The Strandja region is situated in Southeastern Bulgaria and it amazes with its old folk culture. Its geographic location determines the variety of folk music dialects there. On the one hand, the region is naturally linked to the vast Thracian land and thus shares with it common ethnographic and music features. On the other hand, the location of the region has always attracted new settlers ever since ancient times: first, the Thracian civilization, then in the 7-6th centuries B.C. it was colonized by the ancient Greeks. After that the Slavs settled there and in the 7th century A.D. came the proto-Bulgarians. After the foundation of the Bulgarian state, these lands were forcefully inhabited by Greek, and later by Turkish population. All these different cultures left a trace on the specific folk music style of the region. Up to the middle of the 20th century the local people rarely left their settlements and so their traditional forms of life and culture were preserved for a very long time. This makes the Strandja performers sound so original and unique!
One of the most characteristic and outstanding singers of Strandja is Kalinka Zgurova. Following a rich family tradition, she preserves and spreads the songs of her ancestors and goes further by creating her own songs, just as her ancestors had been creating them for centuries.
Kalinka Zgurova was soloist of the Pirin Ensemble – Blagoevgrad, but a greater part of her singing career was connected with the Folk Ensemble of the Bulgarian National Radio, The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices Choir, and the Zornitsa Trio chamber ensemble.
VOICE OF STRANDJA · KALINKA ZGUROVA
[1] Hodite, holan, hodite 3’52’’
[2] Snoshti sum duma pozachul 2’15’’
[3] Pohvalila sei Mariyka 2’05’’
[4] Petko na Rada prasten dade 2’33’’
[5] Na lichen den Gergyovden 2’25’’
[6] Kondolov, strashen komita 3’52’’
[7] Dimiter duma Valkana 2’59’’
[8] Ya mi beshe drago, Stano 2’29’’
[9] Miloi, dobro, Lazare 2’14’’
[10] Yabalko, da se raztsvetish 3’51’’
[11] Peyu v diugenet sedeshe 2’51’’
[12] Sedi Rada v gradinchitsa 2’15’’
[13] Rusa moma rosen brala 2’20’’
[14] Dai mi, mamo 3’54’’
[15] Mariyka hodi za voda 2’55’’
[16] Posedi, Lyube, taz zima 4’10’’
[17] Na hubaviat Velikden 2’53’’
[18] Nashte iskat da me glaviat 2’14’’
[19] Duma, male, she pitam 2’40’’
[20] Podi me, bakyo, oglavi 2’16’’
[21] Koga se dvama dragovat 2’37’’
[22] Ne burzai, Valkano 3’16’’
[23] Nii sme si dva sliubnika 2’22’’
Total: 65’10’’
