Exploring the limits of the human vocal range, The Bulgarian Women's Choir climbs to the upper reaches of falsetto with its chilling polyphonies, while the Tuvan trio of "throat singers" known as Huun Huur Tu descend into the seemingly bottomless well of the male baritone with its sustained overtones and eerie sygyts -- a high whistling overtone that sounds like a far-away flute. Tuvans and Bulgarians are descended racially, linguistically and musically from Central Asian nomadic tribes, and the extended ballad forms upon which this music is based are also common to Russians and European Jews. The title track opens the disc with a melody based on two songs, one Tuvan one Bulgarian; the drone of the igil (a two-stringed Tuvan fiddle) and the sustained notes of the soloists create a deeply melancholy feel, a kind of Mongolian blues. On "Legend" and "Lonely Bird," Huun Huur Tu provides the bottom for the solo flights of the Bulgarians. "Wave," one of the most impressive songs, is a free improvisation based on three tones, and brings to mind Stockhausen's "Song of the Youths," proving that at least on some occasions, tradition and modernism are the same thing.

Music and history

Since the pioneering efforts of Philip Koutev, many Bulgarian composers have used their country's traditional music as a foundation for arrangements or as a stylistic tool-box for their compositions. Lacking the written tradition of Western art music, this process has given rise to a truly Bulgarian contemporary musical expression.

Take, for example, the remarkably daring atonal harmonies and most sophisticated sound figures, that Ivan Spasov's (one of the leading Bulgarian composers and musicologists) has worked into his composition "Mechmetico", without denying his Bulgarian roots. Equally remarkable is the fact that this piece is enthusiastically applauded by audiences which, under different circumstances, would not come near avant-garde music. This is the actual mystery of the Bulgarian Voices: the natural and matter-of-fact way in which styles, times and traditions converge in their music. Simply a miracle.

Bulgarian vocal music is traditionally performed by women. Two groups of singers or two soloists alternate and complement one another. Probably the most distinctive feature of Bulgarian music is its immense rhythmical and metrical variety. It is not unusual to find combinations of asymmetrical meters such as 5/8, 7/8, 15/8, or 17/8 with symmetrical meters, or even with one another.

There is also a great variety in the scales. Diatonic scales predominate but in the Rhodope mountains, for example, pentatonic scales occur, in Thracia chromatic scales with augmented intervals are sung (similar to the music of Classical Greece). Also, the intonation varies, and is quite different from the modern Western equal temperament. Depending on whether the melody moves up or down, an interval can augment or decrease by a quarter tone.

A music teacher schooled in Western singing techniques would be shocked by these strange vocal systems - it's all wrong ! Not one single tone is supported by abdominal breathing. The singers' intonation seems to have slid way back into the narrowness of the throat. Their timbre sounds sharp, sometimes even metallic, the changing of registers hard and cracked. They hardly even open their mouths as one is taught to do when starting a forte. And anyway, how can you create such throaty sounds for so long without ruining your vocal cords ?

It's all right! These 24 women are doing this like their ancestors have done from time immemorial. The roots of their singing technique lies in the Orient of the middle ages, some even suspect in the Thracia of pre-Christian times. It is a technique of surprising qualities: the singers sound a forte with lightness and at the same time with trumpet-like power and clarity. Some tones even range as far down as a low tenor. As far as the wearing out of the vocal cords is concerned - in contrast to our opera singers the voices of the Bulgarian women singers still sound youthful and clear as a bell when they have passed the age of sixty."

The Bulgarian Voices - Angelite are 24 singers from all different parts of Bulgaria who have been trained in traditional Bulgarian music as well as in Western art music. They are able to merge the tone color and vocal techniques of the Bulgarian traditional music with the complex musical structures of new compositions. Thus it is often difficult to determine, whether Angelite is a classical or a folk choir - perhaps the Bulgarian Voices are more than the sum of both traditions. Concert tours have taken the choir around the world to the USA, Mexico, Japan, India, and practically all Western European and Eastern European countries.

The Bulgarian Voices - Angelite have been working with the young Bulgarian conductor Nikolay Merdjanov since 1994 . Following his study of piano and conducting in Sofia and Italy he received his diploma from the music academy in his home town of Plovdiv. As conductor of the mixed Choir Of Bulgaria, Merdjanov has won numerous international choir competitions in Austria, Germany and Italy. He has won the first prize in the competition of the choirs twice - in Nentershausen, Germany, 1991, and in Varna, Bulgaria in 1993. Since 1994 he has been the conductor of The Bulgarian Voices - Angelite.

The Name

Until 1990, the voices of the best female choir singers in all of Bulgaria were monopolized by the national Bulgarian television and radio stations in the capital city Sofia. Whenever a choir undertook concert tours abroad, it appeared under a French name, sometimes with a subtitle: ”Bulgarian State Radio Choir,” ”Bulgarian State TV Choir” or ”Bulgarian Women’s Choir.”

Between 1988 and 1993 the Bremen record company JARO Medien GmbH organized the choir’s world-wide tours and published various CDs under the French name.

The end of Socialist rule and the opening of the borders made it possible for the members of the choir to form various groups, and for these groups to perform abroad. Naturally, each of these groups used the French name with which the foreign public was already familiar. In 1994 the choir which was in the employ of the radio and television companies split up. Part of the original group organized itself as a cooperative and hired its long-time manager Tanja Andreeva to conduct its business. This choir decided to continue its close cooperation with JARO Medien.

Due to the increasing confusion and disputes that arose in connection with the name (three different Bulgarian choirs were now performing under the original French name), this choir decided in 1995-96 to choose a new name for itself, a name which would be protected by a world-wide copyright and which would provide it with an unmistakable identity. Since then, ”The Bulgarian Voices ANGELITE” has recorded three new CDs with JARO; further projects are planned for the coming years. Not only is this choir widely recognized for the quality and professionality of its work. ANGELITE’s openness for collaborations with musicians from other cultures and its readiness to venture onto new musical paths — in addition to its cultivation of a repertoire of traditional and contemporary Bulgarian songs — are characteristics which set it apart from the masses of choirs.

Three recordings were made by JARO before the establishment of the name ANGELITE. Since 1996 these CDs have been marketed exclusively under the choir’s new name. JARO has agreed not to use the French name any longer. All partners of JARO are bound to the same agreement, which is a prerequisite for any and all types of cooperation.

1987 The cooperation between JARO Medien and ANGELITE begins, sealed by contract on December 6, 1987.

1988 First concert tour and world-wide promotion by JARO. The choir, still bearing a French name, begins its triumphal procession. First CD release by JARO: ”Cathedral Concert” (JARO 4138-2).

1989 - 1991 Concert tours of Europe and the US. Conductor: Dora Hristova (3 years). Television appearances in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, France. Concerts for royal audiences in Holland and Denmark.

1991 Collaboration with the Munich musicologist Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff and the Early Music ensemble SARBAND on the CD ”Mystéres”.

1992 Collaboration with the Italian rock group Elio E Le Storie Tese; recording of the single ”Pipppero”. No. 1 Single Hit in Italy, Top 40 in the Netherlands. New conductor: Ivan Topalov (died in 1993). Music for a television commercial of the Spanish energy corporation ENDESSA.

Division into two choirs: one for radio, one for television. Bulgarian television signs a contract with the one half; the other half organizes itself as a collective. Cooperation with JARO continues: A new contract is made between JARO and the collective. Extensive concert tours throughout Europe.

1993 Interim conductor: Vanja Moneva (1993-94). Grammy nominations for two CDs: the pop album 'From Bulgaria with Love' (JARO 4165-2) and the live double-CD 'Melody, Rhythm & Harmony' (JARO 1993-2).

1994 New conductor: Nikolai Merdjanow. Three of the choir’s soloists (Nadka Karadjova, Anastassia Kostova, Kera Damianova) participate in a recording of the Fire Requiem ”Flamma Flamma” by Nicolas Lenz for Sony Belgium. First concerts in Alaska and Mexico.

1995 The choir receives a permanent new name: THE BULGARIAN VOICES ANGELITE. Production of music for a women’s campaign of Amnesty International, Italy. First concert tour of Japan. Collaboration with the Kodo drummers of the Sado islands.

Recordings with the overtone ensemble HUUN-HUUR-TU from the Central Asian republic of Tuva under the direction of the Russian pianist Mikhail Alperin and with the participation of the Russian singer Sergej Starostin.

1996 New conductor: Valentin Velkov. First concert in Istanbul, Turkey with Huun-Huur-Tu. Recordings with the American art-rock group UK. Concert at the gala event accompanying the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize in the National Theatre of Oslo. On this occasion collaboration with Norwegian Star-Saxophonist Jan Garbarek.

1997 Concert tours of Europe. Continuation of the project with Huun-Huur-Tu, Sergej Starostin and Mikhail Alperin’s Moscow Art Trio. Appearances at European festivals. September 7 concert on the Red Square of Moscow on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the City of Moscow in a program with Pavarotti. Recordings in the U.S. for a new CD with Huun-Huur-Tu and the Moscow Art Trio (December). November 17 - December 6 concert tour of America with 15 concerts. The enthusiastic audiences include American musicians such as Ry Cooder and Stevie Wonder, who announces his interest in future collaboration.

USA ’97: Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award 1997 - Best Classical Song: ”Wave” from the album ”Fly, Fly My Sadness” (JARO 4197-2), presented by the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America.

1998 Release of the CD ”Mountain Tale” by ANGELITE and the Moscow Art Trio with Huun-Huur-Tu. Concerts in Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany accompany this release. Premiere of a TV feature of three of the choir's singers in Belgium and Dutch chanels. World premiere of "Mercy For the Living – 1000 years of Orthodox church music" in Germany.

1999 Concert tours Europe, Release of Mercy For the Living – 1000 years of Orthodox church music. Cooperation with the Chieftains for their Christmas album 1999. TV production with multimedia artist André Heller for ORF, Austrian TV, in Marrakesh/Morocco. Concert at the Cultural capital of Europe 1999 in Weimar and 20 concerts at Edinburgh festival, Scotland; TV production for Polish state TV in Sopot, Poland, recordings & concerts with Spanish Flamenco Singer Enrique Morente.

2000 Concert tour in Spain including a Flamenco-mass at the famous Alhambre in Granada. Release of the CD Mountain Tale in Brazil. The release of a new "Best of" Album with Global Music in the US accompanies a concert tour in North America. Festival appearances in various European countries.