Dandûrzhaven ansambandûl za narodni pesni i tantsi Struma – Kyustendil]

Shiri, Boyano, oroto (play widely the horo, Boyano)
Temenuga bile brala (Temenuga picked charming herbs)
Izgrela e yasna zvezda (a bright star has risen)
Rano mi e slûntse ogreyalo (the sun has risen early)
Bozhano, mome Bozhano (Bozhana, maiden Bozhana)
Kyustendilska syuita
Nayda odi po poleto (Naida roamed the field)

Tsûfnalo e gyulche (a little rose has blossomed)
Snoshi mi e Yaninka rodila (last night Yaninka gave birth)
Zagukala gurgulitsa (a turtledove cooed)
Snoshti si poydox s konya (last night I fetched water with my horse)
Ya day, mome, na ludo voditsa (give this madcap some water, maid)
Sbirayte mi se, selyane (come gather, ye peasants)
Yela, sonche, ot Soluna (come from Thessalonica, Sunny)

Balkanton's releases are always expected as a pleasant surprise and one is looking forward to the novelties included in them.

The surprise in this case might be for those who would be first acquainted with the art of the Struma Ensemble and with all the pieces the present release contains.

For the Struma State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances this is also a kind of summing up since it covers their recent artistic achievements and takes a close look at their future activities.

Wherever there is talk about the Ensemble from the town of Kyustendil, the name of its founder and present artistic director Nikola Vuchkov is invariably mentioned, a name universally respected in these parts of the country.

Born in a peasant family in the Prilep region, having worked in different cultural establishments in the Pirin and Kyustendil regions, cradled in the traditions of local folklore, having taken part in the Fatherland Liberation War, up to the present day he has been actively contributing for the development and increasing popularity of Bulgarian folk music art.

Nikolai Vuchkov has an original talent and possess a profound knowledge of folk art. He combines skillfully his efforts to preserve the authentic folk music and dances with the need to arrange them and to artistically interpret them.

It has been so since the very beginning, in the autumn of 1960, when an amateur folk ensemble with the Kyustendil People's Council was founded. Seven years later it became a body with the District People's Council. Years of artistic maturity and experience followed. For nearly fifteen years both directors and amateur performers have spared no efforts so that they should rank among the best professional ensembles in the country.

1975 marked a new stage in the history of the already professional ensemble. Talented composers, conductors, and choreographers got involved in the Ensemble's work, among them Filip Kutev, Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, Nikolai Kaufman, Kosta Kolev, Alexander Kokareshkov, Kiril Djenev, Kiril Haralampiev, and Ivan Todorov were some of the most active ones. Then followed years of staff consolidation and searching for such means of expression that are to secure an original repertoire and the Ensemble's own style of performance. It is quite typical of the Ensemble that the women singers in the choir, divided into groups or as soloists, can perform with equal effect both arranged and authentic songs. The same criteria must have been applied by the Ensemble's conductor Boyan Nankov when choosing the instrumentalists for the orchestra. Besides their basic function of accompanying the choir, another of their tasks is to propagate the instrumental music of the region.

The "Struma" State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances is among the youngest in this country, yet the results of their activities deserve due respect. In this connection the Ensemble's chief choreographer Evgeni Vuchkov said: "We have been keeping to the well-established and traditional concert forms so far ... It was necessary to do so. Things have changed nowadays – besides our basic concern to preserve the cultural heritage, we must seek an all-round synthesis between the Ensemble's three units so that we could build up overall dramatic productions..."

Finally I would add Filip Kutev's message: "I'd like to remind the members of the Kyustendil Ensemble that it is their main duty to trace back, preserve and promote the art of singing and dancing and the music not only of the Kyustendil region but of a large part of Southwestern Bulgaria." – Ivan Marin

Recorded 1985 from the sound collection of the Blagoevgrad Radio and Television Centre.