GO TO MELNIK! If you enjoy history, folklore, and ancient music like I do, then I can heartily recommend "Leb I Vino" (bread and wine in English)--they are two artists (Jane and Elena) that have dedicated their lives to the old ways. We found them on http://www.lebivino.melnik1.com, and we met them at their workshop, filled with beautifully hand-crafted paintings/icons/etc. in Melnik. Jane in particular has a deep knowledge and love of the history of Melnik, Bulgaria, and Macedonia, and Elena can translate into English and French. Their music is wonderful, they craft all their instruments themselves, and the music is of a very different style than anything I've heard before. The rhythms are
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GO TO MELNIK! If you enjoy history, folklore, and ancient music like I do, then I can heartily recommend "Leb I Vino" (bread and wine in English)--they are two artists (Jane and Elena) that have dedicated their lives to the old ways. We found them on http://www.lebivino.melnik1.com, and we met them at their workshop, filled with beautifully hand-crafted paintings/icons/etc. in Melnik. Jane in particular has a deep knowledge and love of the history of Melnik, Bulgaria, and Macedonia, and Elena can translate into English and French. Their music is wonderful, they craft all their instruments themselves, and the music is of a very different style than anything I've heard before.
The rhythms are unconventional (not 1-2-3-4), their voices are magical, even though Elena was recovering from a sore throat, she was still impressive! We spent a day with them, learned all about Yani Sandanski, saw his house in Melnik, and in the evening, they dressed in traditional costume and sang and danced for us while we tucked into traditional Bulgarian food. The whole experience was magical--we spent 2 weeks in Bulgaria, but the day we spent with Jane and Elena was far and away the best!
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