The very same station that I associate with Mozart punctuated my evening commute with sounds of chalga! That's exactly what they called it, and that's exactly what it was. The story was featuring Diana (I've no idea who she is) described as a poor young woman whose heart is bleeding for traditional Bulgarian music, but who is forced to perform chalga to support herself in a severe social reality.

It was not made clear why this was so interesting except that chalga is a pervasive genre on the Balkans and not very well accepted by traditional music lovers.

For the record, I am no chalga aficionado.

Хм, явно здраво покритие получаваме по NPR. Аз преди няколко седмици слушах предаване за кампанията "Не сте сами" (българските медицински сестри в Либия".

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The occurrence of surprise reveals the nature of our expectations.

С тия шибани чалги и други музики само промиват мозъците на хората и не ги оставят да мислят. И тъпите им спортове и шоута, телевизии, филми, игрички. Правят хората на маймуни!

You see, we are making progress. Mozart was in the 19th century, now in the 21st century, Europe is all about chalga. This is the politically correct music of our time and we are proud of it

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Ми нимой сички да съ пруфесури биье, тряа да има и такива дету да ринат лайнатъ и то тенденцията е втората група да се увеличава.

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Да, това е така. Аз издавам тайната само на българите и то тия в САЩ, за да не са те от ринещите лайна или поне да намалее количеството българи ринещи лайна. Щото развалят и моето име заедно с тяхното. Сега разбираш ли ме защо го казах това?

18th, right :) You are close, though.

Sorry, just a typo

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Hmm, I won't pretend knowing about Bulgarian culture. Many years ago, chalga was a relatively isolated phenomenon, restricted to low-brows, and there were no Bulgarian chalga singers. Or at least i don't remember any.

Now, you are saying that the status of chalga has somehow been elevated to a political statement? Care to elaborate?

The last time I heard chalga was in a cab in Sofia. Later, my relatives explained to me that this was "soft" chalga, and they quickly added, "you don't want to hear the hard chalga". OK, I still don't know what they meant, BUT, while listening to the singer, his voice twisted by emotions, I thought that this music might appeal to something very primordial, something very primal in human beings. It is served or packaged as a raw emotion to the masses. Of course, marketing has taken care of that, and the emotion is not exactly fresh and spontaneous, but c'mon, it's selling.

I never think about chalga; I didn't think about chalga until NPR jolted me out of my driving stupor at 6:00 last night. I won't think about chalga tomorrow as it is not part of my everyday milieu. But for a couple of minutes I wondered about why it has become so prevalent and what it gives to its fans. And I also had a scarier thought, With all this globalization, is chalga coming to the U.S.?

uppity, what's the matter, sweetheart? very theatrical, very apocalyptic....

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Редактирано от umpfed на 27.04.07 14:40.