Po Drum Mome/A Girl on the Road

London-based Bulgarian singer Eugenia Georgieva presents an exploration of Bulgarian song with this album, having already established herself as a leading exponent of her genre with ensembles such as the Perunika Trio – a highly acclaimed a capella group that performs Bulgarian and pan-Slavic songs. This, her first solo album, covers the joys and sorrows of village life: these include a rite of passage involving a dragon-like beast, a nightingale that guards a poisoned spring, and a girl who confesses her fears to a rose bush.

She is accompanied by a choice selection of adept instrumentalists on various string and wind instruments such as kaval (flute) and gadulka (a fiddle played on the lap with many sympathetic strings). Although there are a few sparser solo sections, such as on the plaintive ‘Trugnala Rada’, the ensemble create a rich polyphony and, as is typical of Balkan music, the tonal palette comprises many more colours than are often found further west. With microtonal decoration and complex time signatures that people outside Bulgaria might find reminiscent of the legendary 1975 album Le Mystère de Voix Bulgares, this album, with grace and panache, brings the mystery to a fresh audience.