Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: The Rhodope folk song "Rufinka bolna legnala"

There are many folk songs from the Rhodope Mountains known to every Bulgarian. Perhaps the most popular in the world is "Izlel e Delyo hydutin" - traveling through the universe as a musical message from Earth. The song "Bela sam, bela yunache" is considered the anthem of the Bulgarian Rhodope Mountains. Other songs hugely loved by Bulgarians are "Devoiko, mari hubava", "Ripni, Kalinke", or "Pustoto ludo i mlado".

"Izlel e Delyo Haydutin" – the Bulgarian cosmic tale

But there is one folklore masterpiece that became well-known after the release of a film - it is entitled The End of the Song (original title "Краят на песента") filmed in 1971 by director Milen Nikolov based on the short story Ibryam Ali by Bulgarian writer Nikolay Haitov. The impossible love between Ali and Naime, in which the death of the beautiful girl is followed by the ambush murder of her beloved, ends with the song that Ali loves the most – "Rufinka bolna legnala" (translated as "Rufinka lies ill").

Katya Paskaleva and Vasil Mihaylov in a scene from the film The End of the Song

Rufinka's story is based on true events. The young girl lived more than 150 years ago in the Rhodope village of Poprelka. Its name means "sedyanka - a traditional gathering where young people in the village would work, sings songs, make jokes".

The village of Poprekla is located in the municipality of Smolyan in the Western Rhodopes, 35 kilometers from the town and can only be reached by a dirt road from the neighbouring village of Kremene. Today, only 10 people live in Poprelka – without a shop, doctor, pharmacy, or a pub.

But the village is quite famous because the young maiden Rufinka from the eponymous song was born there. Her original name is Rufie, which translates to "exalted", and her surname is Chakalova. Rufie is the embodiment of the wonderful Rhodope woman – beautiful, kind and hardworking. She falls in love with a wonderful young man – Asan Kichukov from the neighbouring village of Nadartsi. The two are from wealthy families, there are no obstacles to their love, an engagement follows. However, shortly afterwards, Rufie is struck down by a strange, incurable disease and dies a few months later.

The grave of Rufie Chakalova near the village of Poprelka

According to the lyrics of the song, the bedridden Rufinka asks her mother if she can give her trousseau to another girl who will replace her next to the man she loves. It is a splendid spring outside, and the girl feels how the earth is calling her… Rufie’s parents leave for Turkey shortly after her death, two years later her mother passes away.

According to legend, the rare flower "white kandilka" appeared (or was planted by her mother) on the girl’s grave. This flower is found nowhere else in the region. It grows only near the final resting place of the beautiful Rufinka from the Chakalski clan, from which there are no heirs left in Bulgaria.

The gravestone of the young Rhodope woman was discovered by the blossoms of the white kandilka. The place was cleared and a rock was placed, made by Smolyan stonemasons, with the lyrics of the song that tell the story of Rufie.

Locals claim that her fiancé Asan Kichukov lived for 100 years. Their unrequited love turns into a sad song elegy, especially touching in interpretations of Rhodope singers such as the famous Veselin Dzhigov.

Born in 1940 in the village of Kutela near Smolyan under the name Feim Dzhigov, the heir to a great singing family was a long-time soloist of the famous Vievska folk group.

Veselin Dzhigov was popular with songs such as "Chereshka rod rodila", "Eat and drink", "Weep, forest, weep", "Plientse, pastro slaveiche", "Stani, devoyko, pogledni" and "Rado, mari Rado", but the undisputed height in his repertoire is "Rufinka bolna legnala", which with his magnificent, deep voice sounds majestic and deeply touching.

The masterpiece of the Rhodope Mountain "Rufinka bolna legnala" is also known in the beautiful arrangement of the great Bulgarian composer Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, but the most impressive is the spell-binding version of his colleague Stefan Dragostinov.

For two decades - from 1974 to 1994, Stefan Dragostinov was the conductor, chief artistic director and director of the National Folklore Ensemble "Philip Koutev". An important highlight in his work is the large-scale project "Anthology of Bulgarian Folklore - Sound Icons of Bulgaria and the Key to the Mystery", which was launched in 1994 together with the choir formation "Dragostin Folk National" created by the composer.

The choir has released 11 albums, the first of which bears the name of Rufinka.

In 2007, in the capital of South Korea, among artists nominated from all over the world, the international World Music committee honoured Stefan Dragostinov with the title of World Master "for outstanding achievements in the field of traditional music". His author's style is defined by specialists as "a vivid synthesis between national musical tradition and modern composing technologies", and his arrangement of "Rufinka bolna legnala" is an incredible polyphonic canvas, recreated with astonishing perfection by the singers of Dragostin Folk National choir..

Next is the performance of the song from 1971 in the film The End of the Song - here the song is performed by the great Bulgarian actor Vasil Mihaylov:

Explore more episodes in Radio Bulgaria's series presenting the Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture:

Photos: smolyan.bg, bnf.bg, irodopi.bg, bg.wikipedia.org, Stefan Dragostinov's private archive

English publication: R. Petkova

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Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: The Rhodope folk song "Rufinka bolna legnala"

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