind choir's unique sound lies in ritual folk songs >>

-by Roger Levesque, Special to the Journal

Because we use it as a basic means of communication, the instrument of the human voice is generally taken for granted.

Then, once in a while, songs come along to remind us of the human potential.

Back in the mid-1980s, Swiss musician Marcel Cellier was so awestruck upon hearing the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir that he insisted on producing their first international recording release, dubbing it Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, or Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices.

After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, state funding for the choir funally came to an end. In 1997, the group of 24 women went independent, taking on Cellier's title as their official brand name, adding two male singers to the mix three years ago. Today they exist only on meagre profits from touring and a portion of royalties from their six albums of music, most on Nonesuch/Explorer.

But for newcomers and long-time fans, the "mystery" remains. Now, 20 years after their initial rise to international renown--and 56 years after the founding of the original choir--many still wonder how they manage to create such startling sounds, sounds that powerfully transcend our everyday existence.

For Dora Hristova, director of the choir since 1988, the secret comes down to an ancient relationship between the singers and the songs.

"Their sound is very rare and closely attuned to the traditional folk songs that have been handed down in their families for many, many years. They can sing other music, but their voices don't really fit other material."

The 23 women in the choir range from 25 to 67 years of age, including several who have been with the group for more than 40 years. A couple of other ensembles have tapped these sounds, notably the group Angelite who sang in Edmonton in 2000. But the original arrangements of LMDVB's repertoire are carefully guarded.

"They have this beatufiul sound because their singing is extremely natural," says Hristova.

Their timbre and their strength is very special, almost guttural. They have to have very strong voices to sing like this and resonate in the chest.

Many of the songs are old enough to reflect the influence of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which once ruled much of Eastern Europe, north Africa and parts of Asia. That included Bulgaria from the mid-1500s into the 20th century.

"Nobody knows exactly when some of these songs were born, but they are at least many centuries old. The Ottoman Empire was very important to the preservation of this music because our people had little contact with the outside world, so these ritual folk songs became a part ofour nationality."

Hristova is at a loss to explain how she wound up in her career, offering only that "my first meeting with the choir decided my fate. I simply fell in love with their voices."

 05/21/08 >> go there
Click Here to go back.