Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia.
The Galician gaita is the traditional instrument of Galicia and northern Portugal.
A number of ancient civilizations, including the Thracians, ancient Greeks, Scythians, Celts, ancient Romans, Goths, Slavs, Varangians and the Bulgars have left their mark on the culture, history and heritage of Bulgaria. Due to this great variety of influences, Bulgaria has adopted many unusual traditions. Thracian artifacts include numerous temples, tombs, golden treasures and ancient rites and rituals, while the Bulgars have left traces of their heritage in statehood, early architecture, music and dances. Thracian rituals such as the Tryphon Zarezan which is dedicated to Saint Tryphon of Campsada, Kukeri and Martenitsa are to this day kept alive in the modern Bulgarian culture. The oldest treasure of worked gold in the world, dating back to the 5th millennium BC, comes from the site of the Varna Necropolis.
The music of Bulgaria refers to all forms of music associated with the country of Bulgaria, including classical, folk, popular music, and other forms.
The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums have both a deep bass sound and a thin treble sound due to their construction and playing style, where different heads and sticks are used to produce different sounds on the same drum.
The music of Thrace, a region in Southeastern Europe spread over southern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and European Turkey, contains a written history that extends back to the antiquity, when Orpheus became a legendary musician and lived close to Olympus. Though the Thracian people were eventually assimilated by surrounding Balkan groups, elements of Thracian folk music continue.
Balkan music is a type of music found in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. The music is characterised by complex rhythm. Famous bands in Balkan music include Taraf de Haïdouks, Fanfare Ciocărlia, and No Smoking Orchestra.
The Hungarian duda is the traditional bagpipe of Hungary. It is an example of a group of bagpipes called Medio-Carparthian bagpipes.
Greek traditional music includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and other parts of Europe. Apart from the common music found generally in Greece, each region of Greece contains a distinct type of folk music that originated from the region due to their history, traditions and cultural influences.
Boris Karlov was a Bulgarian accordionist. He was born in Sofia into a Romani (Gypsy) family. His father Karlo Aliev conducted an orchestra that was often heard on radio Sofia.
The torupill is a traditional bagpipe from Estonia.
Shiroka Laka is a village in the very south of Bulgaria, located in Smolyan municipality, Smolyan Province. It is a proclaimed architectural and folklore reserve and lies in the central Rhodope Mountains, 23 km northwest of Smolyan, 16 km west of Pamporovo and 22 km southeast of Devin.
The Rozhen National Folklore Fair is a major Bulgarian folklore fair held every four years on the meadows of the Rozhen area in Smolyan municipality, Smolyan Province, in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. The fair's goal is to popularize the Bulgarian folk dance and song art and it lasts for two days in August.
Valya Mladenova Balkanska is a Bulgarian folk music singer from the Rhodope Mountains known locally for her wide repertoire of Balkan folk songs, but in the West mainly for singing the song "Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin", part of the Voyager Golden Record selection of music included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.
It forms part of the broader musical tradition of mainland and of the southern Balkans. Compared to other regions of, the music of Macedonia is characterized by a high degree of diversity, due to the numerous influences it has received over the years from neighboring countries and particularly from refugees arriving in the early 20th century. In general terms, Macedonian music can be thought of as the connecting chain between the Western musical tradition of Epirus and Thessaly and the Eastern musical tradition of Thrace and Constantinople.
The zukra is a Libyan bagpipe with a double-chanter terminating in two cow horns; it is similar in construction to the Tunisian mizwad.
The gaita de boto is a type of bagpipe native to the Aragon region of northern Spain.
The Bulgarian dvoyanka is a double flute made of a single piece of wood, with six sound holes on one side.
Vassil Bebelekov was a well-known Bulgarian bagpipe player (gaidar), who after a professional career in Bulgaria emigrated to the United States and became one of the most influential performers and teachers of his specialty for Americans.
