Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria Choir of Ensemble "Pirin" A Portrait of Nikolai Kaufman

In this album, some of Bulgaria's best and internationally acclaimed choirs represent the art of Mr. Nikolai Kaufman, Ph.D., Professor and Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Science.

His choir songs - well over 2000 - are well known in Bulgaria and abroad. Mr. Kaufman's arrangements are included in the four best-selling albums of the Swiss producer Marcel Cellier, entitled "Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares".

In this album, the fan of Bulgarian music will find some of his best choir songs, performed live by three of the finest Bulgarian choirs at his 70th Anniversary Concert, which celebrated the lifetime dedication of Mr. Kaufman to the research, conservation and development of Bulgarian folklore.

These songs were performed on various stages across Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia. The brilliant performance of the singers, the conductor and the participation of the composer himself, as well as the emotional presence of the audience, bring pure enjoyment to the listener of this unique recording.

Each track is a history; each track is a destiny and a confession. The songs come from different regions of Bulgaria and are loaded with different emotional content - they are tragic, funny, danceable, and joyful. Some of them are centuries old, as is the opening track, originally called "Build-in Bride", which tells the story of a skilled bridge-builder who followed an ancient legend and buried alive his young bride in the fundaments of a bridge just to make it stronger.
"Trendafilcheto" has a totally different mood - it is a dance game-play between a boy and a girl and the rhythm is so complicated that a computer is needed to measure it.

During his numerous journeys across Bulgaria, Nikolai Kaufman recorded more than 30 000 folk songs. He was the first to explore the music of some of the minorities living in Bulgaria, especially the Jewish. On this recording you can hear the original version of the "Tryptich" - Sephardic songs about birth, life and death. Mr. Kaufman explored the polyphony, the genres and the specific features of folk music. His analysis and research works are well known worldwide. His deep involvement in folklore is the base of his fantastic arrangements - when recording a song he experiences it, cherishes it like his own child and, finally, transforms it in a most amazing way. His compositions carry the spirit of the Bulgarian countryside where people sing and dance on various occasions - holidays, weddings, birthdays, funerals, or while they work in the field. The universality of Nikolai Kaufman's compositions as recorded in this live album will involve every listener.