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Reper toire & R esources
Repertoire & Resources

W orld Mu sics and Cu ltu res United States of America and Bulgaria. It has been
World Musics and Cultures
easy to explore American music with my Bulgarian
colleagues, as it is reasonably well published and pro-
Madlen Batchvarova moted, but bringing Bulgarian music to the Americans
National R&R Chair has been a puzzle—a challenging and exciting puzzle.
batchvarova@hanover.edu Sharing my cultural heritage, the essence of the Bulgar-
ian soul expressed in song, is the story of my life.
When we study a Bulgarian folk song arrangement, I
sit in a circle with my choristers. We sing in 10/16, learn
To Chicago and Back:
The Travel Story of a Multiculturalist the Cyrillic alphabet and (try to) read the song text in
its original form. I share stories of my family dynamics
by Madlen Batchvarova that would inform their understanding of the fun fact
that Bulgarian young men were characterized by the
Some of you may very well recognize the resem- folk songwriters as silly, crazy, or wild when they would
blance in the title. Only those few who may have come knit motley socks to give as gifts to the young women
across pieces of late-nineteenth-century Bulgarian lit- who have captured their hearts. We would watch a
erature may find it familiar. Aleko Konstantinov (1863– video of the dancers of the Philip Koutev National En-
1897), a prominent, and, according to some, dissident semble for Folk Songs and Dances perform a fiery folk
Bulgarian writer decided to send his most popular story dance ruchenitsa, and spent the final minutes of every
character, Bay Ganyo, on a trip from Bulgaria to Chi- rehearsal for two weeks trying to learn and perfect the
cago. During this adventure, the character attempts to dance steps, before ultimately singing and dancing “Er-
understand and function within the American cultural gen Deda” by Petar Lyondev.
idiom. The journey also becomes a satire of a particu- In 2019 (what perfect timing) my choir spent their
lar Bulgarian archetype and further confirms the popu- spring term abroad studying in and touring Bulgaria.
lar saying “travel abroad to learn about yourself.” The Bulgarians were thrilled to experience their own
Some years ago, motivated by the novel, I plunged music performed by American singers, taught, and di-
into the internet in search of information and inspi- rected by a native Bulgarian conductor. My American
ration. There I was, an Eastern-European-born, mid- students were astounded by the standing ovations, bou-
western college professor who wanted to share with the quets of flowers, and audience appreciation they re-
world what it means to teach Bulgarian choral music ceived on and off stage. And I wept! My two worlds did
to American students. And I had a lot to share! For not collide. They sang together in a perfect symbiosis,
decades, I have lived in and loved two countries—the demonstrating the flawless harmony of the human soul.

CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2023 Volume 63 Number 7 63