site.btaJanuary 7, 1950: Philip Koutev National Folklore Ensemble Set Up

The world famous Philip Koutev National Folklore Ensemble was set up 76 years ago on Wednesday.

This is one of the oldest large professional Bulgarian folk music companies with a repertory consisting mainly of composers' arrangements of folk songs and dances and original works in the spirit of the country's musical folklore.

It began as a State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, set up by Council of Ministers Decree No. 169 on January 7, 1950. The founders were composer Philip Koutev (chief artistic director until 1982), choreographer Margarita Dikova, and musician Ivan Kavaldzhiev.

A commission including Koutev, artist Iliya Beshkov, writer Dimitar Osinin and Kavaldzhiev held a series of competitions in Sofia to select the most gifted folk singers, dancers and instrumentalists from across Bulgaria. The inception of the ensemble's activity dates from May 1, 1951, and it staged its first concert on March 5, 1952.

The ensemble was named after its founder on June 27, 1983. A Council of Ministers Decision of June 29, 2001 conferred on it the status of a State cultural institution of national importance.

Following is an original news item from the BTA English service bulletin, curtain-raising a concert of the ensemble at the end of February 2000:

"Big Band, Symphony, Avant-garde Music Blended in Latest Pieces of Filip Koutev Folk Ensemble

Sofia, February 26 (Dahnyelle Dymytrov of BTA) - Big band, symphony and avant-garde music have been blended in the latest pieces rehearsed by the Philip Koutev Folk Ensemble. They will be performed for the first time at a concert in Sofia on February 29.

The non-standard idea was launched by the conductor of the ensemble, Georgi Andreev. In his words, the new programme 'is dressed up in a stylized way which lends it an aesthetic and professional sounding'.

The transition from the ancient to the modern, from the eastern to the western tradition, from the simple to the complex is the novelty in the programme of the ensemble, which is one of the largest folk groups in Bulgaria and has a history of 50 years.

The concert is entitled 'Freaks' and synthesizes various musical genres, forming a mixture of different and at times even incompatible tone colours. Traditional, familiar folk tunes have been remastered to acquire the sound of the European classical music and of the contemporary, modernist style.

According to Andreev, the new musical pieces enrich the folklore with components of orchestral and scenic genres - big band, classical and avant-garde music. Such stylization is offered for the first time by a Bulgarian folk ensemble.

The programme includes fragments of remastered city ballads, Carmina Burana, American musicals, Oriental and pop music and even the music of Bach.

Folk fans will listen to a mixture of the piercing bagpipe sound and the melodious classical orchestra, the powerful percussion group of a tupan (the Bulgarian double-headed bass drum), and a tenor drum resonating to the jingle of temple blocks and wooden spoons, the blast of a trombone and a trumpet, the harmony of string instruments and the classical piano and the dulcet voices of folk singers.

Several old pieces, composed by Philip Koutev, Stefan Moutafchiev and Kosta Kolev, will sound in a new way. The Sofia Soloists chamber orchestra, conducted by Plamen Djourov, will perform as special guests. The Sofia Soloists ensemble was established 30 years ago. Its first conductor was Prof. Vassil Kazandjiev, later they performed under the baton of Emil Tabakov.

The Philip Koutev Folk State Ensemble was set up in 1950 and named after its founder.  It was Koutev's idea to form a group of professionals who would maintain the centuries-old tradition of Bulgarian folk songs, dances and rituals. Now Koutev's daughter, Prof. Elena Kouteva, is director of the ensemble.

Besides Philip Koutev (1903-1982), choreographer Margarita Dikova and Maria Kouteva, a philologist and student of folklore, have contributed a lot to the artistic mastery of the ensemble. Composer Krassimir Kyurkchiiski made his famous folk-based songs 'A Bird Is Singing' and 'Kalimankou', which became popular all over the world through the CDs of Marcel and Catherine Cellier, 'The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices', especially for the ensemble.

Initially the ensemble had just a few members - several singers and instrumentalists. Philip Koutev organized trial hearings and it took him one year to listen to the hundreds of folk performers coming from all over Bulgaria. After a careful selection among over 2,000 candidates, he formed a 80-member women's choir.

Now the ensemble has three groups of performers - a women's a capella choir, a mixed dancing group and a folk orchestra. They perform remastered folk pieces of various genres and of all regions of Bulgaria - Thrace, the Sofia district, the Rhodope Mountains, Dobroudja, Moesia, Pirin Macedonia, the Sredna Gora Mountains.

Their repertoire includes over 400 songs, 30 dance shows, more than 100 orchestra pieces.  Many of the songs have become widely popular.

Since its establishment, the ensemble has given more than 5,000 concerts (averaging 100 a year), touring Austria, Belgium, Bangladesh, the Middle East and Central Asia, Great Britain, the countries in Eastern Europe, India, Israel, Italy, Germany, Canada, China, Nepal, the US, Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Japan. The proceeds from its latest tours of Japan amounted to 120,000 US dollars. DD/ED/KH/ 15:54:55 26-02-2000 -0-"