Video
A Conversation with Bulgarian Folk Singer Valya Balkanska [Interview Video]
In November 2019, Smithsonian Folkways released Martin Koenig’s documentation of Bulgarian folk music and culture as ‘Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World.’ In this video, he interviews Valya Balkanska who is featured on the album singing the Bulgarian folk tune “Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin (Delyu the rebel went out).” Balkanska talks about the origins of the song and its inclusion on the Voyager Golden Record, her earliest memories growing up with folk music in the Rhodope Mountains, and more.