In the difficult years of the Ottoman rule in Bulgaria the symbols of statehood and the elements of Western culture have been demolished. What is left is the national culture through traditions, rituals, applied art, music and dance. Its roots turned out to be very deep and it survived the test of the time.The national art saved the nation from depersonalization
The Bulgarians did their best to be creative incorporating in each single item a piece of their own art. This could be found in the traditional for the country woodcarving, clay crafts, copper production. If you go even today into an old Bulgarian house you will see ceilings with wood carved suns on them. Harsh hands have turned the piece of wood into tender flowers and plaids to decorate the whole interior. You will be amazed by the lively colors of the carpets and hand woven bed and floor covers. The colors are artistically aligned on them in the same way in which nature itself has aligned those colors on mountain tops and fruitful valleys. The Bulgarian woman did by herself her clothes and all the necessary cloth for the family. Embroidery was subject to the highest esthetic requirements. Its beauty comes from the masterful lining up of colors and forms and its high artistic value is due to the complicated technical realization. Embroidery was among the most important home activities – male and female shirts were decorated with rich embroidery. The present a young woman would most often make to her fiancce would be an embroidered shirt. Amazingly beautiful are the colors on female socks and gloves. One could tell the age and social status of the woman by the suit, richly decorated with embroidery and lace in addition to which was the jewelry.
From the traditional folklore – traditions, myths, music and dances one can draw conclusions about the history of a nation.
The Music is an indispensable element of culture
The Bulgarians sing with a loud and clear voice, improvising complicated rhythms. Both solo as well as group singing are equally popular. The Bulgarian folk music is unique in its irregular and complex rhythms. They can be found in all folk regions of the country which makes them totally different from the other European music as well as that of the neighboring Balkan countries. Similar to the diverse in terms of melody and rhythm Bulgarian national song the national dances are no less diverse in terms of rhythm, style and performance. The typical dance is horo. It is played either in circles or in chains. The famous Bulgarian folklore ensembles like „The Cosmic voices“, „The Mystery of the Bulgarian voices“ ensembles „Pirin“, „Thracia“ are well known far away from Bulgaria and have thousands of fans. The songs from the Rhodopi mountain and the voice of Valja Balkanska even as we speak today is flying in the space on board of the Voyageur 1 shuttle.
The Bulgarian irregular rhythms have enriched the European music as soon as they have been noticed by the European music theory back in 1886 when the music teacher Atanas Stoin published for the first time five Bulgarian folk melodies. The comprehensive study of the rich variety of irregular rhythms 5/8, 7/8, 8/8, 9/8, 11/8 in the Bulgarian music folklore became familiar to the Western musicians in 1913. By that time they were practically unknown for the European music. In the Western music these complicated rhythms showed up for the first time at the end of the 19th century. One of the first examples for that is Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony. In the works of the Hungarian composer from the beginning of the 20th century Bela Bartok irregular rhythms of 3/8, 5/8 and 7/8 are also met and he writes that he has taken them from the Bulgarian folk music and calls them „Bulgarian rhythms“ A typical example is the forth part of Concert for an orchestra.
Among the new and very famous works using irregular rhythms are the song „Money“ (7/4) of Pink Floyd, the composition „Mars the war of worlds“ of Gustav Holst from the orchestra suite The Planets, some jazz compositions in 11/4, 7/4 and 9/8 of Dave Brubeck quarter and in the works of Philip Glass. In the works of Kate Bush and George Harrison there are also irregular rhythms inspired by the Bulgarian folklore.
Practically Bulgaria is the only country in Europe in which the asymmetric and rhythmic forms are an integral part of the national music art.
