Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares

Female Vocal Choir used to be known
all over the world as The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir is an ensemble of rare artistic gift and enormous popular appeal.

The choir truly represents one of the most amazing success stories in music. Created
in the early fifties the choir’s first mission
was to record authentic and arranged music for multi-voice choral folk songs to be recorded and broadcast first on the radio
and later on TV.

Marcel Cellier, Swiss music producer, discovers the beauty of Bulgarian folk songs, folk singers,  their unique voices and choral skills and in 1975 releases his first album – Volume I which he called  “Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares”(The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices). The album soon became a best seller. In 1987 was made Volume II which earned in 1990 to Marcel Cellier and this choir which is the main performer on the album, the American “Grammy Award”.
It was at that time that the choir was called
“Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares”.

The year 1988 was the beginning of the choir’s triumphant touring the world – five times in the USA and Canada, three times in Latin America, annual tours in most European countries, concerts in India, Hong Kong, etc. The CD named “Rituals” released by Nonesuch in 1994 was nominated for Grammy again in class “Folklore”. Warner Brothers also released Cellier’s volumes I, II, III (1990) with sales of more than a quarter of a million albums in USA and over a million internationally.

The ensemble under the direction of Prof, Dr.Dora Hristova for many years now performs in an exotic multi-voice style  beautifully arranged songs  combining folk melodies with sophisticated harmonies and compelling rhythms. The repertoire of the choir is drawn from arrangements created by the Bulgarian most esteemed composers like Philip Koutev, Krassimir Kyurkchiyski, Nikolai Kaufman, Petar Lyondev, Ivan Spassov, Stefan Moutafchiev, Kiril Stefanov, etc. “These are the singers that won the Grammy Award and endorsement from such  pop superstars as Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, George Harrison, Bobby Mcferrin, Midori and many others all over the world. They create a crossover sensation everywhere they perform as listeners of all music faiths gather in the presence of sounds more strangely wonderful than almost any they have heard before…Everyone could consider  himself richer in spirit for having heard  Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares” (Chicago Tribune).

The singers transform sounds into strange vocal colours as if something other than human voice, perhaps some foreign instrument is playing. The singers “jubilate, shout, ornament, form fast and perfect glissandos, let one crazy rhythm follow another and make their voices built the most darling cords” and “suddenly a listener believes  he has heard an archaic world of sounds from times long ago”, another sees “the marriage of the avant-garde and the Middle ages”.