New Orleans is known for its colourful multicultural community, its traditional cuisine, and most of all, its incredible musical heritage. In the jazz capital of the world, almost everyone plays an instrument, but not necessarily jazz. "Here people are open to all kinds of genres, for example my friend used to play the bass drum, but now he's learning the Bulgarian drum", says Phoebe Vlassis. She was born and raised in Athens, but has been living in New Orleans for 9 years now and is part of the Trendafilka local group for Bulgarian folk songs.

We met Phoebe at the National Fair of Folk Art in ‎Koprivshtitsa where she participated, along with other ‎foreign admirers of Bulgarian folklore.‎

Watch a performance of Trendafilka folk group of the Pirin song "Mori aida ‎aida" on the stage of The Marigny Opera House in New Orleans in the month of May 2022:‎

"I have been playing the accordion and singing Bulgarian folk songs for 10 years. In this music I find a lot of feeling and spirituality, sadness and joy! "- says the founder of the band Lou Carrig.

She is Irish by origin, has lived in the USA for years and has become passionate about Bulgarian folklore along with the Bulgarian diaspora in New Orleans. Lou has many Bulgarian friends there who have not lost their connection with Bulgaria, with Bulgarian culture and music. This is how her project “Blato Zlato” was born:

Both Bulgarians and Americans participate in the group.

"In 2018, we were invited to various folklore festivals in Bulgaria, similar to the one in Koprivshtitsa," says Lou. We performed at "Horo pri izvora'' in Velingrad, we also played in some places along the Black Sea. This is a magical, unique experience - to learn Bulgarian folk songs in the USA, from the Bulgarian diaspora, to interpret them in your own way, because there is no way they will sound exactly like their authentic version. And then to come here, in Bulgaria, to present them to a Bulgarian audience, to move the elderly women to tears and to inspire the young ones to dance... It has happened to us after a concert that young Bulgarians come to us and share: "Before I was not interested in Bulgarian folklore, but after seeing you playing in this amazing way, I started to love it and now I study it. And you know, it seems to me that we also have some contribution in the preservation and dissemination of this unique heritage of yours," says Lou Kerig in conclusion.‎

• When music touches your heart, or why foreigners fall in love with Bulgarian folklore

Photos: Veneta Nikolova, Trendafilka, Blato Zlato