Ex Omnibus Linguis Reviews of
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Bulgarian
Reviews by
Claire Levy, Sofia

Bulgarski Folklor 
(Bulgarian Folklore)
Bulgarsko Muzikoznanie (Bulgarian Musicology) Ethnologia Bulgarica

Bulgarski Folklor (Bulgarian Folklore)
ISSN 0323-9861

Review in RPM#29 (Winter 1999/2000)

1998, vol. XXIV, no. 1-2, pp. 132-141
Lozanka Peycheva
"Gypsiness" and Bulgarian Indentity

A critical discussion on the "gypsiness", related to the music of the wedding bands and often seen as a sign of "otherness" and a danger for destroying the "own" in national values. The article debates ideologically charged, racist attitudes to the Gypsies' contribution in construction of Bulgarian identity.

Bulgarsko Muzikoznanie (Bulgarian Musicology)
ISSN 0204-823X

Review in RPM#27/28 (Winter/Spring 1998/1999)

1997, vol. XXI, no. 4, pp. 20-37 (summary in English)
Lyubomir Kavaldzhiev
"Contemporary Music and Computer Equipment:
Basic Terms and Analysis of their Usage in Bulgaria"

The terminology related to two spheres of subjects is treated from the point of view of contemporary musicology: a/ music sound (as an important type of expressive means and a key term in contemporary musical culture); b/ electronic music instruments and devices (as an essential part of the instruments and acoustic equipment used today). The article explores the usage of these terms both in Bulgaria over the last 10-15 years and in the modern world musical practice as well. It offers also - as far as the musical electronic instruments are concerned - an extensive study of terms like synthesiser, keyboard, MIDI, samplers, effect-processors, etc., alongside with some Bulgarian versions of the same terms.

1998, vol. XXII, no. 1, pp. 3-26 (summary in English):
Andrian Pervazov:
"Shamans and Computers:
Electroacoustic Music and the Traditional Musical Culture".

The article examines the approaches of electroacoustic music (EAM) to the music of traditional cultures (world music) and the resulting cultural synthesis and interactions. Combining technological and aesthetic analysis in the context of a postmodern situation, the study presents intriguing and convincingly formulated arguments in terms of the emergence of a postmodern syncretism and a new oral tradition based on high technologies. It employs a large range of EAM genres and styles emerging in the 1980-s and the 1990s, from elite forms to rather commercial ones, to advocate a thesis according to which " the elements of traditional music (TM) transferred into the context of EAM undergo a semiotic translation as they are grafted in the new semantic environment". Some aspects of the relations between EAM and music folklore in Bulgaria are treated as well.

1998, vol. XXII, no. 4, pp. 33-49 (summary in English):
Claire Levy:
"Rap Interpretations in Bulgarian Context:
Urban Dialogues in the 1990s".

The study explores specific ways in which the globalized vocabulary of rap music has been localized in Bulgaria. Based on the cultural analysis, and more specifically on the dialogic approach to pop music history providing a more flexible theoretical framework and avoiding the limitations of the local/global category, it is an attempt to highlight one aspect of the multicultural interactions happening in a national space, traditionally exposed to the "arguing" influences of the "oriental" East and the "civilized" West. Rap acculturation is seen, among others, as a dynamic local manifestation motivated by the "joining-to-the-civilized-world" syndrome which has intensified one particular side of the intercultural dialogues, stimulating the movement of Bulgarians towards the Western values and still conceptualizing meanings, possible in the context of specific local realities.


Review in RPM#29 (Winter 1999/2000)

1999, vol. XXIII, no. 1, pp. 5-44 (summary in English)
Rosemary Statelova
Folk: Towards the Nature of the Phenomenon and Its Definition. 

The study is part of a project on contemporary musical terminology, discussing the genesis of folk in Bulgaria and its recent manifestations. It focuses on the shifting meanings of the term according to different social and cultural circumstances in Bulgaria over the last decades.

1999, vol. XXIII, no. 1, pp. 45-57
Vencislav Dimov
On Some Ideological Aspects of Bulgarian Ethnopop Music. 

Seen as a specific Bulgarian and Balkan form of mass culture, ethno pop is interpreted in relation with issues of politics, national identity, and controversial ideology, observed in recent presentations of media, critics, audiences, musicians.

1999, vol. XXIII, no. 1, pp. 66-71
Claire Levy
A Viewpoint on Ethno pop.

The article targets some racist attitudes to recent "oriental" forms of ethno pop in Bulgaria, based on the idea of "pure" national culture. It looks for arguments in both music and linguistic local developments, illustrating eclectic, dialogical processes which have built a "multicultural culture" and questioned the existence of any cultural purism.

1999, vol. XXIII, no 1, pp. 71-80
Elissaveta Vulchinova-Chendova
Dances of Diko Iliev. 

On the occasion of his centennial anniversary the article portrays the Bulgarian composer Diko Iliev, whose famous folk dances (hora) written for brass bands illustrate one direction in the shift from rural to urban culture in Bulgaria. In a broader sense, the discussion tackles the problem of the "own-foreign" dialogue in the Balkan musical cultures.

1999, vol. XXIII, no. 3, pp. 80-87 (summary in English)
Claire Levy
Globalization, "Afroamericanization" and the New Sensitivity. 

Discussion on the process of "afroamericanization" observed along with the globalization in modern popular music. In the context of the cycle development of culture, the process is seen as a challenge in terms of the aesthetic values, established during the Enlightenment era, and as one bringing a new credit to sensitivity/collectivity on the expense of rationality/individuality in art.

Ethnologia Bulgarica · Yearbook of Bulgarian Ethnology and Folklore
(published in English) ISSN 1311-0918

Review in RPM#27/28 (Winter/Spring 1998/1999)

1998, vol. 1, pp. 93-106
Rosemary Statelova
Anita Kristy: A Gypsy Legend of Our Day

The article presents results of a case study of a 38-year-old Gypsy artist named Anita Kristy who for some years now has been at the threshold of the pop and folk stage in Bulgaria waiting to be heard as an activist of the new Gypsy revival. And while waiting, she is creating lyrics and music, recording songs, and preparing flamenco shows. But first of all, she is creating a selfmythologization of someone who is using the songs to convey a message: "I come in peace/ I've come to be with you/ A life and a path - a single truth./ I sense timid striving in your souls./ Caged up, freedom flutters its wings/ And love waits faithfully..." (from A. Kristy's album "Nomada III).]

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