Valya Mladenova Balkanska ( bg, Валя Младенова Балканска; born 8 January 1942) is a

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 Macedo ...

folk music 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 ...

singer from the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...

known locally for her wide repertoire of Balkan folk songs, but in the West mainly for singing the song "

Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin "Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin" ( bg, Излел е Дельо хайдутин, lit=Delyo has become a hajduk) is a Bulgarian folk song from the central Rhodope Mountains about Delyo, a rebel leader who was active in the late seventeenth and early eigh ...

", part of the

Voyager Golden Record The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for ...

selection of music included in the two

Voyager Voyager may refer to: Computing and communications * LG Voyager, a mobile phone model manufactured by LG Electronics * NCR Voyager, a computer platform produced by NCR Corporation * Voyager (computer worm), a computer worm affecting Oracle ...

spacecraft launched in 1977.

Early life

Born as Feyme Kestebekova ( bg, Фейме Кестебекова) in a Pomak family in a hamlet near the village of

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece * Arda (Italy), a river in Italy * Arda (Douro), a river in Portugal *Arda, Bulgaria, a village in southern Bulgaria * Arda, County Fermanagh, a townland in County ...

Smolyan Province Smolyan Province ( bg, Област Смолян, ''Oblast Smolyan''; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative ...

, Balkanska has been singing Rhodope folk songs since her early childhood.

Career

Balkanska performs a repertoire of over 300 songs in Bulgaria and abroad. Balkanska has been working with the Rodopa State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances from

Smolyan Smolyan ( bg, Смолян) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province. The town is built ...

, of which she is a soloist, since 1960. Her album ''Glas ot vechnostta'' (''Voice from the Eternity''), released in 2004, is a compilation of her best-known songs, including "A bre yunache ludo i mlado", "Goro le goro zelena", and "Maychinko stara maychinko".

"Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin" and Voyager

Balkanska is most famous in the West for "

", which she recorded in 1968 accompanied by the bagpipe ( gaida) players Lazar Kanevski and Stephan Zahmanov. Her best-known recording was made in the late 1960s by the American explorer of Bulgarian folklore Martin Koening and was released on vinyl in the United States. A few years later, a specimen of the record accidentally fell among the purchased records for the preparation of the Golden Record, a message from the Earth to fly out of the Solar System aboard two identical spacecraft from the NASA Voyager program. The song was included in the final 90-minute musical selection by Carl Sagan and flew first on the Voyager 2, which was launched on August 20, 1977, and two weeks later on September 5, 1977, on the Voyager 1. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first object of human origin to leave the Heliosphere and to enter Interstellar medium.

Accolades

In 2002, Balkanska was awarded the Stara Planina Orden (the highest Bulgarian award). She was honoured with her own star plate on the Bulgarian Walk of Fame in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

in December 2005."ВАЛЯ БАЛКАНСКА"
''FamousGrouse.bg''.

References

External links

"Valia Balkanska - Izlel e Delio Haidutin"
''YouTube.com''.
"Biography of Valya Balkanska"
''Avtora.com''. *''Village Music of Bulgaria'', CD published in the

Nonesuch Explorer series Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

; Elektra Nonesuch 9 79195-2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Balkanska, Valya 1942 births Living people People from Smolyan Bulgarian folk singers 20th-century Bulgarian women singers Pomaks