Mechmetio

Amazon.com
Bulgaria's unaccompanied choral folk music is organic, sophisticated, hypnotic, and mildly disturbing. It is made up of richly pungent melodic strands layered over a supporting drone until they overlap and blend, creating intervals that sound much like Western harmonies. Similar parallel overtones also occur in the Sacred Harp tradition of the Southern United States and in Tuvan throat singing. Cosmic Voices is made up of 21 women, and their voices have a strident, nasal intonation absorbed from nearby Macedonia and Turkey. The compositions can be infectiously gay, mysterious, or even both at the same time. The lively dance tunes are full of hair-raising rhythmic shifts and punctuated by exhortations and exuberant shrieks, while the spacious, dissonant slower pieces unfold and reassemble like the shifting colors of a kaleidoscope. The album was recorded under ideal acoustic conditions, so that the ensemble emerges as a miracle of resonance and clarity. --Christina Roden

Tracks:

Zakasnila E Lalitza (Lalitza Is Late)
Tih Viater Vee (Soft Wind Is Blowing)
Vetcherial Rado (Rada, Finish Your Dinner)
Barem Se Ergen Nahodih (I've Had Enough Of The Bachelor Life)
Dragana I Slaveia (Dragana And The Nightingale)
Listni Se Goro (Forest, Put Forth Leaves)
Lepa Maro Sofianko (Beautiful Mara From Sofia)
Stoeneh
Kazhi, Kazhi, Angio (Tell Me, Tell Me Ancho)
Sednato E Djoreh (Djoreh Is Sitting)
Pilentze Pee (A Bird Is Twerping)
Bre, Petrunko (Hey, Petrunko)
Lale Li Si (Are You Tulip Or A Hyacinth)
Kaval Sviri (Wooden Flute Is Playing)
Polegnala E Todora (Todora Is Taking A Nap)
Mechmetio (Mechmetio, My Big Love)

Amazon.com

Bulgaria's unaccompanied choral folk music is organic, sophisticated, hypnotic, and mildly disturbing. It is made up of richly pungent melodic strands layered over a supporting drone until they overlap and blend, creating intervals that sound much like Western harmonies. Similar parallel overtones also occur in the Sacred Harp tradition of the Southern United States and in Tuvan throat singing. Cosmic Voices is made up of 21 women, and their voices have a strident, nasal intonation absorbed from nearby Macedonia and Turkey. The compositions can be infectiously gay, mysterious, or even both at the same time. The lively dance tunes are full of hair-raising rhythmic shifts and punctuated by exhortations and exuberant shrieks, while the spacious, dissonant slower pieces unfold and reassemble like the shifting colors of a kaleidoscope. The album was recorded under ideal acoustic conditions, so that the ensemble emerges as a miracle of resonance and clarity. --Christina Roden

Customer Reviews:

Great.......2002-10-28

I don't know that much about Bulgarian music, but I can say that this cd is Great! It's very powerful, and addictive to listen to. Try the samples above, this cd is even better than the samples (which isn't always the case).

+ 5 Stars.......2002-05-06

I saw many other records of bulgarian (and eastern european in general) music. This is the best I found. While other choirs ruin these beautiful songs making pop versions of them, accelerating their rythm, and etc, this choirs maintain a really traditional line.
Like that guy said before me, the best kind of music is the traditional, of everywhere. That's beautiful because there is a history, a tradition behind each song, and so we can learn so much of the people's way of life, and the local history and culture. Jordi Savall said once that if a music have only a beautiful melody, and don't have a tradition, an essence, a spirituality, it's nothing.
And the eastern european music is culturally very rich, although, like that guy said too, it's practically unknown among our people. See the Red Army choir, the romanian or russian orthodox chants, or that group from Tuva.
Great CD, a must-have to all who really love music and appreciate it like culture and art.

Um fã de música erudita brasileiro.

Magical!.......2002-02-16

There's nothing better than traditional music. This is one of the best ways to know a people's history, culture, and way of life. I hate from the bottom of my heart pop and rock music. Today, this kind of song is destroying, everywhere you go, the peoples' culture and national identity. The (very) dark side of globalization.
Jordi Savall said once that if a music have a pretty melody, but don't have a history, a tradition, an essence, a strong spirituality - it's nothing.
And this CD follows a very traditional line, while another chorals made pop versions of their songs... sadly...
The accoustic conditions are ideal, and the voices are magical. The counterchants (like in Mechmetio, Kaval Sviri, and Dragna I Slaveia) are... i have no words to describe... These voices... Sometimes energic, sometimes delicated - a high technical level and the proud of their culture - this is the best choral I ever hear, and here goes the 5 Stars. More, if I could.

Average customer rating:

Mechmetio
Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria
Manufacturer: Intuition
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

World Dance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00007GXVB
Release Date: 2000-09-12

Tracks:

Zakasnila E Lalitza (Lalitza Is Late)
Tih Viater Vee (Soft Wind Is Blowing)
Vetcherial Rado (Rada, Finish Your Dinner)
Barem Se Ergen Nahodih (I've Had Enough Of The Bachelor Life)
Dragana I Slaveia (Dragana And The Nightingale)
Listni Se Goro (Forest, Put Forth Leaves)
Lepa Maro Sofianko (Beautiful Mara From Sofia)
Stoeneh
Kazhi, Kazhi, Angio (Tell Me, Tell Me Ancho)
Sednato E Djoreh (Djoreh Is Sitting)
Pilentze Pee (A Bird Is Twerping)
Bre, Petrunko (Hey, Petrunko)
Lale Li Si (Are You Tulip Or A Hyacinth)
Kaval Sviri (Wooden Flute Is Playing)
Polegnala E Todora (Todora Is Taking A Nap)
Mechmetio (Mechmetio, My Big Love)

Average customer rating:

Better than Le Mystere

Aishinka

Manufacturer: Concord Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000006TB
Release Date: 1996-09-10

Tracks:

Aishinka: Aishinka, My Little Chickadee
Aishinka: Vida, Vida
Aishinka: Hey, Sing To Me
Aishinka: Are You Still Lovesick, My Son
Aishinka: Five Dances And Songs From The Pirin Region
Aishinka: The Young Bride Fell Asleep
Aishinka: Rada The Innkeeper
Aishinka: Mehmed, My Love
Aishinka: Mehmed, My Love
Aishinka: The Dividing Woman
Aishinka: Rada, Fair Rada
Aishinka: Aishinka, My Little Chickadee

Customer Reviews:

Better than Le Mystere.......2003-02-02

After Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares made a Bulgarian
a capella woman's choir an international favorite
"sound" about fifteen years ago, it has been hard to sift through all of the sequels and imitations. Luckily, this CD is neither. "Aishinka" features two female choirs, one a folk choir and the other a classical choir, performing original songs by Ivan Spassov, one of Bulgaria's most important composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century. The sound is recognizably Bulgarian and the music is very close in spirit and content to the arranged Bulgarian folk music of the "Le Mystere" collections. But these are songs found on no other CD, and the choirs both worked closely with the composer at the Plovdiv academy to make this definitive CD of his most hauntingly beautiful music.

Rock Music:

Rock Music

rock music

Recommended Music:

Best of Kihn [Original recording remastered]

Ravel: Tzigane, Etc [Import]

Repertoire for Women's Voices Vol. 4

Christmas Cowboy

People_2: Both Sides of the Picture

Show Me Heaven [CD-single]

O [Soundtrack]

Take It to the Saint Thomas [Explicit Lyrics]

Reflections

Pauline Viardot-Garcia: Songs

Stayin' Over

Nuits D'espagne [Import]

Quality Control [Explicit Lyrics]

Bloch: String Quartets 1-4

Hall of Shame