Bulgarian Choir Dazzles With Seductive Simplicity

Innocence is in short supply on the pop scene, and that may partly explain the popularity of the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir. Making its local debut Saturday at the Wiltern Theatre, the 24-voice choir drew a star-studded audience that seemed seduced as much by the unpretentious simplicity of these women as by the heavenly beauty of their music.

Dressed in traditional costume, the singers performed with a disarming guilelessness. The choir’s lack of glamour, however, is not what makes this act remarkable; their music sounds like nothing else on Earth.

Formed in 1952, the choir introduces musical ideas that are utterly strange to Western ears. Evocative of Gregorian chant, Bulgarian song circumvents the standard verse-bridge-chorus structure and unspools in a completely unpredictable fashion. Flowing melodies erupt into staccato passages or funny yelps and yodels; a buzzing drone will function as a throughline while a sweet, high melody floats above it. The most striking element of the style is the Bulgarian’s tart sense of harmony, which sounds almost sour to Western ears.

While the music is technically complex, the subject matter is simple; these are narrative songs spinning tales of love and life in the fields. Mysterious and foreign though this celestial music sounds, it seems completely familiar on some deep, Jungian level. We recognize it as music of the Earth, an Earth we all share.