Gergana Tsekova – Kako Todoike, Todoike

While recording in Bulgaria did begin as early as the first decade of the 20th century, it wasn’t until the 1930s when independent Bulgarian labels began to crop up that recording began in full-swing. To compete with Odeon, Pathé, and HMV, local labels like Orfei, Arfa, Balkan, and London Record were recording at a rapid clip. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if these records received little distribution beyond cities in Bulgaria – finding folkloric Bulgarian records in anything above hopelessly worn condition is difficult.

Today’s piece was released on the Radioprom label…but perhaps not at first. The Communist government consolidated (and liquified) the assets of all active Bulgarian independent record labels as part of a nationalization process in the late 1940s, with everything then lumped together under the state-owned label Radioprom. Despite the amount of propaganda released by Radioprom, they did release much folkloric music as well – and re-released material that had previously appeared on other labels. In this case, it appears that Ms Tsekova’s piece originally appeared on the Orfei label, where she recorded a number of tracks in her apparently short-lived career on 78s. And as for Radioprom, it eventually became known as Balkanton in the LP era.

Ms Tsekova sings with the Peyu Budakov brass band (along with a clarinetist, a violinist, a lute player, and an accordion). The exact transliteration of the Cyrillic title, “Kako Todoike, Todoike” may be slightly incorrect. Kako means “older sister” in Bulgarian – and the female name that comes closest in Bulgarian is “Todorke.” I’m reasonably sure this is a song about Todorke, the older sister, though any help is of course appreciated. The equally terrific flip side to this record appears on Song of Crooked Dance, on Yazoo Records. Lauren Brody’s notes for her CD provided some of the information here, as well.

So, here we are with more forgotten sounds, the marks etched in the grooves, as fine as dust…

Gergana Tsekova – Kako Todoike, Todoike

Technical Notes
Label: Radioprom
Issue Number: 1042
Matrix Number: 1610

Parush Parushev – Nazko

In geeky fashion I’m sure, I’ve waxed rhapsodic about the Columbia label’s green “F” series of the late 1920s in previous posts. While a large amount of the Columbias on this series featured music recorded by immigrants in the United States, they also released some incredible imported recordings, perhaps to test U.S. markets out.

Columbia seems to have preferred this method with at least some of the wonderful music of Bulgaria. They released a mere 39 Bulgarian records in the United States (compared to the 500+ Irish recordings they released during the same period). This is one of them, from ca. 1928.

Parush Parushev (credited as “P. Parusheff” here) was a street singer from Plovdiv, who accompanies himself on harmonium on this track. Street singers with harmoniums were apparently a common sight in Bulgarian cities until late in the 20th century. I’ve listened to this record many times, and it still delights me.

Parush Parushev – Nazko

For more Parushev and incredible Bulgarian music, check out Song of the Crooked Dance on Yazoo (where I gleaned the existing info on Parushev).

Also, I’m going on a much needed break for two weeks, one that will hopefully be devoid of most electronic media. I will be back, however, on the 22nd with more 78s, more special guest posts, and more of what you’ve come to expect.

Technical Notes
Label: Columbia
Issue Number: 29004-F
Matrix Number: H1146 (1-B-4)