‘Her song is floating across the endless space and here on earth it fills in huge lawns and concert halls, spreading from Stockholm to Madrid, from NY to Los Angeles and from London to Tokyo. Those see standing applause by the audience, spelled by the magic voice that touches the human heart. Her song symbolizes love and eternity.’ These are words of Prof. Dr. Dora Hristova, a conductor of the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices Choir. The Rhodope singing style of Nadezhda Hvoineva leaves no man insensitive. She was said to be ‘a bright star on the sky of folklore’ and her voice was determined as ‘heavenly miraculous’. In 1988 the American music critics proclaimed her The Greatest Alt on the Planet.

The professional path of Nadezhda Hvoineva was breathtaking. Her singing started with songs for the family, village fests and gatherings in her native Levochevo. She went through community centers, concert tours with the Nasha Pesen /Our Song/ band, alongside Boris Mashalov, Radka Kushleva and Gyurga Pindzhurova, in order to finally reach the music studios and the Folklore Ensemble of the BNR. Being a singer and soloist of the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices Choir she won the hearts of the fans at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center in the USA, Barbican Hall in London, Olympia in Paris etc. Her voice has sounded in hundreds of concerts on 5 continents, bringing world recognition to the singer. In 2001 Hvoineva entered the Woman of the Year rankings of the US Biographical Institute for exceptional contribution to global art. Her rendition of the Izlel e Delyo Haidutin cosmic song was included by Ennio Morricone in the soundtrack of The Bible: In the Beginning movie. As of 2002 the village of Nadezhda Hvoineva has held a young talent contest, named after her and her renditions. The singer received posthumously the Honorable Citizen of Smolyan recognition.

Here is what daughter of Nadezhda Hvoineva - Elichka Krastanova said on the occasion of the 80^th birth anniversary of the famous singer, marked this year:

“I would like to say first that she was a wonderful, loving mom, despite her busy schedule. I have always received lots of love and warmth from her. Her legacy was: love for family and friends, only good for the rest of people. Professionally she wanted to be a decent person, showing loyalty towards her colleagues, recognizing their successes with the feeling of joy for them. Everyone in our family sings and plays instruments. Her uncle Asparuh was a great bagpipe player; her cousin Todor Borisov played the accordion; the other Todor, Asparuh’s son also did that. All Rhodope people sing, songs are in their hearts. I felt really thrilled anytime when she started her solo of Stani Mi, Maicho /Get Up, Mom/ with the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices. She would step up a meter or two in front of the choir and within a second of silence one could feel some special spiritual connection between mom and the audience. Everyone held their breath and when she started to sing the people closed their eyes. After the song’s end a second of silence would follow and all of a sudden the applause would burst out…”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev