These INSANE Vocal Harmonies Just Blew Me Away 

This is awesome. Reminds me of Dune. Also, your passion for music is contagious. I'm thankful because you've kept me invested in playing guitar. We have very short chords because we omit so many nots but it doesn't stop me playing along and annoying my non musical friends with your vids (which I know they secretly enjoy) 🥲😂😂

Thomas Bergersen He makes incredible music, really cool epic pieces but also deep and touching tracks He actually likes to use parts of bulgarian choir music I'm sure you'll love his music

I believe its felt as "shorts and longs" in a 9/8 time. short short short long 12/12/12/123

When I attended the Conservatory of Amsterdam I learned about this exact thing! Then later when I heard the tracks 'Irregular God' and 'Alita' in the anime Tower of God, I was like "wait a minute, that kinda sounds like a Bulgarian women's choir. Then I watched a video from Kevin Penkin who made the OST for Tower of God, and he confirmed my suspicions. Anyway, there really is something magical about that sound.

Highly recommend checking out David maxim micic - Wedding. Its an abseloutely amazing progg take on the song you lisstened to. The wedding refferance starts at 2 min

I love that comment about your perception of clusters. I think it might really demonstrate the difference in origins between the western European classical tradition and the Bulgarian folk tradition - like how western classical spent centuries chasing spiritual and religious "perfection" in simple ratios and unchallenging harmonies so as not to upset worshippers, but that is only one path and philosophy in an infinite space of other trajectories. I love it, will be checking out your suggestions too for sure

so nice man thank u so much for this info

Once I sat in a cello lesson with my son, when he had to play a major second across two strings. The teacher told him to "tune" it by ear, which blew my mind for a second. We usually hear the beats in major seconds (for example "chopsticks" begins by hammering on a major second interval), but it is also possible to tune this interval, for example by hitting the pitch ratio 9/8. So even a major second can sound BOTH harmonious and dissonant. This reminds us of how at the time of the Gregorian chants the interval of a major third - which we hear as quintessentially harmonious - was heard as somewhat dissonant and used as a contrast with the cleaner intervals of 4ths and 5ths. In non equal tuning musicians and singers naturally tune harmonic intervals to whole integer frequency ratios: Octave: 2:1 Fifth: 3:2 Fourth 4:3 Major Third 5:4 Minor Third 6:5 Major second 9:8

Am I missing something with counting in Bulgarian? I'm only counting 7 syllables, not 9. Едно, две, три, четири... Forget I said anything. I tried counting out loud and it made sense.

Same! I had to laugh when he felt it off-beat. Well explained!

Its stunning, friend. Truly something to be proud of.

The Bulgarian Music shown is really amazing.. the reaction stunned with the richness of the music is really deserved. What are they saying the lyrics?

It's so beautiful, complex and sophisticated to American ears! You should be proud of this! 😀

It so beautiful, I find it very moving. I've been fascinated by it for maybe 10 years now. The harmonies and the vocal tone especially. Greetings from New Zealand!

@@marcelospaiva you can look all of the songs up if you want literal translations but i can write briefly what they are saying 1. In the first song a girl is talking to her mother. She is saying: "A kaval (wooden bulgarian flute) is playing around the village. I will go to see and hear it. If it is (the player) from our village i will love him until dawn. If it is from a foreign village i will love him for life. 2. second song from what i can hear here is about a girl- roujka knitting a sock 3. the title of the third song means "todora is laying down" and it sounds much like a lullaby. In the song Todora is sleeping beneath an olive tree when suddenly the wind breaks off a branch and wakes her up. She gets mad at the wind and then she sees that while she was sleeping her loved one came to her bringing her a bunch of flowers 4. The fourth song is called "wedding" and it is from the point of view of a woman (i presume) talking to Stoyan (a popular then bulgarian name). She tells him that a great dark fog is coming when then they quickly realise that it wasnt a fog, but a big wedding. hope that helped :D

I remember this same thing in the US. Someone let me listen to their recording in January 1988. I loved it instantly. They came to perform in Tacoma, Washington (USA) and I went to the concert. I remember sitting on the front of my seat and taking in a breath at their first note and not exhaling until their last note! I definitely have driven with my windows down and blasting Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. Every since then, I've been in a series of bands, dance groups, and choirs that sing, dance, and play this music. I don't know much music theory at all, so what this guy is showing and explaining is mostly Greek to me, but those songs I know in my sleep and I've sung most of them. I can't really express how much I love Bulgarian music. It led me to study Bulgarian in the mid-90s and spend several months in Bulgaria. I still hope to go back someday for the Koprivshtitsa Festival.

Bună, vecine!

@@rado78231 Bună!

what music of the spheres might really sound like

Just want to chip in and say that I admire you for playing kaval. I play flute and also have a kaval, but it's a whole different world of difficulty. It's incredible when properly played, though. Someday I'll give it the time and devotion it requires.

@@jcortese3300 That's very kind of you, thank you! I do not think it is more admirable than playing any other instrument though, and the flute is lovely as well. They're surprisingly different, though, when it comes to playing, so it may well be even more challenging coming from the flute than staring with a blank slate, though I know musicians who play both masterfully. Biggest tip for a beginner coming from the flute would be to practice in front of a mirror and watch your embochure like a hawk. Unlike with the flute you want your lips relaxed and extended a bit, kind of like saying the word "you". Don't think about whistling, that will bring in tension that you do not want, as the tension of the lips is how you switch between registers. Also, quite importantly; are you oiling your kaval? If it is wooden it requiers to be oiled to protect it from several enviornmental influences.

I am so fascinated! Thank you for sharing. To my western ear, I’m hearing this embrace of microtones, a deliberate push away from just intonation. Would I be correct in assuming this isn’t so much deliberate as it is a natural progression of your folk culture, and just done by feel and listening? What instruments do you use when trying to get on the same tone in a choir? I know it’s a barrage of questions but I’m so intrigued!

Thank you for this info. I was under that impression: "Bulgarian voices" is one thing, Bulgarian Folk is a whole lot of other things. I was wondering if you can share examples of authentic Bulgarian harmony?

so you're telling me bulgaria invented breakcore

I have it. I have played it to death. ❤❤❤the voices soar up to heaven!

Yes, it was a huge musical fad for a year or so... it was everywhere. They played it in the bookstore I worked in.

It's a true!

Like an electric church organ or the start of a horror movie 🍿 😂

It sounds like shape-note singing from Appalachia to me. Each singing style is authoritative on its own. I wonder what developed over time (and when) to create that harmonic sound?

I would be partially paralyzed by the intensity of it 😮

Nice. (New music bucket list item unlocked.)

Shaking in the most wonderful way.

First time I listen to this, it is truly fascinating. Very different from what I am used to here in Brazil. Beautiful!

It's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It literally sounds divine.

I also shed a tear. It's not the first time I listen to Bulgarian folk music, but I can't help crying every time I hear it so beautiful it is. Greetings from Ukraine

Yep, just brushed a tear off with a huge smile :)

first time I heard this was on Ghost in the Shell

Please, share the names of those gymnasts!!

Wwow! That sound's amazing!!! :D

(And just to say, I'm not one of those people who usually gets too bent out of shape about 12TET vs true temperament, but in this it's just SO important to the sound and it's amazing!)

​@@nsiepmann 12TET tunes everything in a specific way. Other tunings do it in a different way. Its a different flavour. I for one am kinda tired of 12TET, and get a more viceral feeling from these different tunings. But there definitely is music that cannot function without 12TET.

This style of singing is called "white voice", it's pretty popular in eastern Europe folk singing like in Ukraine

This may seem like a weird comparison, but drum corps has a similar sound quality to it. Especially in the 80s-early 2000s era. It was all about fat brass chords and they often featured contemporary classical, jazz or Latin music.

Check out Norwegian and Swedish folk (mostly fiddle) music. It has the same quality and awesome harmonies

As a slav by blood, this music really is just embedded in the psyche. I grew up around this sort of music, and just from listening to it and following the harmonies, it really has allowed me to sing along to music in accompanying harmonies. It truly is the greatest gift that I cherish.

Takoje, pozdrav.

This was immediately what I thought of. I was convinced that the style and harmonies were actually Japanese, but I guess I was wrong!

That's where I heard that! Thank you now I can stop wracking my brain

@@fundymentalism Haha glad to help!

I did to, listening to it for weeks. Thought Japanese, to find it's Bulgarian about... right now😃😃😃

Yes! I immediately thought of ghost in the shell as soon as the singing started

And I forgot to mention that the singers imitate several instruments with their voices. When you hear "Titi titi" you can guess there could be a gajda (bagpipe) there. Also a kaval (flute) or a tapan (percussion).

THEY ARE COMMUNIST VOICES

sometimes instruments cant actually do what voices can. love your description.

@@progresstothestars YES, INSTRUMENTS CAN'T BE DEGENERATE UNTER COMMUNISTS

How beautifully you explained it

Polyphonic music is a tradition for all Slavic people, the South Slavic, the West Slavic and the North Slavic. The women used to sing it in the fields or during the harvest and of course at celebrations. As a child, I really enjoyed listening to the women

Also acapella harmony tends to tune to itself outside of equal temperament... I always remember that after particularly strong run-throughs for chamber choir pieces in spaces with incredible acoustics, our director would find that we crept a bit sharp because of how music/physics works when you use perfect harmonies rather than instrument defined equal temperament.

Yeap! I absolutely agree! They also tune it by ear very much like the Barbershoppers which makes the upper harmonics shine like stars.

It’s also a much “wider” vowel than you’d typically find in western choral music. Adds a lot of brightness.

The timbre definitely adds a powerful resonant quality to the minor 2nd intervals.

@@mattsnyder4754 Yes! They do not mask their vocals and dampen their timbre! Vocal production is extremely present. In that style of singing it is very hard to hide intonation problems because upper harmonics buzz quite loudly when you are even slightly out of tune so you have to sing perfectly in tune. Absolutely not an easy job.

That’s a very good analysis! Thanks for that! You can hear a number of modern pop groups use similar vocal treble to their advantage-when I first heard this video I immediately thought of the chorus of Time Of The Season by the Zombies, a classic.

Yah the manner of singing is so different from western cultures

Exactly. I am always afraid when I hear untrained foreigners trying to reproduce the effect of wave of sound (or wall of sound if you wish) typical for these songs without being properly trained. Chest voice is mandatory and sound should never be forced out of resonance, it is more like the result of a sigh and relaxation than of effort...

The way i prefer to sing. But i think it's also the best singing style (even if not from me). Never a fan of either head voice or vibrato, so not much opera for me 😁

Here is an example of solo singing of the similar Bulgarian folk music: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hiNx6ldzhso.html

Българите нямаме нужда от вашата сръбска любов ,ние я знаем много добре ,колко е истинска като руската!

I'm Croatian, and I got the same emotional response. There's a common thread, the pan-Slavic thing, in women's choirs, the buzzing, alerting, powerful quality in the harmony. Instant goosebumps!

same here, i'm not bulgarian but it still made me cry

I'm just an American, but this is absolutely beautiful

I’ve always thought I was weird because some music just elicits that response from me. But I’ve come to realize truly beautiful music can bring tears to those who recognize it, regardless if it is happy or sad.

i'm Czech and literally feel the same❤

wasn't the music in GitS inspired by Bulgarian folk music?

So very much yes. I thought the GitS stuff was traditional Japanese but that might have just been the words.

I noticed that too, I had images from the second movie in my mind

That was the first thing that came to mind!!

@@fairiIu it was. there's a video here on yt where Kenji Kawai says he was inspired by the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria. he even wanted them to sing in GitS but in the end, I think because of the logistics, he went with Bulgarian style sung by Japanese singers. we can also hear Mysterious Voices in soundtrack for Star Wars: Solo. Kate Bush has them on one album, many music titans we admire admire them.

wait do you mean the one from kenji kawai? or actually the one from yoko kanno?

Did Yoko Kanno compose any songs inspired by bulgarian folk music? I'm only aware of the songs composed by Kenji Kawai for the first 2 movies (Making of a Cyborg, etc.)?

Same! I remember hearing it first when I was listening to her whole discography. Her studio album Song To Fly has one called Atomic Bird.

That original GitS music is absolutely incredible. This immediately popped out to me as being whatever that soundtrack was doing.

​@@MadnessRealmyes, they were inspired by the Bulgarian folk songs! It sounds crazy but yes.

If you get a hold of some actual Hildegard, that stuff's killer too!

Exactly! I wasn’t expecting it to have THAT different of a feel

I thought the exact same thing

Yes. Great recordings on Nonesuch.

Yes, Béla will always be special to many of us!

Why Bartok?

@@tatianapetseva8455 Sorry, it's not my job to educate you. Take a music appreciation course. There are probably several on RU-vid.

@@northernbohemianrealist1412man cmon 😂

most of the world is missing out .

Ukrainian, here. I confirm. Slavic harmonies are a sleeping giant.

Don't call Bulgarians Slavs unless you want to get yelled at lol

@@DemetriosLevi what do you mean? Bulgarians Are Slavs ?

​@@anto4759Not completely

You would be surprised how similar our people actually are. When you hear " bagpipes, good food, hard spirits and "hard" spirits" witch country do you think I'm describing? Yeah, its Bulgaria ✌️😅

Absolutely and it sounds so great on her albums - they can also be heard on her "The Red Shoes" album.

Thank you 🙏for the Kate Bush tip

No way!!! Her voice sounds like it would fit right in with a choir like this

You just blew my mind! Is this the amazing background I was obsessed with as a child on "Rocket's Tail" ?!?!?!

@@gbb23 Sure is. Sensual World is such a great album!

Same. At first I was like, aint ot from the Ghost In The Shell anime, and only then realised that the anime composer was inspired by Bulgarian folk choirs.

THAT'S where I first saw it analyzed. I've heard the song/saw the video before the influx of these analysis vids, but such a cool thing to see them get broken down a bit to see what's going on.

Me too

I literally paused when I watched his video. I don't think I ever even finished that video cause I was like "uhhhhh... what was that" and went down the rabbit hole.

Eyyyyy same. This song is so powerful I love it

Which one of the 4 songs do you find sad?

Also this group definitely covered Metallica.

So says a 1980's era Robert Fripp interview. :P

Yes, I interpreted it as 9/8 or 7/8 as well. You could see it in the conductor's gestures

@@heatherduke7703 It is, in Bulgarian folklore music odd time signatures are counted as a combination of 2s and 3s. 9/8 in particular is 2+2+2+3.

Look no further than Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk, inspired by a trip they took to Turkey

Thanks I was struggling to puzzle this out 😂

My wife too! It’s an incredible culture don’t you agree?! I’m loving this video the most because of so many people coming together for the love of Bulgarian music!

Да! Совсем здорово!

Спасибо, брат

Please!! share some of your finest! Would be so happy!

I think the MAIN draw for this music is that it is acapella and therefore tuned to itself in perfect ratios rather than the imperfect system that equal tempered instrumentation relies on. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by nearly all classic pieces composed for just a chamber choir to perform.

May i suggest Estonian composer named Pärt Uusberg. Very soothing harnonies and choral sound. Pieces like Õhtu Ilu (is based on estonian folk song) and Õhtul

Whitacre is such an amazing idea for rocking a baby to sleep! I am stealing that next time I’m watching my niece 😂

​@@joosepjoost3117 What a coincidence! I just heard Õhtul sung live by a Finnish choir last Sunday. Never fails to bring me to tears for some reason.

In high school, my band teacher and choir teacher both made me fall in love with Eric Whitacre. Then in college, I got the opportunity to sing "The Seal Lullaby" with my university's prestigious a capella choir and it brought me to tears. I wish Disney had followed through with making that song into a movie, but it never happened.

your son will likely become more powerful than we can imagine

THIS. You can break down the harmonic progressions on the piano, but the sound is totally lost in the shift to mean intonation. It’s the ability of a cappella voices to fall into natural intonation that makes the sound SO transcendent.

@@courtneybrock1 - I wonder if this comes about due to Bulgaria's location at the edge of western cultural influence. Western music became more and more about key changes at the cost of true intervals. Perhaps the frequent incursions of the Ottomans into the Balkans left its mark on the treatment of harmony that to this day has been kept alive by the continuity of these women choirs in Bulgaria.

@@robbes7rh I agree with everything in your comment, but my enthusiastic rely was actually in response to your first two sentences. I got my degree in choral conducting, and what you noticed is actually a phenomenon that happens in all a cappella music. You can’t exactly even temper a human. lol When a trained choir sings with tempered instruments, (like a piano,) they naturally match the tuning of that exact piano. Before concerts, instrumentalists “tune” and warm up, “ However, if a choir’s on their own without any tempered instruments, then they auto-tune to each other. Because you can’t temper a human voice, good choirs ALWAYS slip into natural intonation when singing a cappella as if on autopilot. (It’s the opposite of sliding off into a different key because of that lone, over confident, bass.) The convo comes up in choirs more than you’d think. This is how it goes down in practice. When tuning voices off each other in an acoustically live space, (like a cathedral,) it forces singers into natural intonation. No one notices the phenomenon, it just feels “right.” After the choir’s finished with a song, someone inevitably starts banging out the same cords the choir just sang on a piano. The contrast in sound is so jarring, it’s like someone scraping chalk on a chalkboard. It’s downright painful. But once the initial shock is over, it’s pretty funny. That’s what sparks the conversation. It takes someone playing the piano for choir members to realize they’ve been synched to natural intonation. Which is what you want the choir to do. A cappella choirs slipping into natural intonation, (especially on resting/resolving chords) = correct. The human body’s full of surprises, lol. Of course, some songs showcase this better than others. The dissonance of the Bulgarian women’s folk song does an amazing job.

That is too simplistic. Just intonation is all about pitching notes to match the overtones created by other notes such that they are more in tune with each other than a note constrained by a particular temperament. I do not see how choirs would “naturally fall” into the intonation used in Bulgarian folk music, when what is so distinctive about it is dissonance rather than consonance.

Yanka Rupkina, the soloist, is amazing!

I was waiting to see a comment on Kalimanko Denko. I believe with every cell in my body that song is a masterpiece.

If you search for Petya Pertova/ The voice / Kalimako Denko, you'll get to enjoy a fresh performance of it by this fantasic youngster

No, we Austrian are German speaking Slavs. That’s why it is always said that the Balkan starts in Vienna! 🤣

I am Salesian, I feel at home at eastern music, and foreign at western even though I have been raised in Germany, really odd, it always seems to come from within

@@BarbaraMarieLouise the eastern part of ausgtia yes. But here in vorarlberg we are of a completely different origin. Räther Romanen, Walser and so on.

Same feeling, just that I'm literally in another continent, but Eastern European, Nordic and Irish music always trigger an indescriptible feeling in me. xd

They are not hymn-type because they are Western. They're hymn-type because it's Oklahoma. Same problem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Oppressive and Boring.

@@needtoknowbasis3499 oppressive? Wow that is harsh. I find hymns beautiful and liberating. When sung properly, near to the level of these Bulgarians.

@doctorhyrulecat Do you have a recording?

I'm really happy that you enjoy this amazing song from my country. It's always nice seeing people appreciate your culture, especially when you feel like it's overlooked. Do you have any opinions on the translation?

same here!

It’s my favorite folk song. I’m Bulgarian. Now you know one. 😁

@@jchomedog2887 oh I meant I know nothing in Bulgarian language. I know some Bulgarian people :)

Kaval is Endblown flute Sviri means Plays/Sounds. Brutal translations is "A flute is playing" now you know 2 words ahahah

​@@trabantdeluxflute is флейта in bulgarian, not кавал

Add the old folk instruments that are hard to tune to precise scale and the flexibility of the singers to match these fluctuations ;)

He is catching the majors and minors but there are deeper layers that make this what it is.

@@phoenixme74 of course. And this is true for any non-tempered modal music.

Preach!

@@trabantdelux I am not sure the quality of instruments has much to do here. Historically, polyphonic vocal traditions were a form of art in itself and was meant to be accompanied with ... vocals. Same for the musical instruments, the repertoire evolved independently, mostly. There are, of course, many exceptions, but the vocal repertoire that has been developed in conjunction with instruments is of a completely different type.

I'm Ukrainian and we have similar harmonies especially in woman's voices as you said. I'm from western mountain part and remember going out with whole community to sing carols, it's magical to be a part of this tradition

@@knitted_sweater_near_fireplace all slavic countries have a variation and some share. We call it chopped singing. It's what makes bulgarian music immediately recognisable if you know what to look for. That and the nasal singing slavic countries do

More appropriately notated as 9/16 than 9/8, but yes. And it's a fair way of thinking about the rhythmic structure, given the incommensurability of prime numbers (which is what makes something as "simple" as 5/4 or 5/8 the most basic complex meters, due to the division into 2 and 3); it gets even more interesting when you make even larger primes part of those groupings, e.g. like how Stravinsky does in Rite of Spring, but typically the brain falls back on mostly hearing groupings of 2 or 3, i.e. "short" or "long", much like Morse code. A great example is Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War, where he constantly alternates between 2 + 3 and 3 + 2 within the measures, sometimes together and sometimes apart, which at times sounds like two sides at war against one another.

Bulgarian here too, what can you recommend from the Strandja region? I have some songs that I love but it is the region I am least familiar with.

Came to the comment section to say the same - this is not exactly authentic folklore, but choral arrangements by professional composers that have a fair amount of classic and jazz in them.

@@Ubredebre Classical composers most of which studied in Austria and Germany and who are well aware of the music theories of Schoenberg and other mid-XX century composers.

@@Ubredebrecame here to do the same 😉 I often hear people say this is straight-up folk music as would be sung in the village but it’s more a hybrid of folk and art music with a nod to jazz.

@@dkokalanov1000%

Have a listen to Kate Bush’s album The Sensual World. Bulgarian vocals all over the joint 🙌🏼 (I recall Yanka Rupkina was one of the Trio Bulgarka vocalists) (Listen to Rocket’s Tail!!!👍🏼)

I was SO hoping I'd find a comment here referencing Joseph LoDuca! I thought to myself, "surely I can't be the only geek in the world who discovered a love of Bulgarian folk music through the Xena: Warrior Princess soundtrack! I watched it from childhood, but didn't discover the women's chorus who sung the music until college. I especially loved the songs that were highlighted whenever the episode involved the Amazon warriors/nation. This music has been special to me since I was a wee lad.

Thank you!! I was very impressed with Stromae for including those vocal in L’enfer - so beautiful! Thanks for crediting them (Orenda)!

​@@kendricxanderson7555 Actually this Canadian geek not only learned how to sing the theme from Xena phonetically, I also corresponded with Joseph himself (I think about the Lord of the Rings score if my memory serves). I sing phonetically in eight languages and Bulgarian is easier than Polish and Mandarin.

This comment hit me upside the head like a brick

Yoko Kanno used it quite a lot.

Specifically ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--u77XdL8_B4.html

Thank you.. I was driving myself nuts trying to figure out where I had heard that type of music before!

The very first second of this video, the GiTS opening was in my head. Glad to know that I wasn't far off. I'm only halfway through the video now, and I'm hearing more and more that brings me full circle. Only problem is that I'm getting massive visual dissonance with cyberpunk in my head, and traditional dress in the video

Have you ever listened to Kate Bush’s albums The Red Shoes or The Sensual World? A Bulgarian group called Trio Bulgarka were heavily featured on it and you may enjoy it if you like this.

4ADとPETER MURPHY(BAUHAUS)に感謝する。

Actually the original is older. Here it is. By Ensemble Trakia. Unfortunately Marvel Celier bunched a number of the top Bulgarian ensembles under the nane Le Mystere dew Voix Bulgares, thus not giving any credit to the various choirs and their recordings. He also copyright much of it too. I love Svatba, which by the BNR choir.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H0xfhkuKKjA.htmlsi=J8wkc5_B2E6PGvxV

and we ❤ you, Greece!

Love is the answer ❤