For singer, conductor, and vocal coach Neli Andreeva, promoting and interpreting Bulgarian folk music has long been a personal mission. She is also renowned for her work with various ensembles, including Nusha, the choir that she founded. The choir's latest album, Kitka Velita, Chestita (“A Blessed Posy of Wishes”), will be performed live in Sofia on 13 November. It features the first choral recordings of folk arrangements by the late Bulgarian folk singer, composer, conductor, and vocal pedagogue Stefka Kushleva (1938–2019).
Neli Andreeva tells us more:
"The album is a compilation of songs performed in Kushleva's eponymous stage production.The title references a Rhodope tradition in which young women cast bouquets into the water on a specific day to love-binding intention themselves to their chosen suitor.
The Nusha Choir has existed since 2012. We’ve navigated many challenges, celebrated countless memorable moments, and performed extensively abroad. We have created remarkable projects that still fill us with pride. Yet our latest project feels the most important and significant — it is, in many ways, my personal mission. With 30 years of musical experience and over a decade of leading this choir, I believe that we perform at a near-professional level, despite not all of our singers having received formal training. It is with great pride that I present Kitka Velita, Chestita. It has been with me for years — a deeply rooted dream waiting for the right moment to take shape.
I studied at the music school in Shiroka Laka, where Stefka Kushleva was the school principal at the time. I was in her final graduating class before she retired. It was an extraordinary time: an education not just in music, but also in art, perspective, and values. It was a place where we grew as people. This project is therefore more than just an album; it is the music of an entire generation. For us, and for me personally, it will be a lifelong mission to share with the world what she wanted to express. We are about to hear some truly magnificent masterpieces."
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