Asian Festival 2017 in Sofia, Bulgaria 21

Bistritsa Babi ( bg, Бистришките баби, ) are an elderly/multi-generational

women's choir A women's choir or women's chorus is a choir formed exclusively by women. If all singers are young it is called a girls' choir. The voice types are usually soprano and alto, SSAA. The names are also used for music especially composed for such g ...

carrying on the traditional dances and

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

singing of the

Shopluk Shopi or Šopi ( South Slavic: Шопи) is a regional term, used by a group of people in the Balkans. The areas traditionally inhabited by the ''Shopi'' or ''Šopi'' is called ''Shopluk'' or ''Šopluk'' (Шоплук), a mesoregion, roughly ...

region of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Founded in 1939, the group won the European Folk Art Award in 1978, and it was declared a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005. Performing three-part polyphony with features "retained from the pre-Christian times," the group has toured Europe and the US. They are known for their use of ''Shopluk'' polyphony, costuming, dancing in a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

( horo), and performing the '' lazarouvane'' (the girls' springtime

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

ritual). In 2005 they were included in UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage elements in Eastern Europe. The Shopluk genre is characterized by diaphony and

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...

voicing. "Diaphony" is a type of polyphony where the melody is performed by one or two soloists, consisting of ''izvikava'' and ''buchi krivo'' or "to shout out" and "crooked rumbled roars", while the ensemble holds a doubled or trebled

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

. Dance and music are asynchronous. The group was formed by pairs of women recruited as vocal accompanists to the ''Bistritsa Chetvorka'' ( bg, Bistritsa Foursome/Quartet), founded around 1935.Buchanan, Donna A. (2006). ''Performing Democracy: Bulgarian Music and Musicians in Transition'', p.122. University of Chicago Press. .

References

External links

Bistritsa Babi
, ''BalkanTrafik.com''

The Songs and Life of Línka Gékova Gérgova from the Village of Bístritsa (Sofia Region), Bulgaria Bulgarian choirs Bulgarian folk music groups Bulgarian women singers Dance in Bulgaria Girls' and women's choirs Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Musical groups established in 1939 {{Europe-band-stub

See also

References

External links