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Shut Up And Listen | They may not look so hardcore, but the power in these ladies’ lungs will knock your skinny hipster jeans right off.

Le MystÈre Des Voix Bulgares
Myer Horowitz Theatre (University of Alberta). May 22 (8pm). Tickets: $33, available through Ticketmaster (451-8000/ticketmaster.ca). 

“The first thing that strikes you is the mystery of the voice,” says Dora Hristova, the artistic director of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, and who sounds as much in awe of them as any of their listeners. “It is guttural and loud and there are very bright sounds as well. There are exclamations and then there is sweet birdsong. The singing can be monophonic or diphonic with many different voices that don’t resemble each other. My role of conductor is to try and level them.” 

The choir was formed in 1952 mainly for radio and television performances at home. (Their name is technically The Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir.) Swiss ethnomusicologist and record producer Marcel Cellier fell in love with their sound after hearing a worn-out cassette of their older recordings, and released an anthology of their best work on his tiny little Swiss label in 1975. In a marketing masterstroke, he gave the album the evocative title Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares. The album slowly gained a cult following, especially among those interested in drone and minimal music, and was re-released song for song on indie label 4AD in 1986, and then again in 1987 on Nonesuch (the home of all things oddball). Their international reputation grew from there; they even won a Grammy in 1990 for Best Traditional Folk Album.

If Le Mystère’s haunting harmonies sound a little alien to neophyte ears, perhaps it’s because it’s so authentic and uncompromised: the group presents Bulgarian folklore that has been around for hundreds of years. “The singers are born with the voices and then are trained to develop very strong muscles in the larynx,” says Hristova. “We hold open auditions, but those who come from the villages with rich and sometimes new repertoire are preferred. Their voices haven’t been damaged yet by other music.... 

“There are 24 members from the seven regions of Bulgaria. Because Bulgaria is in the centre of the Balkan peninsula, people from Africa, India, and everywhere in the Middle East have brought their culture through here: from the west, the songs are pure and strong and not polished; the vocal style centrally only exists in four or five tones. The eastern songs have chromatic intervals, oriental intervals, and measures. This is what makes the sound great.”

With thousands of concerts under their belts, Hristova and the group take pride in their role as cultural ambassadors. “In the beginning we were promoted by pop musicians,” she says, “but later our choir became popular in all spheres. A lot of young American people want to sing our songs. There is a group, Kitka, in San Francisco, and others in Boston and Seattle. Everywhere we are touring, the sounds stay with people.”