Some of you may already know of this group (that plays traditional instruments but at times giving them a modern sound), but for those that do not, they are called ISIHIA, I have only recently discovered them, and every time i listen to them I think of the mountains. Amongst other instruments they play the GAYDA (a type of bag pipe) very well. They have a number of tracks on youtube, but i would suggest 2 or 3 to start with, KOSTI, RHODOPE &
ARAMII.
I love the sound of this, and remember the first time i heard it, we had been to the British Embassy in Sofia on my first visit to Bulgaria in 2004, and walking through a small grassed area, heading for a nice restuarant, I heard this beautiful sound coming out of the darkness, it was being played by a guy very well, we stopped and listened for a while, and since then have loved the sound.
I guess i am lucky in that one of our best friends dances in a traditional group (as a hobby) and we have been to some of the events, also Tanya,s mother used to make all of the traditional costumes for the village, so we have fairly close contact with all things Bulgarian.

mike&tanya wrote:

Some of you may already know of this group (that plays traditional instruments but at times giving them a modern sound), but for those that do not, they are called ISIHIA, I have only recently discovered them, and every time i listen to them I think of the mountains. Amongst other instruments they play the GAYDA (a type of bag pipe) very well. They have a number of tracks on youtube, but i would suggest 2 or 3 to start with, KOSTI, RHODOPE &
ARAMII.
  I love the sound of this, and remember the first time i heard it, we had been to the British Embassy in Sofia on my first visit to Bulgaria in 2004, and walking through a small grassed area, heading for a nice restuarant, I heard this beautiful sound coming out of the darkness, it was being played by a guy very well, we stopped and listened for a while, and since then have loved the sound.
 I guess i am lucky in that one of our best friends dances in a traditional group (as a hobby) and we have been to some of the events, also Tanya,s mother used to make all of the  traditional costumes for the village, so we have fairly close contact with all things Bulgarian.

When we arrive to live in BG in about a month's time. my neighbours will have to suffer hearing me play the Great Highland Scottish Bagpipes at the end of our garden.  Unfortunately there are some Scot's that can't stand the sound of them so I sympathise with any of our new Bulgarian neighbours whose ears are on the acute side.

Hi itchyfeet, i would be surprised if the neighbors get upset with the bag pipes, you will probably end up playing for the village dance group (if there is one). Personally I love the sound of Scottish Bag pipes especially when the percussion is added. ::

I just "
discovered"
your thread and started listening to the songs you recommended. Thank you very much for Исихия!

Since our "
Western"
ears usually are not used to this doleful sound, some of us often might need some soft entrance like special experiences or an atmospheric movie or so to get "
infected"
by the impression of these instruments. I see myself adapting more and more to the sounds of zurni (зурни) and slowly to those of gaydi (гайди), too. But I know only a few songs up to know, carried by gaydi, some of Светльо Жилев, who comes from the town Gotse Delchev in Pirin region.

So thank you very much for sharing this music with us here!

Neshka Robeva used to release her show music on CDs, I have a few - highly recommended. Check out Balkan Horses Band - its an interesting pan-balkan project where traditional balkan music is played with some jazz influence, I quite like them.
There is a german band called Triskillian that has released their new album, almost half of the songs are traditional bulgarian folk but played on the almost forgotten nyckelharpa! Darker in sound, very nice overall.

Scanspeak wrote:

Neshka Robeva [...] Balkan Horses Band [...] Triskillian

With "
Balkan Horses Band"
and "
Triskilian"
(I did not know them yet) you are leading us to the genre "
world music"
, right?

Actually I prefer the very Bulgarian versions of the Bulgarian songs interpreted by Triskilian (you can listen to the songs of the album "
neo"
and older ones at their home page: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but I liked their attempt to introduce "
South-Eastern"
instruments like a Kaval-similar flute (obviously made from bamboo: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]