BNR's Daniela Goleminova talks to Nadezhda Nikolova, conductor of the Bulgapeya choir in Brussels:

"The idea came about quite suddenly, out of the blue. And like most good things happen "by chance", I say it in quotes, because there are no such things as coincidences. At a Bulgarian gathering, I sang with a girl I have worked with for many years and we have sung together, maybe for more than 30 years, and now she is in the choir, to my delight. We sang a few songs at this gathering and then the idea came about. It turned out that there were other Bulgarian women who really wanted to sing, but there was no one to bring them together. So, on March 21, 2019, they came, we liked each other and we started step by step. As soon as we got together, Covid separated us for two years. But we were very persistent and this energy that we created between us allowed us to stay together and rehearse online, which was not easy. But we used this time to accumulate a repertoire to work on," says the conductor.

Bulgapeya choir is the first such group of its kind in Belgium, as it quickly became known, and invitations for participation in concerts were not long in coming. Their repertoire includes songs from all the folklore regions of Bulgaria, so that the audience can experience the richness of rhythms and sounds of Bulgarian folk music to the fullest.

"We manage to cover all seven folklore regions in Bulgaria. It is interesting that we have the most songs from the Shoppe folklore region, because they are perhaps the most recognizable. And these are songs that are sung all over the world. If you look at "Ergen deda" or "Kaval sviri", how many choirs on the other side of the world are so enthusiastic about this type of music. Our audience is international, we also have many Bulgarians who come to our concerts", explains the conductor. 

"We have many Shoppe songs in our repertoire, but we also cover all folklore regions, trying to convey the characteristics that the region brings. Where there are more sharp mountains, the sound is sharper. In the Rhodopes, for example, the music itself slides along the ridges like waves over the mountain, as if on a slide. Then, if we go to the regions of Dobrudzha or Thrace, there is a flat field where only the wind gently shakes the fields of wheat. Here, we are trying to convey these different characteristics of the folk song and what brings the magic of the different folklore regions in Bulgaria. Although we do not have professional musicians in the formation, we do this with the greatest attention and love that we are capable of. I think this reaches the audience as well," Nadezhda Nikolova believes.

"We had about thirty suggestions for names. Each of us had the right to say - this is what I want, this is what I like. And everyone could vote for three of the names that she did not propose. And so Bulgapeya gathered the most votes. For six years now we have been carrying the name and making the magic of Bulgapeya happen."

Looking back, conductor Nadezhda Nikolova says that at the beginning there were some ten women in Bulgapeya, but six years later the formation already unites 21 singers.

"In recent years, three or four girls have joined, who quickly entered not only the singing part, but also what we have as friendship and relationships. I am very careful when selecting singers. Of course, singing is what guides me, whether the person can become part of our formation or not, but it is extremely important for me to feel their personality," shares the leader of the Bulgapeya choir.

One of the biggest musical challenges for Bulgapeya is their joint work with the world-famous Belgian pianist and composer Daniel Verstappen.

"The former ambassador of Bulgaria put us in touch with him. The first joint arrangement we did together was for "Vecheryai, Rado". Something very interesting came out. Just two months later we had a joint concert with him and the singer Nina Nikolina in Ghent. It was brilliant as a challenge, like a new kind of music with a full orchestra. Then we did a Christmas concert with him, which also included church music. This is the biggest challenge we have been given so far. Because we try to sing folklore the way it is sung in Bulgaria, and the classical staging of the voice and sound extraction is something completely different, and it was a very big challenge for us to be able to enter that genre, to convey the atmosphere and emotion of the other music", says Ms. Nikolova. 

We understand from her that there is no shortage of meetings with the audience - the singers are on stage almost every month.

The concerts of Bulgapeya draw an international audience - people who simply like Bulgarian folklore: 

"For me, the biggest token of appreciation is when a foreigner comes crying after our performance and says "I don't know exactly what happened and what the song is about, but you touched me in a very special way". Our audience is truly international, because Brussels is a city where there are people of all nationalities and Bulgarian folklore touches their souls. Many of them have already heard what Bulgarian song and dance folklore means. And they come out of pure curiosity, but they leave enriched, because our music is magical", says Nadezhda Nikolova.

After numerous concerts in Belgium and participation in international festivals abroad, her dream is for Bulgapeya to have a concert in Bulgaria one day, where "even the walls help":

"It would be a great pleasure for me if we could one day set foot on the Bulgarian stage", shares Nadezhda Nikolova. "But you in Bulgaria have wonderful choirs of this type. So, go to such concerts, because it is energizing, it gives a lot!" advises Nadezhda Nikolova, who together with the other ladies from Bulgapeya choir are ambassadors of the magic of Bulgarian folk songs to the audience in the heart of Europe.