I had planned to start a new Saturday feature this weekend but it has to wait. I stumbled across the sublime live radio concert from 2017 of The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices and I’ve sat for the last 45 minutes in absolute awe. There is something about their lilting, tone-bending ways that draws me in like no other vocal group in existence. It feels ancient, dark yet grounded in a purity that I can’t really describe. Their album with Lisa Gerrard, called BooCheeMish, which I reviewed earlier this year is a marvel and revelation but this concert contains a variety of tracks before this.
To date, the troupe have 9 albums on their own available on their website but there’s lots of other work hiding everywhere – so it’s difficult to know exactly how much they have done over the last 40 years or so. Maybe that’s a future project! Enjoy The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices live on KEXP below – and long live that programme who continually give a live outlet to interesting and experimental musical acts.