These INSANE Vocal Harmonies Just Blew Me Away
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- Опубліковано 21 тра 2023
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We've put together a playlist of some of the coolest Bulgarian Folk Music we've found, check it out:
open.spotify.com/playlist/1iD...
Original video: • Bulgarian folklor- Kav...
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Bulgarian Folk Music is nuts. What else should I check out like this?? Also, grab The Complete Pianist here: cornellmusicacademy.com/the-complete-pianist only for a limited time!!
This is awesome. Reminds me of Dune. Also, your passion for music is contagious. I'm thankful because you've kept me invested in playing guitar. We have very short chords because we omit so many nots but it doesn't stop me playing along and annoying my non musical friends with your vids (which I know they secretly enjoy) 🥲😂😂
Thomas Bergersen
He makes incredible music, really cool epic pieces but also deep and touching tracks
He actually likes to use parts of bulgarian choir music
I'm sure you'll love his music
I believe its felt as "shorts and longs" in a 9/8 time. short short short long 12/12/12/123
When I attended the Conservatory of Amsterdam I learned about this exact thing! Then later when I heard the tracks 'Irregular God' and 'Alita' in the anime Tower of God, I was like "wait a minute, that kinda sounds like a Bulgarian women's choir. Then I watched a video from Kevin Penkin who made the OST for Tower of God, and he confirmed my suspicions. Anyway, there really is something magical about that sound.
Highly recommend checking out David maxim micic - Wedding. Its an abseloutely amazing progg take on the song you lisstened to. The wedding refferance starts at 2 min
As a Bulgarian who has studied western theory and gets excited over 'jazz' harmony and 'prog' rhythms, it tickles me in a very special way to see the opposite. The way both sides understand it especially. To you rhythmically its some complicated off beat syncopation over 4, while I just count to 4 in Bulgarian [the word 'four' has three syllables creating a 9/8 (2+2+2+3)]. Or harmonically for me hearing 'clusters' in chords in western music was never a special, 'complex' thing it was just a sound I was used to hearing (even though harmonically often it doesn't make sense. I could ramble more but I'll save it for you to google and discover, find ways to interpret/understand. One thing I will say is that often in vocal folk songs there is no 'equal temperment' which is probably why at the end there it was 'out of tune' while technically it was 'in tune' (it just kinda does the jacob collier half modulation thing).
I love that comment about your perception of clusters. I think it might really demonstrate the difference in origins between the western European classical tradition and the Bulgarian folk tradition - like how western classical spent centuries chasing spiritual and religious "perfection" in simple ratios and unchallenging harmonies so as not to upset worshippers, but that is only one path and philosophy in an infinite space of other trajectories.
I love it, will be checking out your suggestions too for sure
so nice man thank u so much for this info
Once I sat in a cello lesson with my son, when he had to play a major second across two strings. The teacher told him to "tune" it by ear, which blew my mind for a second.
We usually hear the beats in major seconds (for example "chopsticks" begins by hammering on a major second interval), but it is also possible to tune this interval, for example by hitting the pitch ratio 9/8.
So even a major second can sound BOTH harmonious and dissonant.
This reminds us of how at the time of the Gregorian chants the interval of a major third - which we hear as quintessentially harmonious - was heard as somewhat dissonant and used as a contrast with the cleaner intervals of 4ths and 5ths.
In non equal tuning musicians and singers naturally tune harmonic intervals to whole integer frequency ratios:
Octave: 2:1
Fifth: 3:2
Fourth 4:3
Major Third 5:4
Minor Third 6:5
Major second 9:8
Am I missing something with counting in Bulgarian? I'm only counting 7 syllables, not 9. Едно, две, три, четири...
Forget I said anything. I tried counting out loud and it made sense.
Same! I had to laugh when he felt it off-beat.
Well explained!
As a bulgarian i cannot even express how happy i am that people outside bulgaria appreciate our music so much
Its stunning, friend. Truly something to be proud of.
The Bulgarian Music shown is really amazing.. the reaction stunned with the richness of the music is really deserved. What are they saying the lyrics?
It's so beautiful, complex and sophisticated to American ears!
You should be proud of this! 😀
It so beautiful, I find it very moving. I've been fascinated by it for maybe 10 years now. The harmonies and the vocal tone especially. Greetings from New Zealand!
@@marcelospaiva you can look all of the songs up if you want literal translations but i can write briefly what they are saying
1. In the first song a girl is talking to her mother. She is saying: "A kaval (wooden bulgarian flute) is playing around the village. I will go to see and hear it. If it is (the player) from our village i will love him until dawn. If it is from a foreign village i will love him for life.
2. second song from what i can hear here is about a girl- roujka knitting a sock
3. the title of the third song means "todora is laying down" and it sounds much like a lullaby. In the song Todora is sleeping beneath an olive tree when suddenly the wind breaks off a branch and wakes her up. She gets mad at the wind and then she sees that while she was sleeping her loved one came to her bringing her a bunch of flowers
4. The fourth song is called "wedding" and it is from the point of view of a woman (i presume) talking to Stoyan (a popular then bulgarian name). She tells him that a great dark fog is coming when then they quickly realise that it wasnt a fog, but a big wedding.
hope that helped :D
There was an album that came out in the 80's. Called The mysterious voices of Bulgaria. A whole album of this. It was stunning. And everyone that heard it was memorized by it. I couldn't stop playing it. They came to the U K to perform it live. And when they were finished. There was a moments silence.
Everyone was just stunned by what they just heard.
And then everyone was on their feet.
A what a noise we made. Unbelievable. Never forget it as long as I live.
I remember this same thing in the US. Someone let me listen to their recording in January 1988. I loved it instantly. They came to perform in Tacoma, Washington (USA) and I went to the concert. I remember sitting on the front of my seat and taking in a breath at their first note and not exhaling until their last note! I definitely have driven with my windows down and blasting Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. Every since then, I've been in a series of bands, dance groups, and choirs that sing, dance, and play this music. I don't know much music theory at all, so what this guy is showing and explaining is mostly Greek to me, but those songs I know in my sleep and I've sung most of them. I can't really express how much I love Bulgarian music. It led me to study Bulgarian in the mid-90s and spend several months in Bulgaria. I still hope to go back someday for the Koprivshtitsa Festival.
Love and Respect Bulgaria from Romania
The way this vocal tone sounds in person too is just INSANE. Feels like your brain is shaking lol.
Like an electric church organ or the start of a horror movie 🍿 😂
It sounds like shape-note singing from Appalachia to me. Each singing style is authoritative on its own. I wonder what developed over time (and when) to create that harmonic sound?
I would be partially paralyzed by the intensity of it 😮
Nice. (New music bucket list item unlocked.)
Shaking in the most wonderful way.
These dissonant harmonies are UNREAL and their skill is unmatched. Truly a cosmic sound.
what music of the spheres might really sound like
We love bulgarian music. Greetings from Brazil.
I remember an album called La Mystere de Voix de Bulgare that was a massive hit worldwide in about 1990. It brought this amazing music to the world.😮
I have it. I have played it to death. ❤❤❤the voices soar up to heaven!
Yes, it was a huge musical fad for a year or so... it was everywhere. They played it in the bookstore I worked in.
(Bulgairan) kaval palyer here. Plenty of rhytms in our folk music are complex odd meters (5, 7, 13, 15, 17,...) or actually measureless. The way we think of it is however a series of "short" and "long" steps. So a 2+2+3 measure of 7/8 is thought of as short-short-long.
Oddly enough, most our Christmas songs are in 2 or 5. And 3/4 is really rare and pretty much limited to a certain region.
As for the harmony; "Kaval Sviri" has been composed by Peter Lyondev, a classically trained composer. Most of the choral pieces one can easily find are at least arranged by classically trained composers.
Several regions do have authentic polyphony, but it is structured differently (most often two groups of singers overlapping endings and beginnings of phrases and the harmonies are less complex, but using a lot of secons and fourths.
Search for "Abagar Quartet - Шопски припевки" for a compilation of melodies and techniques typical fo the Shopluk Region or "Родопите. Неделино - Преди ми, преди, руданче" for an example of Rhodope polyphony.
Just want to chip in and say that I admire you for playing kaval. I play flute and also have a kaval, but it's a whole different world of difficulty. It's incredible when properly played, though. Someday I'll give it the time and devotion it requires.
@@jcortese3300 That's very kind of you, thank you!
I do not think it is more admirable than playing any other instrument though, and the flute is lovely as well.
They're surprisingly different, though, when it comes to playing, so it may well be even more challenging coming from the flute than staring with a blank slate, though I know musicians who play both masterfully.
Biggest tip for a beginner coming from the flute would be to practice in front of a mirror and watch your embochure like a hawk. Unlike with the flute you want your lips relaxed and extended a bit, kind of like saying the word "you". Don't think about whistling, that will bring in tension that you do not want, as the tension of the lips is how you switch between registers.
Also, quite importantly; are you oiling your kaval? If it is wooden it requiers to be oiled to protect it from several enviornmental influences.
I am so fascinated! Thank you for sharing. To my western ear, I’m hearing this embrace of microtones, a deliberate push away from just intonation. Would I be correct in assuming this isn’t so much deliberate as it is a natural progression of your folk culture, and just done by feel and listening? What instruments do you use when trying to get on the same tone in a choir? I know it’s a barrage of questions but I’m so intrigued!
Thank you for this info. I was under that impression: "Bulgarian voices" is one thing, Bulgarian Folk is a whole lot of other things. I was wondering if you can share examples of authentic Bulgarian harmony?
so you're telling me bulgaria invented breakcore
As a Bulgarian and a fan of this channel, it brings a tear to my eye to see others moved by this music. Truly other wordly, even to me as a native.
First time I listen to this, it is truly fascinating. Very different from what I am used to here in Brazil. Beautiful!
It's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It literally sounds divine.
I also shed a tear. It's not the first time I listen to Bulgarian folk music, but I can't help crying every time I hear it so beautiful it is. Greetings from Ukraine
Yep, just brushed a tear off with a huge smile :)
first time I heard this was on Ghost in the Shell
I discovered Bulgarian music about 2 years ago. I am a true blue rocker chick too and I have to say, this music just blows my mind. I get chills listening to Bulgarian music.
As a person from another Slavic nation, I can note that singing is really similar in our and Bulgarian society. When I was a little boy, I used to go to these slavas and sielos (gathering of family and friends) and after several drinks, singing starts. There are generations and generation of learning those melodies in the way that you only know your part, and you know that there are persons who know the other part of that wonderful melody that originates in dark and horrible and also wonderful deities and echoes from those old wild forests of Eastern Europe. I know it may sound odd and weird to Western ears, but to Bulgarians it is probably a natural process of growing up. Music is a significant part of Slavic traditional life, from working in fields, humming while knitting or cooking, it is as natural as it is to birds, I guess.
As a slav by blood, this music really is just embedded in the psyche. I grew up around this sort of music, and just from listening to it and following the harmonies, it really has allowed me to sing along to music in accompanying harmonies. It truly is the greatest gift that I cherish.
Takoje, pozdrav.
Imagine being a western trained child having a lovely post-championship dinner with the bulgarian gymnastics team and, after dessert, two of them stand up and start singing Dimianinka for you. 40 years later, I still haven' t overcome one of the most glorious moments of my life.🧛🏻♀️🖤
Please, share the names of those gymnasts!!
Wwow! That sound's amazing!!! :D
Their vowels and timbre match perfectly, that creates that powerful sound and makes their harmonies lock in so beautifully. Amazing to hear these choirs and see them getting more attention!
Also acapella harmony tends to tune to itself outside of equal temperament... I always remember that after particularly strong run-throughs for chamber choir pieces in spaces with incredible acoustics, our director would find that we crept a bit sharp because of how music/physics works when you use perfect harmonies rather than instrument defined equal temperament.
Yeap! I absolutely agree! They also tune it by ear very much like the Barbershoppers which makes the upper harmonics shine like stars.
It’s also a much “wider” vowel than you’d typically find in western choral music. Adds a lot of brightness.
The timbre definitely adds a powerful resonant quality to the minor 2nd intervals.
@@mattsnyder4754 Yes! They do not mask their vocals and dampen their timbre! Vocal production is extremely present. In that style of singing it is very hard to hide intonation problems because upper harmonics buzz quite loudly when you are even slightly out of tune so you have to sing perfectly in tune. Absolutely not an easy job.
My father wa working in Bulgaria and he was gifted a CD of the Bulgarian National Folk Singers, and no one ever tried to Listen to it with the photo of a Group of Ladies all dressed in traditional dress on the cover, I do not know why someday I decided to listen to it, AND BOY WAS I HOOKED, They HYPNOTIZED ME !!!!
It's a true!
I'm an American musician who moved to Bulgaria over 3 years ago. I am still trying to figure out the complex rhythms and dissonant harmonies! It's just amazing! It made me very happy to see this video...thanks for posting!
There's something so cool about that really stark, resonant, no-vibrato tonality - it's so harmonically rich and focused, and really showcases how good that those true-tempered intervals sound. Everything just RINGS
(And just to say, I'm not one of those people who usually gets too bent out of shape about 12TET vs true temperament, but in this it's just SO important to the sound and it's amazing!)
@@nsiepmann 12TET tunes everything in a specific way. Other tunings do it in a different way. Its a different flavour. I for one am kinda tired of 12TET, and get a more viceral feeling from these different tunings. But there definitely is music that cannot function without 12TET.
This style of singing is called "white voice", it's pretty popular in eastern Europe folk singing like in Ukraine
This may seem like a weird comparison, but drum corps has a similar sound quality to it. Especially in the 80s-early 2000s era. It was all about fat brass chords and they often featured contemporary classical, jazz or Latin music.
Check out Norwegian and Swedish folk (mostly fiddle) music. It has the same quality and awesome harmonies
Bulgarian voices! They start like little rain and then progressively hit you like hurricane from all sides. I have heard Bulgarian choirs live and they are great. Greetings from Greece.
And I forgot to mention that the singers imitate several instruments with their voices. When you hear "Titi titi" you can guess there could be a gajda (bagpipe) there. Also a kaval (flute) or a tapan (percussion).
THEY ARE COMMUNIST VOICES
sometimes instruments cant actually do what voices can. love your description.
@@progresstothestars YES, INSTRUMENTS CAN'T BE DEGENERATE UNTER COMMUNISTS
How beautifully you explained it
OMG and just 11 people choir. God Bless Bulgaria.
Love Bulgarian music, greets from Serbia 🇧🇬🇷🇸
Българите нямаме нужда от вашата сръбска любов ,ние я знаем много добре ,колко е истинска като руската!
I was introduced to Bulgarian folk music in the mid-90s by the Ghost in the Shell (1995) OST by composer Kenji Kawai. 'Making of a Cyborg' uses harmonies common to Bulgarian folk music with Japanese singers and lyrics, and when I heard those unique sounds I became completely enamored and sought out Bulgarian folk music.
This was immediately what I thought of. I was convinced that the style and harmonies were actually Japanese, but I guess I was wrong!
That's where I heard that! Thank you now I can stop wracking my brain
@@fundymentalism Haha glad to help!
I did to, listening to it for weeks. Thought Japanese, to find it's Bulgarian about... right now😃😃😃
Yes! I immediately thought of ghost in the shell as soon as the singing started
Im a singer and voice teacher. The other thing worth mentioning about this is that they sing in a way that amalgamates the voices together. They all sing all the time on chest voice with a very wide , open and "shrill" sound . Because of that (they omit the whole medium region of the resonance) it sound so punchy. If you were to listen to only one singer singing like that it would probably sound no too pleasing but the sum of all the voices makes it so powerful. they also sing with not much vibrato, and that means that all the chords SOUND., they are easy to recognize, and therefore the dissonances all work.
That’s a very good analysis! Thanks for that! You can hear a number of modern pop groups use similar vocal treble to their advantage-when I first heard this video I immediately thought of the chorus of Time Of The Season by the Zombies, a classic.
Yah the manner of singing is so different from western cultures
Exactly. I am always afraid when I hear untrained foreigners trying to reproduce the effect of wave of sound (or wall of sound if you wish) typical for these songs without being properly trained. Chest voice is mandatory and sound should never be forced out of resonance, it is more like the result of a sigh and relaxation than of effort...
The way i prefer to sing. But i think it's also the best singing style (even if not from me). Never a fan of either head voice or vibrato, so not much opera for me 😁
I had a musical director in high school who exposed us to the Bulgarian Women’s Folk Choir and I was bumping that in my car for a good while
I am absolutely thrilled to see Bulgarian music receiving the recognition it truly deserves. It fills me with immense pride for my homeland, Bulgaria, and its rich folklore!
As a Bulgarian you start instantly to cry because this music touches you and unlocks a certain feeling that you can not trigger with anything else in this world ♥️
I'm Croatian, and I got the same emotional response. There's a common thread, the pan-Slavic thing, in women's choirs, the buzzing, alerting, powerful quality in the harmony. Instant goosebumps!
same here, i'm not bulgarian but it still made me cry
I'm just an American, but this is absolutely beautiful
I’ve always thought I was weird because some music just elicits that response from me. But I’ve come to realize truly beautiful music can bring tears to those who recognize it, regardless if it is happy or sad.
i'm Czech and literally feel the same❤
Bulgarian Women's Choir was huge in the US in the 80s. They appeared with Johnny Carson. I saw them in Minnesota. All I could think was, "Bartok would be so proud."
Yes. Great recordings on Nonesuch.
Yes, Béla will always be special to many of us!
Why Bartok?
@@tatianapetseva8455 Sorry, it's not my job to educate you. Take a music appreciation course. There are probably several on UA-cam.
@@northernbohemianrealist1412man cmon 😂
Of all European folk music, Bulgarian is probably my favourite.
Polyphonic music is a tradition for all Slavic people, the South Slavic, the West Slavic and the North Slavic. The women used to sing it in the fields or during the harvest and of course at celebrations. As a child, I really enjoyed listening to the women
As another Bulgarian, find this content very emotional to watch and thank you very much Charles for promoting our folklore. The amount of research you made is insane.
I discovered bulgarian folk music through Yoko Kanno's OST for Ghost in the Shell, I never knew what it was at the time but paired with a dystopian futuristic setting it was absolute magic.
wait do you mean the one from kenji kawai? or actually the one from yoko kanno?
Did Yoko Kanno compose any songs inspired by bulgarian folk music? I'm only aware of the songs composed by Kenji Kawai for the first 2 movies (Making of a Cyborg, etc.)?
Same! I remember hearing it first when I was listening to her whole discography. Her studio album Song To Fly has one called Atomic Bird.
That original GitS music is absolutely incredible. This immediately popped out to me as being whatever that soundtrack was doing.
@@MadnessRealmyes, they were inspired by the Bulgarian folk songs! It sounds crazy but yes.
Bulgarian folklore is incredible and massively underappreciated, everyone needs to know about this beautiful culture! It's not just the singing, but also the dancing, bagpipe music, history, culture, food, it all ties together beautifully. I highly recommend people visit Bulgaria, it's affordable and just incredible. But don't just go to the resorts, actually explore the country. They have mountains, beaches, caves, rivers, ancient ruins, nice cities with beautiful architecture, so much to see and learn about!
I had the pleasure of performing this song in a massive concert hall and it just provokes tears. I loved it so very much and the dissonance was addictive
Their singing gives me mad Ghost in the Shell vibes, makes ya feel super enlightened after one listen!!
Great stuff imo X33
wasn't the music in GitS inspired by Bulgarian folk music?
So very much yes. I thought the GitS stuff was traditional Japanese but that might have just been the words.
I noticed that too, I had images from the second movie in my mind
That was the first thing that came to mind!!
@@fairiIu it was. there's a video here on yt where Kenji Kawai says he was inspired by the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria. he even wanted them to sing in GitS but in the end, I think because of the logistics, he went with Bulgarian style sung by Japanese singers. we can also hear Mysterious Voices in soundtrack for Star Wars: Solo. Kate Bush has them on one album, many music titans we admire admire them.
My wife is a polish folk singer and dancer and I can confirm that yes, you have been missing out on Slavic harmonies 😅
most of the world is missing out .
Ukrainian, here. I confirm. Slavic harmonies are a sleeping giant.
Don't call Bulgarians Slavs unless you want to get yelled at lol
@@DemetriosLevi what do you mean? Bulgarians Are Slavs ?
@@anto4759Not completely
In my teenage "buy anything that looks weird" years I bought a CD box set just called Mystic Chants (by Hildegard von Bingen) without really knowing what it was. Turned out to be two discs of Bulgarian folk music. No regrets.
If you get a hold of some actual Hildegard, that stuff's killer too!
Bulgarians are soo talented. Amazing music.
Our Bulgarian folk music is cosmic. No coincidence here. And it is deeply connected with the rituals too. I am glad the rest of the world started paying attention to it. It will only bring peace and love ❤
Central Scotland. 11.40 at night. Kids in bed. Watching this and being blown away. Reminds me of the music from the Western Isles. Extremely emotional. Hairs on my arms and neck went up.
You would be surprised how similar our people actually are. When you hear " bagpipes, good food, hard spirits and "hard" spirits" witch country do you think I'm describing? Yeah, its Bulgaria ✌️😅
I heard this song first on Adam Neelys "Tik Tok and dissonance do not mix" and I keep coming back! It's so powerful, I love it! Great harmonic analysis!
Same. At first I was like, aint ot from the Ghost In The Shell anime, and only then realised that the anime composer was inspired by Bulgarian folk choirs.
THAT'S where I first saw it analyzed. I've heard the song/saw the video before the influx of these analysis vids, but such a cool thing to see them get broken down a bit to see what's going on.
Me too
I literally paused when I watched his video. I don't think I ever even finished that video cause I was like "uhhhhh... what was that" and went down the rabbit hole.
Eyyyyy same. This song is so powerful I love it
When the camera pans out at the end and you discover the fact THAT sound was only produced by ELEVEN voices? Head absolutely destroyed!!
If you don't have Bulgarian genuine friends, you definitely need to and visit Bulgaria with them.
The nature, the standard behaviour of people and the quality of life are so heartwarming.
Plus their culture is pretty much rich and interesting.
I am still stuck with amazement about the family naming systems in Bulgaria, and the things I learnt about folk tradition.
I miss Bulgaria.
Kate Bush was definitely into it. She had the Bulgarian vocal group, Trio Bulgarka, singing backup on three songs on her album, The Sensual World.
Absolutely and it sounds so great on her albums - they can also be heard on her "The Red Shoes" album.
Thank you 🙏for the Kate Bush tip
No way!!! Her voice sounds like it would fit right in with a choir like this
You just blew my mind! Is this the amazing background I was obsessed with as a child on "Rocket's Tail" ?!?!?!
@@gbb23 Sure is. Sensual World is such a great album!
special mention to Zableyalo mi Agŭntse for being absolutely HAUNTING
Kalimanko Denko was the first song I heard from them in the mid 1980's. That opening solo voice gave me goosebumps.
Yanka Rupkina, the soloist, is amazing!
I was waiting to see a comment on Kalimanko Denko. I believe with every cell in my body that song is a masterpiece.
If you search for Petya Pertova/ The voice / Kalimako Denko, you'll get to enjoy a fresh performance of it by this fantasic youngster
I went to see a Bulgarian Folk Music concert in Madrid in '95 and it's the only concert where I have wept tears of uncontrollable joy. Marked for life.
Ребята , болгарская музыка просто -- ВЕЛИКАЯ МУЗЫКА !!!
Мелодика , ритмика , гармония , полифония !!!! Это всё просто прекрасно и удивительно !!!
Да! Совсем здорово!
Спасибо, брат
I just heard this for the first time just a minute ago and while I hear the dissonances (I'm not a musician in any way), the music establishes tensions and then relieves them in a very satisfying way. I call this the math of the music; I don't know if that's appropriate but it feels right.
The contrast between the just tuning of the choir and the tempered keyboard becomes so apparent when you're duplicating what they're singing on the keyboard. The tempered tuning does not cut it. I totally share your enthusiasm for this vocal folk music. It is uncanny how sophisticated and artful it is. It sounds so modern. Striking use of dissonance and beautiful sounding chords built on pure and just intervals. And I love how the young women are embracing this wonderful legacy out of cultural pride as well as their love of this fascinating and unique music.
THIS. You can break down the harmonic progressions on the piano, but the sound is totally lost in the shift to mean intonation. It’s the ability of a cappella voices to fall into natural intonation that makes the sound SO transcendent.
@@courtneybrock1 - I wonder if this comes about due to Bulgaria's location at the edge of western cultural influence. Western music became more and more about key changes at the cost of true intervals. Perhaps the frequent incursions of the Ottomans into the Balkans left its mark on the treatment of harmony that to this day has been kept alive by the continuity of these women choirs in Bulgaria.
@@robbes7rh I agree with everything in your comment, but my enthusiastic rely was actually in response to your first two sentences. I got my degree in choral conducting, and what you noticed is actually a phenomenon that happens in all a cappella music. You can’t exactly even temper a human. lol
When a trained choir sings with tempered instruments, (like a piano,) they naturally match the tuning of that exact piano. Before concerts, instrumentalists “tune” and warm up, “ However, if a choir’s on their own without any tempered instruments, then they auto-tune to each other. Because you can’t temper a human voice, good choirs ALWAYS slip into natural intonation when singing a cappella as if on autopilot. (It’s the opposite of sliding off into a different key because of that lone, over confident, bass.)
The convo comes up in choirs more than you’d think. This is how it goes down in practice. When tuning voices off each other in an acoustically live space, (like a cathedral,) it forces singers into natural intonation. No one notices the phenomenon, it just feels “right.” After the choir’s finished with a song, someone inevitably starts banging out the same cords the choir just sang on a piano. The contrast in sound is so jarring, it’s like someone scraping chalk on a chalkboard. It’s downright painful. But once the initial shock is over, it’s pretty funny. That’s what sparks the conversation. It takes someone playing the piano for choir members to realize they’ve been synched to natural intonation.
Which is what you want the choir to do. A cappella choirs slipping into natural intonation, (especially on resting/resolving chords) = correct. The human body’s full of surprises, lol. Of course, some songs showcase this better than others. The dissonance of the Bulgarian women’s folk song does an amazing job.
That is too simplistic. Just intonation is all about pitching notes to match the overtones created by other notes such that they are more in tune with each other than a note constrained by a particular temperament.
I do not see how choirs would “naturally fall” into the intonation used in Bulgarian folk music, when what is so distinctive about it is dissonance rather than consonance.
This music is one of those places where timbre shows itself as the king of music, because yes, when you analyze the chord it is some unremarkable minor thing, but what you hear, that is remarkable, and that is timbre. So much of what makes this magical is the sound of voices playing off of each other in a completely analog way that you simply cannot play on a piano or any instrument, so much of it is in the waveforms clashing in a pleasing way, the endless transforms of timbre interacting against each other to create a greater whole. Is good. I like it much.
Also this group definitely covered Metallica.
Every time I hear Bulgarian singing, i get goosebumps all over my body. Absolutely incredible!
I’m crying with joy! So happy you’re hearing this! Remembering why I (and a few of us San Francisco girls in the 80s) were compelled to join an Eastern European choir and sing and study and perform. We caught the bug 30 years ago!!! Various trajectories, various successes. You can hear some threads in Xena warrior Princess and maybe that dark circus thing CarneVale. (They heard the soundtrack I music directed for a live play called CarneVale in 1991 actually.) From Elisabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) and This Mortal Coil (Thanks, Ivo Watts Russell, for letting her tell you about Koutev) to Kitka in Oakland to Paula Frazer.
Anyway. The joy of this music knows no bounds!
[Deep Appendix: check out the role group singing played in independent resistance to unpleasant government in Eastern Europe.] I’ll try to return to edit in search terms for that. ❤
YAAAASSSS!!! It makes me stupidly happy to see someone else get the same geek-out joy out of their music! I'm...not gonna say what year it was when I first heard Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares on NPR, but I was instantly obsessed. All female choir? Check. Acapella? Check (for like 98% of their tunes). Insane harmonies, moving vocal lines, and complex rhythms? Check, check, check. Plus, their vocal production- very bright, very forward, just adds to the whole thing. Just. Gorgeous.
The part around 3:50 is counted in 9/8 time, SUPER common in Bulgarian and other Balkan folk music. So glad you found this!
So says a 1980's era Robert Fripp interview. :P
Yes, I interpreted it as 9/8 or 7/8 as well. You could see it in the conductor's gestures
@@heatherduke7703 It is, in Bulgarian folklore music odd time signatures are counted as a combination of 2s and 3s. 9/8 in particular is 2+2+2+3.
Look no further than Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk, inspired by a trip they took to Turkey
Thanks I was struggling to puzzle this out 😂
My wife is Bulgarian; and I got progressively exposed to the music, and each time I was blown away. When I realized that horos were in 7/8, and when I heard the otherworldly dissonant harmonies. It's truly amazing stuff!
My wife too! It’s an incredible culture don’t you agree?!
I’m loving this video the most because of so many people coming together for the love of Bulgarian music!
Proud to be bulgarian macedonian women,I am also singer and I have soprano dramatic voice ❤,God bless Balcan
I'm Bulgarian myself. This deserves more recognition. You're doing a great job spreading this on your channel. Please keep it up.
This first recording of the Bulgarian State Women’s Choir hit North America in the 80s & 90s and blew our minds. It still makes me cry because their music is so beautiful. I used one of their songs in a Music Cognition Research Project.
I was an early music major in college. I came across Bulgarian music a few years ago and it was like discovering music all over again. So much new and different and wonderful.
When the original CD was first released in 1986, there was a sticker on the package, a quote from some music writer that said, "The most beautiful music in the world." And so of course I bought it, and it really was. I was obsessed with "Svatba" and listened to it over and over again, and it still give me goosebumps almost forty years later.
4ADとPETER MURPHY(BAUHAUS)に感謝する。
Actually the original is older. Here it is. By Ensemble Trakia. Unfortunately Marvel Celier bunched a number of the top Bulgarian ensembles under the nane Le Mystere dew Voix Bulgares, thus not giving any credit to the various choirs and their recordings. He also copyright much of it too. I love Svatba, which by the BNR choir.
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Ugh and I thought Serbian 7/8 time signature is my favorite until I heard this 9/8 beauty! With shifting the longest part too! Amazing!!! Really makes me happy to have Slavic roots
I have been digging specifically Bulgarian folk choir music for a couple years now lol so I'm both very happy and definitely surprised that you decided to cover it.
Please!! share some of your finest! Would be so happy!
I think the MAIN draw for this music is that it is acapella and therefore tuned to itself in perfect ratios rather than the imperfect system that equal tempered instrumentation relies on. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by nearly all classic pieces composed for just a chamber choir to perform.
I bloody love Bulgarian music. Have done for years now. It's unique.
Have a listen to Kate Bush’s album The Sensual World. Bulgarian vocals all over the joint 🙌🏼 (I recall Yanka Rupkina was one of the Trio Bulgarka vocalists)
(Listen to Rocket’s Tail!!!👍🏼)
0:54 When I hear music like this, it feels like Im watching human history from outside time, just seeing people's lives come and go, and the places where they live change and grow.
I remember being in college for choral conducting and attending an ACDA conference where I heard this performed live for the first time. “Chills” doesn’t explain it.
Kaval Sviri!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I sang this song with Oklahoma's All-State Choir in January. It was such a beautiful and empowering song to sing and the constrast it held compared to all the other strict, western hymn-type of songs in the concert made it stand out SO MUCH. It's by far one of my favorite songs I've ever sang in all my years of singing. It's so nice to see someone appreciating it to the same intensity us vocalists appreciated it!
They are not hymn-type because they are Western. They're hymn-type because it's Oklahoma. Same problem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Oppressive and Boring.
@@needtoknowbasis3499 oppressive? Wow that is harsh. I find hymns beautiful and liberating. When sung properly, near to the level of these Bulgarians.
@doctorhyrulecat Do you have a recording?
I'm really happy that you enjoy this amazing song from my country. It's always nice seeing people appreciate your culture, especially when you feel like it's overlooked. Do you have any opinions on the translation?
When I hear this music I hear the resilience of a people facing deep adversity and still choosing to live. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, a recognition of the tragedy and gift of existence. Incredible.
Transformation of Brother Bear is also sung by a Bulgarian Choir - absolutely amazing.
I remember that song was my first time hearing Bulgarian Folk Choir and it has stuck with me as such magical and divine form of music. Hearing this in Disney’s Brother Bear had a fitting sense as well, as they’d play the music whenever the movie shows the ephemeral scenes of their portrayal of the spirits or voices of the Earth and its creatures. Absolutely dazzling that stuck with me ever since.
I rock my infant son to sleep every night to Eric Whitacre. Those insane harmonies and tetrachords are so beautiful and soothing.
May i suggest Estonian composer named Pärt Uusberg. Very soothing harnonies and choral sound. Pieces like Õhtu Ilu (is based on estonian folk song) and Õhtul
Whitacre is such an amazing idea for rocking a baby to sleep! I am stealing that next time I’m watching my niece 😂
@@joosepjoost3117 What a coincidence! I just heard Õhtul sung live by a Finnish choir last Sunday. Never fails to bring me to tears for some reason.
In high school, my band teacher and choir teacher both made me fall in love with Eric Whitacre.
Then in college, I got the opportunity to sing "The Seal Lullaby" with my university's prestigious a capella choir and it brought me to tears. I wish Disney had followed through with making that song into a movie, but it never happened.
your son will likely become more powerful than we can imagine
Kaval Sviri is in my top 5 of all folk songs. It deserves that place 100%. I know 0 Bulgarian but I can sing it now.
same here!
It’s my favorite folk song. I’m Bulgarian. Now you know one. 😁
@@jchomedog2887 oh I meant I know nothing in Bulgarian language. I know some Bulgarian people :)
Kaval is Endblown flute
Sviri means Plays/Sounds.
Brutal translations is "A flute is playing" now you know 2 words ahahah
@@trabantdeluxflute is флейта in bulgarian, not кавал
I remember hearing this songs, years ago, live, in some small town in Bulgaria, after crossing the Danube on a ferry. Absolutely jaw-dropping, goosbumpish experience.
Bre, Petrunko is another song like this. Just absolutely mindboggling harmonics.
Bulgarian here, and I’ve studied folk arts so that was a hoot to watch! Awesomely researched!
There’s actually a whole lot of music theory going into these folk adaptations - because this is an adaptation of a folk song made by a composer, even if it’s deeply rooted in folk tradition. There’s several big names that have done adaptations slightly differently, but they’ve all been influenced by classical music and/or jazz.
The rhythmic structure you were marvelling at is one of the simpler ones you’ll find in Bulgarian folklore - it’s simply 9/8 (2+2+2+3). The third song is generally 11/8 (2+2+3+2+2).
Bulgaria is tiny but has several regions with very distinct music culture. I’m a huge fan of the music of the Strandja region - if you want weird scales and harmony you have got to check it out. There’s also a great deal of instrumental music you might find interesting, though Bulgarian choirs are a gem.
Bulgarian here too, what can you recommend from the Strandja region? I have some songs that I love but it is the region I am least familiar with.
Came to the comment section to say the same - this is not exactly authentic folklore, but choral arrangements by professional composers that have a fair amount of classic and jazz in them.
@@Ubredebre Classical composers most of which studied in Austria and Germany and who are well aware of the music theories of Schoenberg and other mid-XX century composers.
@@Ubredebrecame here to do the same 😉 I often hear people say this is straight-up folk music as would be sung in the village but it’s more a hybrid of folk and art music with a nod to jazz.
@@dkokalanov1000%
I love Bulgarian choir! I also like Orthodox choir but this just hits differently. The polyphony just blows my mind.
Why does this singing make me have feelings of joyful praising? It's incredible.
I was listening to this music in the 1970s. I also love Bulgarian bagpipes. I play the Scottish kind.
each note fits perfectly with one another. man, the person that composed this is a musical genius.
This is just folk music, I mean yes it'll have a composer but this is the whole tradition, it's not one genius.
But also the composer for this particular piece was Peter Lyondev 😊
It's definitely impacted but how voices tend to tune to one another via perfect ratios rather than within the irrational ratios (clever play on words) necessary for equal tempered instruments to operate consistently.
@@simont390 this is a specific arrangement, not every rendition of this song sounds like this, and there are bound to be worse ones. So yes, props do go to the arranger, it’s not “just folk music”
I think you are falling into the trap of analyzing this from the perspective of western classical music. These pieces weren't "composed," per se.
Coming from The Netherlands i've loved bulgarian music for years. The songs are beautiful but the instrumental music is definitely great aswell. Thank you Bulgaria for giving me countless hours of soultouching music ❤
10:55 Someone PLEASE produce a heavy riff underneath that choir recording. Seriously, man. The intensity and beauty of Bulgarian folk choir music and progressive metal/core would be SUCH a good match!!!
By the title of this video, I didn't expect to walk away with a 29 song playlist of Bulgarian folk music. But that's exactly what happened.
What a nice surprise! As a bulgarian, I am proud to see others enjoying and being in awe of our folklore! Thank you!
As an austrian i always felt i must have been eastern european in my last life because of HOW MUCH i love their music. Like from early childhood on. It is so beautifull and precious.
No, we Austrian are German speaking Slavs. That’s why it is always said that the Balkan starts in Vienna! 🤣
I am Salesian, I feel at home at eastern music, and foreign at western even though I have been raised in Germany, really odd, it always seems to come from within
@@BarbaraMarieLouise the eastern part of ausgtia yes.
But here in vorarlberg we are of a completely different origin. Räther Romanen, Walser and so on.
Same feeling, just that I'm literally in another continent, but Eastern European, Nordic and Irish music always trigger an indescriptible feeling in me. xd
I've played many types of music and instruments, gypsy jazz, heavy metal, industrial, european folk, electronic music,.. but Bulgarian music has a BIG spot in my heart. I like to describe it as music that grabs you by the throat and won't let go. Powerful. Personally I love the odd meters used in eastern European music, I enjoy the tension of a rhythm where one step is slightly longer, which is basically what's happening.
I listened to this a couple months ago and it totally blew my mind in a similar way. Glad I'm not the only one rocking out to Bulgarian folk music.
I have a masters in violin performance and I know a LOT of great Bulgarian musicians but had no clue about Bulgarian folk music. It totally makes sense that they descended from a folk culture that makes fascinating and innovative musical choices given the extreme versatility and and creativity of the Bulgarian musicians I’ve collaborated with.
I got into Bulgarian Folk music ages ago through the work of Joseph LoDuca who composed the theme and background music for Xena Warrior Princess. A Bulgarian women's choir happened to be in Los Angeles at the time and Joseph said they would be a great fit for his compositions for the show.
Fast forward to Stromae, a Belgian singer songwriter who composed L'enfer with Bulgarian trio Orenda as backing vocals.
I was SO hoping I'd find a comment here referencing Joseph LoDuca! I thought to myself, "surely I can't be the only geek in the world who discovered a love of Bulgarian folk music through the Xena: Warrior Princess soundtrack! I watched it from childhood, but didn't discover the women's chorus who sung the music until college. I especially loved the songs that were highlighted whenever the episode involved the Amazon warriors/nation. This music has been special to me since I was a wee lad.
Thank you!! I was very impressed with Stromae for including those vocal in L’enfer - so beautiful! Thanks for crediting them (Orenda)!
@@kendricxanderson7555 Actually this Canadian geek not only learned how to sing the theme from Xena phonetically, I also corresponded with Joseph himself (I think about the Lord of the Rings score if my memory serves).
I sing phonetically in eight languages and Bulgarian is easier than Polish and Mandarin.
Another fellow Bulgarian here. Thank you for appreciating our culture! “Kaval sviri” is written by one of our great composers Petar Lyondev. It was performed for the first time in 1975 and recorded by Ensemble “Trakia” from Plovdiv. This is the recording known and used around the world.
I first “discovered” Bulgarian music with Kate Bush’s The Sensual World (and the Trio Bulgarka) then I bought a bargain-bin $2.99 Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female vocal…some really long name! 😆Bought a cheap cassette and fell all the way in love with Ergen Deda and Polegnala e Todora 🗣️🎶
Bulgarian Folk music was used a lot for the sound of the various Ghost in the Shell soundtracks. Yasunuri Mitsuda has also used some influence of that style in his soundtracks as well.
This comment hit me upside the head like a brick
Yoko Kanno used it quite a lot.
Specifically
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Thank you.. I was driving myself nuts trying to figure out where I had heard that type of music before!
The very first second of this video, the GiTS opening was in my head.
Glad to know that I wasn't far off.
I'm only halfway through the video now, and I'm hearing more and more that brings me full circle.
Only problem is that I'm getting massive visual dissonance with cyberpunk in my head, and traditional dress in the video
3:45 as a bulgarian classical musician, this bit here is in 9/8 time signature and such "unorthodox" time signatures can be met in a lot of the bulgarian folklore music and the bulgarian classical music too. its uniqueness comes in the irregularity of the beats. it's not 3 equal beats of 3 eight notes each, but rather 4 big beats compiled in 2+2+2+3 eight notes. so you have 4 beats in this particular one, but the fourth is extended with 1 extra eight note. 9/8 can also be changed with 3+2+2+2. there's also other time signatures like 7/8 (2+2+3) or 11/8 (2+2+2+3+2) with the extended times coming on different spots depending on the composition. for ex.: 7/8 can be 2+2+3 or 3+2+2 or even in the middle - 2+3+2. I hope this makes sense ;D
Such type of counting, I've seen, is pretty foreign in the west and it can simplify a lot of contemporary pieces that are written nowadays.
More appropriately notated as 9/16 than 9/8, but yes. And it's a fair way of thinking about the rhythmic structure, given the incommensurability of prime numbers (which is what makes something as "simple" as 5/4 or 5/8 the most basic complex meters, due to the division into 2 and 3); it gets even more interesting when you make even larger primes part of those groupings, e.g. like how Stravinsky does in Rite of Spring, but typically the brain falls back on mostly hearing groupings of 2 or 3, i.e. "short" or "long", much like Morse code. A great example is Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War, where he constantly alternates between 2 + 3 and 3 + 2 within the measures, sometimes together and sometimes apart, which at times sounds like two sides at war against one another.
The beautiful and unfamiliar music from the show Xena. I never really knew where it came from. I just knew I loved it.
Beautiful music, beautiful country and beautiful people
Non-bulgarian kaval player here.
You really have to dig into bulgarian history to have a better grasp at what is going on in that specific vocal music style. Although this kind of song is typically vocal folklore, at the same time it is kind of the academic counterpart of the roots of it. Traditionally this kind of song would have been the main melody with its countermelody, i.e. the one that makes most of the clusters. There is a lot of western ingredients in this kind of arrangement (the size of the choir is one, for instance), but the root and intonation is meant to stay intact. So let's say that, with westerner ears, you can analyse the harmonic movements, but not the harmony itself, especially if you try to play it on a damn piano.
One more, and most, important thing, is, what you can hear on recordings is really pale compared to what you could feel live. These type of harmonies and cluster really create a wide array of psychoacoustic effects in the room. You will hear never experienced sounds coming from EVERYWHERE in the room that recordings just cannot capture.
Add the old folk instruments that are hard to tune to precise scale and the flexibility of the singers to match these fluctuations ;)
He is catching the majors and minors but there are deeper layers that make this what it is.
@@phoenixme74 of course. And this is true for any non-tempered modal music.
Im romanian, i used to go to music school where our choir teacher wanted us to prepare this piece for an olympiad. It was absolutely a challange getting this right, i loved it so much, but the other kids didnt like it because of the "special" harmonies, so they voted it out of the list.
Bulgarians, you got really beautiful traditional music!!!!
I first encountered The Bulgarian Voices in 1987 via a cassette from a friend in Wales, of John Peel playing "Kaval Sviri" on his radio show. It made an immediate and lasting impression and I grew to know that piece by heart. About twenty years later, I had a regular customer at my comic shop with whom I enjoyed many musical conversations, as he was a scholar of classical composition but was largely unfamiliar with more contemporary music. One day I popped "Kaval Sviri" on at the store and kind of "conducted" my way through the whole thing, much like the woman in this video, and my friend was amazed and intrigued, his musical world expanded. Happy to see you have much the same reaction.
To sing this cleanly is hellish difficult!
We love Bulgaria ❤
Respect 🙏 from Greece 🇬🇷☦️
and we ❤ you, Greece!
Love is the answer ❤
what I love most about this kind of musician reaction videos is the absolute joy and excitement people can have about learning about a "new" way to do the thing they love
My high school premier treble voices choir (From NZ) sung weirdly lot of this type of stuff and it gave me now as both a singer and composer such a deepened appreciation for dissonance I just about couldn’t listen to/sing some Western choral pieces again. The first song (Kaval Sviri) was the second one we did and it was definitely our show piece for the year-people couldn’t get enough of it! Competition gala nights, school prize giving, literally just in the halls of the music department people would be singing it. No one could get enough of it and honestly it’s incredibly sad that this type of music isn’t heard or explored a lot in Western music circles because by god is it good
Have you ever listened to Kate Bush’s albums The Red Shoes or The Sensual World? A Bulgarian group called Trio Bulgarka were heavily featured on it and you may enjoy it if you like this.
That moment at 6:00 where you hear the voice shift is emblematic of Bulgarian folk music and it sets it apart from all others. You can hear it in a lot of our songs where females sing and it's a sign of a good singer. Also the way it's sung and why it sounds like that is because it uses "white voice". It's sung nasaly and Openly as if shouting. A characteristic feature of this kind of voice is its brightness, clarity or intensity. Although breathing can be taken at random moments of a song, it is a very important underlining expression.
I'm Ukrainian and we have similar harmonies especially in woman's voices as you said. I'm from western mountain part and remember going out with whole community to sing carols, it's magical to be a part of this tradition
@@knitted_sweater_near_fireplace all slavic countries have a variation and some share. We call it chopped singing. It's what makes bulgarian music immediately recognisable if you know what to look for. That and the nasal singing slavic countries do
Everyone was blown away when "Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares" was released in '86. It cropped up in samples in Far Out, Papua New Guinea, Two Full Moons and a Trout, etc. Then Pilentze Pee was covered in Ghost in the Shell, and by the end of the 90s everyone knew about Bulgarian Choirs. I'm surprised the younger generation don't know it.