Bulgarian culture made it into the pop music limelight a few years back with “Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares,” which won a Grammy for the Sofia Women’s Radio Choir in 1994. The late Philip Koutev, an arranger, composer and educator, was instrumental in implementing a folk revival in Bulgaria as early as 1951 when he formed the folk ensemble that bears his name. Ensemble Philip Koutev, on its first American tour since 1963, performed at the Irish American Heritage Center on Monday night, offering a Cook’s tour of the dance and musical styles of their homeland in the process.
The 24-member ensemble is actually three groups: a six-piece folk orchestra, a 12-person dance troupe and a six- piece women’s choir. The choir opened the performance with an unaccompanied version of “Tudora Lay Down,” probably the most famous Bulgarian folk tune. The Koutev choir’s rendition captured much of what is distinctive about Bulgarian vocal music: round tones, a blast of audio energy and rapid, unexpected shifts between complex time signatures.
The remainder of the troupe collaborated on the next piece, “Varnenski Dance,” a slow, stately piece from northeastern Bulgaria. The orchestra provided tonal and textural variety with its juxtaposition of a bass drum, two gadulkas (vertical fiddles), a tambura (Bulgarian mandolin), a piercing gaida (or bagpipe) and a kavel, the distinctive long, end-blown Bulgarian flute. As the orchestra played a slow, sinuous melody, the dancers came out and performed a slow, vigorous piece in which the men emphasized high steps and kicks and the women’s parts were more intricate and understated.
Later, the vocal ensemble performed a set of tunes from the Shope region of western Bulgaria that sounded almost medieval, and demonstrated their virtuoso ability to blend different timbres of vibrato to create a rich, unearthly vocal tapestry.
The dance troupe closed the first half with a fast paced, intricate piece that concluded with a dazzling eastern European variant on the cancan.
An added bonus to the evening’s program was a performance by artistic director Theodosii Spassov, the country’s most famous kaval virtuoso, and pianist Mario Grigorov.
The duo’s self-described “jazz-folk” set included a wild version of “Caravan,” which resembled a jam session between Ian Anderson and Thelonious Monk.
The small but enthusiastic crowd that experienced Ensemble Philip Koutev on Monday night saw a young, vigorous troupe that is successfully interpreting their country’s music and dance traditions for contemporary audiences.
