The brothers Mitko and Vladimir Mitev are famous names among latter-day folklore singers from Shoplouka (the folklore region in central western Bulgaria). Their wide-ranging repertoire features unique pieces of the typical local polyphonic singing. They were born in Vladaya, a village at the foot of Mount Vitosha within the bounds of Sofia municipality. And they live there to this day. Vladimir is secretary at the chitalishte (culture community club) and Mitko is a municipal clerk. Some ten years ago their original songs and performing skills literally overwhelmed Victoria Zaharieva – at the time a student at the Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy. On the advice of her supervisor Prof. Dimitrina Kauffman, Victoria went to Vladaya where she met the Mitev brothers and started recording their songs. She soon came to realize that the format of her thesis, as she had been planning it, was highly insufficient. The wealth of the ancient tradition preserved and popularized by the two singers, their heartfelt dedication inspired a book which was released some time ago. The book is entitled: “The Mitev brothers – bearers of the folk music tradition of Vladaya and one-of-a-kind performers".

“With so many years of work, of concerts, festivals… The time has now come for a book, dedicated to our songs,” says Mitko Mitev and adds:

“My brother has worked at the culture community club in Vladaya for many years and it is the place where all ensembles and soloists go to perform local folklore. We have learnt something from each and every one of them, preserving the archaic style of performance.  Our first time on stage was at one of the festivals in Koprivshtitsa. Before that there was an audition in Vladaya to select the participants. We were in the audience. We were listening to one of the groups, I heard an error in the way a song was being performed and that made me angry, so I started humming the tune the way I knew it should be performed. As it turned out Roumyana Tsintsarska – a prominent ethno-musicologist, and a friend to this day - was right next to us. She asked us to sing something, liked the way we did it and insisted we take part in the renowned folklore festival. That was back in 1981, we were mere boys.”

Mitko’s son, Assen, is also a musician. He has graduated the National Music Academy and is currently a vocal pedagogue. He was actively involved in collecting the materials and in the whole process that led up to the publication of the book about the two brothers.

“This is the first book containing such detailed information about their musical endeavours,” Assen says. “It starts with their very first performances and reaches up to the beginning of 2014. Most of their concerts mentioned in the book were abroad – and that just goes to show how popular and highly appreciated Bulgarian folklore is around the world. The book also has an encyclopedic section, giving a good idea of the ethnographic idiosyncrasy of Vladaya. There is also a wealth of photographs showing the happy moments of their successful musical career in this country and abroad. But to my mind, what makes the book really unique are the songs, together with lyrics and sheet music, around 140 in number – ritual, horo, working bee songs etc. There is also a CD of all of the songs made mention of in the book by Victoria Zaharieva.”

The Mitev brothers are proficient performers, but there is one more thing they must be given credit for – a festival launched by Vladimir in 2006. The festival is dedicated to family tradition in folklore and presents different generations of amateur performers. Whole families come out on stage in Vladaya to sing, play instruments and dance, the way people used to at all family and village feasts.

“Unfortunately this is a difficult year financially and there will be no festival. But I hope it will receive support so that the tradition may continue.” The Mitev brothers say. And add they are happy that the presentation of the book was something they will long remember for the respect and acknowledgement they were given by experts of Bulgarian musical folklore, as well as by renowned colleagues of theirs – singers as well as instrumentalists.

English version: Milena Daynova