''Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians'' ( sr, Народне песме Македонски Бугара, , ) is an ethnographic collection of

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

collected by Stefan Verković, considered to be his most valuable contribution in the field of

Bulgarian folklore The main Bulgarian celebration events are : * Martenitsa, all of March, beginning with the 1st of march * Nestinari * Kukeri * Koleda (Christmas), Koledari * Velikden (Easter) * Name Days * International Mother's Day, March 8 * Independence Day, ...

. It was published in Serbian in 1860, in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

.Народне песме македонски Бугара. Скупио Стефанъ И. Верковићъ. Кньига прва Женске песме. У Београду, Правителственомъ кньигопечатньомъ, 1860.

Background

The book contains 335 folk songs that are lyrical and were therefore called ''female'' by Verković. The songs were collected by him during his time as a Serbian ethological agent in then- Ottoman town of

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...

(today in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

). The collected material was from the eastern parts of the

Macedonian region Macedonia () is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid 19th century. T ...

. The title, preface, notes and explanations of the songs are in Serbian, and at the end there is an explanation of some unknown words in Serbian. However, the songs are in their original form. In the preface, Verković states that he called the songs "Bulgarian" as opposed to Slavic because "if you ask a

Macedonian Slav Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

"''What are you?''", he will immediately answer to you: ''"I am Bulgarian and I call my language Bulgarian''". He also clarifies that the Macedonian Bulgarians were formerly called Slavs in the books of

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wit ...

and their disciples, and only later in the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...

, did they adopt the name "Bulgarian", which was more of a political and state name, rather than an ethnic name. Verković states that he was planning to publish a second volume of the collection. Due to his involvement in the

Veda Slovena ''Veda Slovena'' (Веда Словена in Modern Bulgarian, originally written as Веда Словенахъ) is an ethnographic collection of folk songs and legends of the Muslim Bulgarians; the subtitle of the book indicated that they wer ...

debate, he was unable to publish the second volume and the materials he collected were published as ''"Сборникъ Верковича. Ι. Народныя пѣсни македонскихъ болгаръ"'' (Verković's Collection. Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians) in 1920 in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Publications

In 1961 the book was re-published by Kiril Penušliski in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

under the title ''"Македонски народни песни"'' (Macedonian Folk Songs),Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Peter Lang, 2010, , p. 94. although Verković did not describe in his collection any presence of Macedonian identity then. All references to '

Macedonian Bulgarians Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians ( bg, македонци or македонски българи), sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of eth ...

' and the original foreword explaining the Bulgarian ethnicity of the Macedonian Slavs were removed from the book. According to Bulgarian sources, its goal was: ''"the obliteration of the Bulgarian historical and collective memory and building a new Macedonian national identity on its place."'' The book was re-published for the second time in Bulgarian by Petar Dinekov in 1966. In addition to the original text, a translation into Bulgarian of Verković's preface was made and an introductory study was added.Народни песни на македонските българи. Събрал Стефан Веркович. Под редакцията на П. Динеков. 2. изд. София, 1966.

References

{{reflist

External links

Народне песме македонски бугара - Београдъ 1860 – US archive, Stanford libraries (full scanned copy)
Bulgarian folklore Serbian books 1860 books

Background

Publications

See also

References

External links