Greetings and joy to each of you! I, Ramona, have the privilege of writing about Dunava's attendance and participation at the exclusive folk festival Koprivshitsa. The National Festival of the Bulgarian Folklore – Koprivshtitsa, named after the hosting town, in the Sredna Gora mountains of Bulgaria – occurs one weekend only every 5 years. Since 1965, this festival has offered a way for villagers and amateurs to sing, play music, dance, tell stories, reenact ancient customs, each year sharing local traditions with a larger country-wide audience. Performance groups first present their traditional material at local and regional competitions before being invited to the national stage. What started small has grown to become a folk-loving soul's homecoming for Bulgarians all over the country, the world-wide diaspora and even foreigners who feel a deep connection to this Balkan country. Bulgarian BNR news listed the number of this year's participants alone as over 7000, including 13 foreign groups, of which we were one. I cannot fathom how many spectators there were in addition to this number, but this certainly is no longer a small festival!
The historic Koprivshtitsa town runs along the Topolnitsa river. This channel bifurcates two halves of the town, and is peppered with older, arched, wooden and stone bridges, as well as larger bridges for truck and other transit. The heart of town is a large cobblestone square, where shops and restaurants nestled in stone and wood buildings of the Bulgarian Revival Architecture style surround a main stage, also nicknamed the Foreigners Stage. Immaculately restored museum houses dot cobbled streets, and many intersections host historic monuments dedicated to the significant part the town played in the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876.
Dunava was slated to perform on Friday night on the center stage. However, a few days before, we were shifted to Saturday night's first slot, giving us the benefit of being able to hear the succeeding foreign groups out of London, Washington D.C., Switzerland, etc. and putting us in the right area for the main attraction, the Nestinari, or Fire Walkers. (Note: I'm not sure if any of us was actually able to see the Nestinari, as the crowds were too dense. I did hear that a few ladies saw glimpses in other spectator's cell phones as visitors with lifted hands tried vainly to capture the moment!)
On Friday, we drove from Burgas on the Black Sea to Strelcha, a town lower in elevation but on the same road to Koprivshtitsa. Here we dropped off Gedney's family at the hotel and then hurried along as fast as the road and our driver would allow, in the hopes of viewing some of Friday's performances. After at least 4 police checks (where our driver somehow seemed to know everyone!) we were able to drive right to the center of town where our bus dropped us off.
In comparison to the next day, Friday was a breath of fresh air (quite literally as by the time we arrived and trekked up the hill to the stages, it was finally beginning to cool down). While the "main stage" is in the town center plaza, there are 6 more outdoor stages in the hills above town. Cars are prohibited, thankfully, so these are reached by a 20 minute walk up the hill.
Due to bus driver scheduling challenges, we were only able to stay about 2 hours. However, for me at least, those two hours were golden! Walking up to the hills felt a little like an unexpected class reunion where you were able to catch up with friends from many years ago. It seemed like I could walk only 100 meters before I saw a fellow dancer from the International Folk Dance scene around the United States, or a long-lost friend who I hadn't seen in years and didn't know would be at the festival, or even numerous well known Bulgarian dance teachers and singers who had traveled abroad to share their culture. Even more delightful were the Bulgarians from our local Seattle area who were familiar with Dunava already. I even met the woman who was my very first Balkan singing teacher who gave me my first lesson at age 17 and a family from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who was friends with a few of my high school classmates! What a beautiful surprise it all was! It really was a delight to spend a pleasant evening in such good company.
Now, on to the performances: What I personally saw on Friday in our very small time window was mostly dance from the Pernik region. I know some of the other Dunava ladies were able to find solo performances by several young singers (aged 9-13 perhaps?) who were showcasing their hard work and skill. (They are indeed incredible!)
With fewer crowds, we were able to get closer to the performances and take in the beauty of each village's distinct, traditional costume. The organizers of the festival have taken the opportunity to encourage village groups with unique, original, historic costumes, to showcase each piece and share the local nomenclature and function of the many elaborate parts that make up the traditional attire. I was very glad for this highlight of local treasure and craftsmanship, though I hear from friends that the price of costume pieces has skyrocketed to rich, tourist fare, in the hands of a few large collectors, and locals in need of particular pieces find them exceedingly difficult to come by.
On Saturday, the atmosphere was significantly different as the number of performer and spectators had more than doubled. All the stages were continuously filled with performances throughout the whole day, representing the villages around the cities of Sofia, Montana, Pleven, Vidin, Vratsa, Shumen, Dobrich, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Pazardzhik, Blagoevgrad, Ruse, Silistra and Razgrad. It was a very hot, sunny day and I found trying not to get dehydrated and stay rested for our own Saturday night performance quite a challenge.
Most stages are situated with slight hills in front of them, but none of these hills have trees to provide shade close enough to see or hear clearly, despite the amplification of each stage. This, in addition to the crowds, meant we often sat quite a ways away from the performers, just so we could last the whole day and still be in top shape to sing. The times I braved the heat to sit closer to a particular performance was worth it, though!
For me, highlights included many of the village acts near Blagoevgrad in the Pirin style of singing and dance, a choir from either Hadzhidimivo or Dolna Ribnitsa (correct ID needed from you internet sleuths and festival experts), a frula player with a Cacak dance tune, singers from village Reljovo near Samokov, and the women's choir from Satovcha. I also was able to see a delightful wedding reenactment from a 'Banat' folkloric village near either Vratsa or Vidin (I am not certain). This group danced a Csardas set to medleys on an accordion, and the bride's wedding dress was almost entirely embroidered in gold thread, rope, and sequins. I didn't get a photograph of her equally spectacular headpiece, but it too, was exceedingly ornate. Despite seeing all this, there were so many presentations that I wish I had been able to see! Next time...
By late afternoon, Dunava's members had to make their way back to the main stage to change, warm up our voices, and get ready to sing. We chose five of our strongest and most invigorating classics to perform to the swelling crowd. What an honor! All in all, I believe we represented quite well and our thanks to those heroic Seattle fans who cheered us on from Koprivshtitsa's town square. You could have seen us any time in Seattle, yet you chose to watch us in Bulgaria! We are humbled.
All in all, truly a unique festival. My kudos to efforts of the young performers who still live in villages and haven't been drawn to the big cities. My gratitude to the older performers for passing their knowledge and enthusiasm on to others, and many thanks to the festival organizers who strive for authenticity despite the lure of commercialization. Your hard work is not in vain! And from each of us in Dunava, our heartfelt thanks to you, our fans and supporters who helped us attend! We couldn't have done it without you.
No comments:
Post a Comment