Favorite Eastern European songs
Dec. 4th, 2019 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniacastiron asked about favorite Eastern European songs.There is such a variety to Eastern European music, it's hard to pick favorites. Also, my favorites change over time, and vary depending on whether I'm listening or singing or dancing to them (or all three at once).
I tend to like multi-part Bulgarian songs in complex rhythms, so here are some of those.
Filip Kutev's "Dumaj, Zlato," sung by American group The Pennywhistlers. This is the recording I grew up with, and it's dear to my heart. Singing it is both fun and difficult because the high and low parts overlap with complicated timing.
Filip Kutev's "Što Si Goro," sung by Bulgarian group Elitsi.
Trio Bulgarka are fantastic performers of songs from all over Bulgaria. Here's their full album, cued to "Melaj Dojna." The whole album is worth listening to.
Different recordings of a song can sound wildly different. Here are three versions of a song from Kosovo, "Marijo, Deli Bela Kumrijo" by Jordan Nicolić. I like all of them and would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite.
Here's the original recording with Jordan Nicolić singing.
This one is sung by Grupa Iskon iz Subotice. I like the harmonies they added under the melody.
This one is sung by Braca Teofilovic, the brothers (twins) Teofilovic. I like watching their gestures as they sing, and how their voices blend, and how they play with rhythm as the melody joins and veers away from the steady drone.
Did you respond strongly to one or more of these? Do you have your own favorite Eastern European songs? Please share in comments!
