A DAY IN THE LIFE
OF A FOLK SINGER
“SINGING IS A WAY
Dr. Ksenia
Kisselincheva
During the
glasnost era, back in 1989, the “Outlook” broadcast of the Russian TV was
frenetically popular throughout the ex-Soviet Union
and in this country as well. Whenever it was on, everybody was glued to the TV,
intoxicated with the exhilarating sensation of freedom, from which we had been
banished for so long. Once they showed the soldiers, returning home from the
war in Afghanistan
Now I am sitting opposite her on a canvas
chair in her garden in Boyana while she is trimming down the rose bushes and
weeding the flower beds. I don’t need to
ask why she loves flowers and roses, in particular. I already know that she
grew up in a village in the Thracian valley among vineyards, meadows and wheat
fields. One day, she remembers, when she was four, she got into one of those
barrels where the grape is crushed and she started singing a folk song which
she had picked up from her granny. Suddenly all the neighbors who overheard her
singing, stopped going about their daily hustle and listened breathless. Later,
a cousin of Stefka’s asked her grandma: “What was it you played on the
gramophone this afternoon?” The old woman wondered since she didn’t remember to
have played the record player at that particular time. Then, she realized it
must have been little Stefka and she joked: ‘It must have been that little
rascal Stefka’. I spanked her for having got into the grape barrel. One minute
I heard her singing and the next minute she was crying for help since she
couldn’t get out.”
It all sounds
like “ad improviso” launching of a budding talent. The neighbours would
occasionally hear the little girl singing and they would listen for a while
forgetful of their daily concerns. Years passed by and on a hectic harvest day
suddenly heavenly vibrations would pierce the white hot air. It was Stefka once
again, already grown into a shy doe-eyed maiden, helping with the harvest and
singing, her song soaring into the sky... Later she was singled out by the
great maestro of folklore, Philip Koutev. Singled out among hundreds of
applicants. She joined the ensemble-she felt herself to be very lucky to make a
living out of what came as naturally to her as breathing. Though it took a lot
of effort before the rough diamond turned into a polished one. Before the local prodigy turned into a
distinguished professional. But sometimes she was rebellious and she disobeyed
the maestro. So she formed a duet with Tinka Pesheva, another folk singer, and
they started touring the country. The maestro violently disapproved of the
‘tertza’ singing technique which was widely practiced in the Macedonian region.
But still they were widely applauded and were continually booked for new
performances. The success won them the envy of some colleagues who “reported”
them to the maestro and consequently they were punished by cuts in their salary
and by not being nominated for honorary titles. The album which was released in
1963 contains a good selection of their joint repertoire and most of the songs
proved to be evergreens in the long run. The tunes and the wording of the songs
are genuine gems from the treasury of Thracian folklore-they are tales of the
trials and tribulations of slavery and of the indomitable national spirit which
not only endured but prevailed. ..
The sun is
sinking behind the lush-green slopes of the Vitosha mountain, the tinkling of
bells signals the return of the goats in the neighbour’s yard, mingled with the
occasional barking of street mongrels. Stefka has offered me to taste her
home-made jelly and she can’t help sharing with me her concern about the ever
falling standards of national history teaching at schools and the decline in
national pride. “I would like to appeal to mothers, to find the time to educate
their children to love the national heritage and to cherish their ancestors’
customs and traditions.”
But at the same
time she is fully aware of the difficulties that women face at
present-unemployment, insecure income, lack of resources to raise even one
child. She told me she hadn’t seen a pregnant woman for quite a while and when
she met one on the street she felt like hugging her and exclaiming admiringly:
“What a brave little woman you are!”
We are back on
the track again-Stefka is showing me her latest album whose promotion took
place a month ago at the NDK. It aims at bringing folk music close to the young
generation and it combines in a very unusual way electronic music in the style
of funk dance with some Thracian songs, based on ancient legends. Stefka
fervently believes that folk music, like anything else in life, should change
and develop in order to survive. ”Look at Greek folk music, she says-it is
played everywhere, it is loved by young and old alike, it is part of their
culture and national identity...” So, my companion felt greatly reassured when
the new compact disc made its way into some discos and it was repeatedly played
on radio music programs. While she watched some young people dance to it she
almost cried with joy. But she is poignantly aware it would be a long and hard
battle to make a breakthrough in the hearts of the young, so obsessed with
Western music.
I want to hear
the story of her international hit “from the horse’s mouth”. Stefka is somewhat
reluctant to discuss it, it must still be painful for her but at the same time
this experience is too important for her to keep quiet about it.” It all
happened in the mid-sixties when I worked for the National Radio Ensemble-she
starts reminiscing-and then I had a song recorded, called “The Mountain Turned
Round”, drawn from my grandmother’s repertoire. It was heard by a Swiss
producer Marcel Selliers at an international festival in Bratislava Montreal ” dealt with the Mafia in Eastern Europe . If
you happen to drop in at the Melrose music shop
in Hollywood
And Stefka, who is so down-to-earth and sober,
in spite of her world- wide fame,
passionately believes that there are other songs in her repertoire, deserving
to become international hits. One among them is the ‘Han Tatar’ song from her
latest album, based on a 17th century legend. And she also believes the music
arrangement done by Angel Andonov is no less impressive than the one done by
Jacques Anounas.
It was getting a
bit cool in the garden so we moved inside and I asked her if she had any time
for teaching the young. She exclaimed:
”Oh, my dear, I
wish I had more time to teach the young. I am really time-squeezed between
rehearsals, performances and recordings I hardly have enough time for this
highly responsible job.” And Stefka showed me the photo of a pupil of hers - Vesselka
who is only ten years old and comes to her teacher’s house during the school
holidays. “Let’s hope something will come out of her. As for myself, I wouldn’t
have become what I am if I hadn’t met Philip Koutev at the right time. I owe to
him most of what is best in me as a professional.” She is a lot more than just a good
professional, she is a world-famous star and there is a heavenly star in the
Alriga constellation named after her. Alongside with Frank Sinatra and Elvis
Presley...
But, as she
claims, she is more of a down-to-earth person than a celebrity. To confirm
this statement, Stefka points at a pair
of leather shoes, hung on the wall opposite the fire-place and says in a
half-joking manner: “I keep these peasant shoes in front of my eyes to always
remind me of where I come from.” And she loves to go back to her native place
and to sing at family gatherings and to share memories of “the good old days.”
While browsing through her photo album with mementos from her international
touring, I asked which place she liked most of all. She did not hesitate to say
it was China
Apart from
gardening, Stefka has another favourite pastime - hunting. Last winter she went
to the Rousse region and she enjoyed it all tremendously - they were lucky to
hit a couple of wild pigs. She showed me her 16-calibre hunting rifle-while she
was handling it she reminded me of those brave women who fought the Turks
alongside with men. There are legends and songs dedicated to them. From my childhood I have remembered the one
about Sirma Voivoda. A beautiful tune permeated with tragic sadness. I was
tempted to ask Stefka if she would sing the song to me. And she started singing,
singing as natural to her as breathing. It’s her magic wand which helps her escape
from her daily cares and to soar high and afar as carefree as a lark at
dawn...
Sofia Western
News, 1998
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