Bulgarian Folk Songs [note 2] [note 3] [note 4] is a collection of folk songs and traditions from the then Ottoman Empire, especially from the region of Macedonia, but also from Shopluk and Srednogorie, by the Miladinov brothers, published in 1861. The Miladinovs' collection is the greatest single work in the history of Bulgarian folklore studies and has been republished many times. [3] The collection is also considered to have played an important role by the historiography in North Macedonia.
The two brothers were interested in Bulgarian folklore. This inspired them to compile the collection. Dimitar was the first one to start collecting songs. He was visited by the Russian Slavist Victor Grigorovich in 1845, who advised him to begin collecting folk songs. In 1846, Dimitar promised to send some folk songs to him in a letter. [4] He and his brother started to collect folk songs. In 1857 Konstantin took the collection they prepared to Moscow with the hope of publishing it there, but could not find a publisher. [5] One of the main problems was that the materials were written down in Bulgarian, but with Greek letters. In Moscow, he received the encouragement of the Bulgarian students there. Vasil Cholakov assisted, providing him with songs, and taking a direct part in transcribing the songs taken down by the Miladinov brothers, in preparing for publishing their collection. [6] The 660 songs were collected mainly between 1854 and 1860. Most of them by the elder brother, Dimitar, who taught in several Macedonian towns (Ohrid, Struga, Prilep, Kukush and Bitola) and was able to put into writing 584 folk songs from the area. Women recited most of the songs. The songs from the Sofia district were supplied by the Sofia schoolmaster Sava Filaretov. Those from Panagyurishte area, were recorded by Marin Drinov and Nesho Bonchev. Rayko Zhinzifov, who went to Russia with the help of Dimitar, was another collaborator. [5]
In 1860 Konstantin addressed Croatian bishop Joseph Strossmayer, who sympathized with the Bulgarian people, with an appeal to publish the collection. Originally, the book was written using Greek orthography. He answered Konstantin's letter positively, but insisted the folk songs should be written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Konstantin transcribed the songs from Greek into Cyrillic. [7] Its preprint was finalized in Đakovo and it was printed in Zagreb by Ante Jakić in 1861. [8] The collection was dedicated to Strossmayer. In the preface to the collection, the brothers expressed their gratitude to Cholakov, among other associates. [9] The book represents an anthology of 660 folk songs, but also folk legends, traditions, rituals, names, riddles, and proverbs. [10] The brothers called the land they collected from as "Western Bulgaria", as they announced regarding the publication of their collection, because they disliked the name "Macedonia" since it was a Greek term. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
The collecting was well-received by its contemporaries - Lyuben Karavelov, Nesho Bonchev, Ivan Bogorov, Kuzman Shapkarev, Rayko Zhinzifov and others. The Russian scholar Izmail Sreznevsky pointed out in 1863 that the Bulgarians are far from lagging behind other peoples in poetic abilities. Elias Riggs, an American linguist in Constantinople, translated some songs into English and sent them to the American Oriental Society in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1862, Riggs wrote the collection presents an interesting picture of the traditions and fancies prevailing among the mass of the Bulgarian people. The collection also had an impact on the development of the modern Bulgarian literature. [5] [16] [17] The collection has been published many times in Bulgaria. The second edition was published in 1891 by Dimitar's wife Mitra, already in the Bulgarian Principality. The third one was released in 1942, edited by literary historian Mihail Arnaudov . The fourth one was released in 1961, edited by literary historian Petar Dinekov . [18]
In post-war Yugoslav Macedonia the collection was published for the first time in 1962 and afterwards in 1983 under the title "The Collection of the Miladinov Brothers", by literary historians Haralampije Polenaković and Todor Dimitrovski . [18] [19] The reference to Macedonia as "Western Bulgaria" in the foreword was removed. All references to "Bulgarian" and "Bulgarians" were replaced with "Macedonian" and "Macedonians". During the Yugoslav era, the original collection was unavailable to the public. [20] [21] After the fall of Communism in 1999, under the auspices of Dimitar Dimitrov, a Bulgarophile and minister of culture, the collection was reissued under its original title, which caused serious protests from Macedonian historians. [22] [23] As a result, the Macedonian State Archive, funded by the Soros Foundation, displayed a photocopy of the book and the text on the cover was simply "Folk Songs", the upper part of the page showing "Bulgarian" was cut off. [8] Bulgarian scholars have accused their Macedonian colleagues of forging the original edition of the collection by deliberately deleting the word "Bulgarian". This Bulgarian argument has strong support in international academic circles. [24] Although the book contains a number of songs in which the literary characters are Bulgarian, [25] Macedonian researchers claim the "Bulgarian" designation appeared in the title shortly prior to the book’s publication, [8] and it originally was titled "Macedonian Folk Songs". [20] [26] The collection's historical context and its authors' national identity have been disputed between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. [27] [10] Today in North Macedonia the pupils do not have the access to this collection in original. In March 2021, a shipment with the original edition of the book, intended for the Cultural Center of Bulgaria in Skopje, was not allowed on the territory of North Macedonia, which caused an official protest from the Bulgarian side. [28] [29]
| English language | Bulgarian orthography | Macedonian orthography | Original orthography |
|---|---|---|---|
Yoan Popov left, | Кинисал ми Йо'ан Попов, | Кинисал ми Јо’ан Попов, | Кинисалъ ми Јо’анъ Поповъ, |
The Miladinov brothers, Dimitar Miladinov (1810–1862) and Konstantin Miladinov (1830–1862), were Bulgarian poets, folklorists, and activists of the Bulgarian national movement in Ottoman Macedonia. They are best known for their collection of folk songs called Bulgarian Folk Songs, considered a milestone in Bulgarian literature, the greatest literary work in the history of Bulgarian folklore studies and the genesis of folklore studies during the Bulgarian National Revival. They also contributed to Bulgarian ethnography through their collection of folk material. Their third brother Naum (1817–1897) helped compile this collection too. Konstantin Miladinov is also famous for his poem Taga za Yug which he wrote during his stay in Russia.
Grigor Stavrev Parlichev was a Bulgarian writer, teacher and translator. In North Macedonia and Bulgaria, he is regarded as a pioneer of national awakening.
Kosta Apostolov Solev, primarily known by his pen name Kočo Racin, was a Macedonian poet, writer and communist who is considered a founder of modern Macedonian literature. He is also regarded as a founder of modern Macedonian poetry. Racin wrote in prose too and created some significant works with themes from history, philosophy, and literary critique. He also wrote in Serbian and Bulgarian.
Marko Kostov Tsepenkov was a Bulgarian folklorist from Ottoman Macedonia. In his own time, he identified himself, his compatriots and his language as Bulgarian. He was born in Prilep.
Kuzman Anastasov Shapkarev was a Bulgarian folklorist and ethnographer from the Ottoman region of Macedonia, author of textbooks and ethnographic studies, and a figure of the Bulgarian National Revival.
Taga za Yug was a poem by the Bulgarian National Revival poet Konstantin Miladinov. It is a patriotic-reflexive song in which the author, who lives in Moscow, expresses his homesickness for his homeland. By the end of the 1850s, Bulgarian poets as Miladinov started to write lyric poetry in vernacular. This poem was written in the Struga dialect.
Hitar Petar or Itar Pejo (Itar Petar) (Bulgarian: Хитър Петър, Macedonian: Итар Пејо or Итар Петар, meaning "Crafty Peter" or "Clever Peter" is a character of Bulgarian and Macedonian folklore.
Uči me majko, karaj me (Bulgarian: Учи ме майко, карай ме, Macedonian: Учи ме мајко, карај ме, is a traditional folk song from the region of Macedonia.
Rayko Ivanov (Yoanov) Zhinzifov or Rajko Žinzifov,, born Ksenofont Dzindzifi was a Bulgarian National Revival poet and translator from Veles in today's North Macedonia, who spent most of his life in the Russian Empire.
Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov - Dzhinot, was a Bulgarian teacher and author, an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival during the 19th century.
Parteniy Zografski or Parteniy Nishavski was a 19th-century Bulgarian cleric, philologist, and folklorist from Galičnik in today's North Macedonia, one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival. In his works he referred to his language as Bulgarian and demonstrated a Bulgarian spirit, though besides contributing to the development of the Bulgarian language, in North Macedonia he is also thought to have contributed to the codification of present-day Macedonian.
"Dafino vino crveno" is а folk song from the region of Macedonia. It is about a girl called Dafina and her boyfriend.
Biljana platno beleše is a folk song from Vardar Macedonia. In Bulgaria it is considered a Bulgarian folk song. In North Macedonia it is viewed as a Macedonian folk song.
Kilkis is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2021 there were 24,130 people living in the city proper, 27,493 people living in the municipal unit, and 45,308 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional unit of Kilkis.
The Kostur dialect, is a member of the Southwestern subgroup of the Southeastern group of dialects of the Macedonian language. This dialect is mainly spoken in and around the town of Kastoria, known locally in Macedonian as Kostur, and in the surrounding Korešta region, which encompasses most of the area to the northwest of the town. The Kostur dialect is also partially spoken in Albania, most notably in Bilisht and the village of Vërnik (Vrabnik). The dialect is partially preserved among the ″people of Bulgarian origin in Mustafapaşa and Cemilköy, Turkey, descending from the village of Agios Antonios (Zhèrveni) in Kostur region ″.
Iliya Argirov was a prominent Bulgarian folk singer from the Macedonian folklore region and one of the symbols of the Bulgarian folklore music.
The Folklore and Ethnography Collection is a serial publication covering various aspects of Bulgarian folklore and cultural anthropology. It has been published in Sofia since 1889; Volume 63 appeared in 2007, and Volume 64 appeared in 2012.
Sirma Voyvoda (1776–1864) was a Bulgarian hajduk. Disguised as a man, she participated in the guerilla movement in Ottoman Vardar Macedonia between 1791 and 1813. In 1856/1857, as an 80-year-old woman, the Bulgarian educator Dimitar Miladinov met her in Prilep. In their collection Bulgarian Folk Songs the Miladinov brothers recorded a song about Sirma Voyvoda. Per the note that Dimitar Miladinov left under this song № 212, which refers to Sirma Vojvoda, she married a Bulgarian Mijak from Krushevo. She was killed by Turks in 1864. Sirma Voyvoda is recognized as a patriotic heroine also in what is today North Macedonia.
Do you give Balkandzhi Yovo, nice Yana to the Turkish faith? is a reworked text by Pencho Slaveikov based on the Bulgarian folk song „Come on, give it, Nikola”, recorded and first published by Stjepan Verković in 1860 in the collection „Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians”. It is presumed the original song was performed in the villages of Skotoussa and the extinct village of Krasohori,, both in Greece today. Some authors suppose this song is possibly a deception. It reflects the events surrounding the uprising in Yana.
Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians is an ethnographic collection of folk songs collected by Stefan Verković, considered to be his most valuable contribution in the field of Bulgarian folklore. It was published in Serbian in 1860, in Belgrade.
On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term Bulgarian in the title of his and his brother's collection of Macedonian folk songs: In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek. Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation.
Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called "Western Bulgaria". Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian historian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek.
Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands".
The struggle over the historical legacy of the name "Macedonia" was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to Rakovski, dated 31 January 1861: On my order form I have called Macedonia "Western Bulgaria", as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them.
The book contains a number of songs from the geographical area of Macedonia, in which the local population only declares itself to be Bulgarian: „Maria Bela Bulgarka" (song 76), „I am a pure Bulgarian" (song 76), „Turks killed young people Bulgarians" (song 87), "Gino, too young Bulgarian" (song 95), "Krotko mi igray oy bugarino" (song 150 from Prilep), "Veliko, dulber bugarko" (song 356), "Moshne mi se dear Bulgarian maidens" (song 474), "They quarreled, quarreled three beautiful girls. One was a Vlach, another was a Greek, the third was Bulgarian" (songs 431, 465). „Three Bulgarian Girls" (song 504) and others.