95 years ago, on 2 April 1930, Bulgarian folk singer Stefka Sabotinova was born in the village of Rozov Kladenets in the Stara Zagora region, in the home of settlers from Aegean Thrace. It was from her grandmother, Dobra, a remarkable singer herself, that Sabotinova learned most of the songs in her repertoire.
As a long-standing member and soloist of the Philip Kutev State Ensemble, she has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world. Stefka Sabotinova is also the only singer with solo songs on Swiss ethnomusicologist, musician and producer Marcel Cellier's first album "The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices". Among the songs on the album was "Prituri se Planinata", a song from Sabotinova's repertoire that had already become popular and was used in film productions such as "Jesus of Montreal".
Stefka Sabotinova's rise to international fame came in the mid-1990s, when 'Prituri Se Planinata' was given a new, contemporary arrangement. This is the version we all know and love today.
Stefka Sabotinova died in 2010, but her performance of "Prituri se Planinata" continues to inspire young artists. Since then, the song has undergone numerous interpretations, bringing it closer to modern sounds. Its worldwide fame is so immense that it sometimes overshadows other songs in Stefka Sabotinova's repertoire.
Let's not forget that much of her work includes traditional songs from the Thracian folklore region as well as humorous folk songs - many of them recorded in collaboration with singer Tinka Pesheva.
We present you one of these songs, "Tsonke Le, Chushka Chervena". Here’s a free translation of the verse:
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