French-Canadian Yves Moreau is an acknowledged
expert in Bulgarian folk and dance music. He travels worldwide
giving his workshops, being in demand by many Balkan folk and
dance societies and researchers. In addition to his many
workshops on the subject he is also active in projects run by
such bodies as the US-based EEFC (East European Folklife
Center) and the Canadian Folklore Canada International. From
the Bulgarian Government he was awarded the Cultural Order of
Kiril & Metodi (1st Degree) in the late 1980s for his
work.
It should be said that few people are more knowledgeable or
passionate about this music than him and if you are ever
fortunate enough to have Yves give a workshop near you, then be
sure and go along. His workshops cater for all levels and I am
assured they are enjoyed by all ages. There can be little
doubt that Yves is the kind of person who puts more in than he
takes out.
In this interview Yves talks about his work, what got him hooked on Balkan
folk music, and his record label releases and plans.
Interview conducted in June 2004.
Ian Morrison (IM) Can you tell me what was your first exposure to Bulgarian folk music and had you heard folk music from other regions of the Eastern Europe prior to this?
Yves Moreau (YM) It was in 1963. As a young teenager in Montreal, I took weekly international folk dance classes from Michel Cartier, a folklorist who had visited Eastern Europe in the late fifties. It was through him that I got exposed to Bulgarian music and dance. He also turned me on to Boris Karlov, the Bulgarian accordion master. During that period, I also got to learn folk dances from Romania, Serbia, Greece etc. Recreational folk dancing is still a relatively widespread activity in North America and elsewhere. It grew in popularity in the late forties and early fifties. There are now hundreds of clubs worldwide specializing in traditional dances from different lands. Balkan dances are among the favorites as they are done in lines and circles and do not require partners. The exciting melodies and complex rhythms appeal to «Westerners». I must also mention that one of the other
sparks which triggered my interest in Balkan music was when I attended a concert of the Bulgarian State Folk Ensemble directed by Filip Kutev. This was in Montreal on Nov. 22, 1963. The atmosphere was incredibly emotional with the combination of the soulful women’s a capella songs and the fact that JFK had been shot in Dallas that very same day!
(IM) In the 1960s when you traveled to Bulgaria, what with the politics at that time, it cannot have been easy to travel to remote villages in Bulgaria and to gain the trust of the people there, how did you manage this?
(YM) After being exposed to Bulgarian music and dance, I started reading a lot about Bulgaria and became obsessed with the idea of going there some day. I started tuning in to Radio Sofia broadcasts on short wave. From them I received free copies of Bulgarian folk recordings and even started corresponding with a Bulgarian penpal. I also joined a more experienced Balkan dance group in Montreal directed by Dennis Boxell, an American who regularly
traveled to the Balkans to collect music and dance. He was also an important source of inspiration and information. After finishing High School in 1966, I had saved a bit of money and decided this was the time to go to Europe. I took the cheapest flight (Icelandic Airlines) and then got on the Orient Express from Paris for a 3-day journey to Sofia. I visited my penpal Irina and also the people at Radio Sofia who directed me to a big folk festival in Eastern Bulgaria, I had the status of «guest of the State». This was to open many doors. At that Festival, I met the most influent authorities in the field of Bulgarian folklore and got to see authentic villagers dancing, singing and playing instruments. I guess I was real lucky to be at «the right place at the right time». The Bulgarians are most hospitable and they were honored that I took interest in their country and culture. Nonetheless, it was almost impossible to travel around without some kind of
official invitation.
(IM) What gave you the idea to record the village musicians?
(YM) After that memorable Festival in Eastern Bulgaria (Haskovo), I knew that I really wanted to return to Bulgaria as soon as possible to get to know more about traditional village folk music and dance. I formed a Bulgarian dance group in Montreal and began teaching dance workshops throughout Canada and the USA. In 1969, I received a scholarship from the Bulgarian Government to study in Bulgaria. I spent a year and a half
traveling throughout he country, recording, filming and improving my Bulgarian language skills.
(IM) The recordings that make up the three CD series 'Beyond the Mystery' where done when?
(YM) They are mostly from the 1969-70 when I studied in Bulgaria. Some of the recordings are from the first trip in 1966 and a few others from another trip in 1972.
(IM) There must have been times when you thought that these recordings would never get released?
(YM) Actually, I originally took along a Uher reel-to-reel portable recorder just in case I might come across some interesting examples of traditional music and song. I knew these would help me in my folklore studies but I actually had no intention at first of producing commercial recordings. It is only many years later that I realized that I had amassed over 100 hours of precious musical documents and that many of the people I had recorded were no longer alive. In the mid-seventies I contacted Moses Asch of Folkways records in New York and he expressed interest in my village recordings. We planned on releasing two LPs. Asch died soon after and the project was shelved. Then in the early nineties there was a renewed interest in Bulgarian folk music with the impact of Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares and I started thinking of reviving my village recordings project. I wanted people to hear what «real» Bulgarian singing was before it got so arranged and sophisticated with three-part harmonies etc.
That’s how I coined the name « Beyond the Mystery ». Nonetheless, I still love many of the arranged women's choral "classics" which I had discovered through Filip Kutev forty years ago… Another important reason for releasing these recordings on CD was that my old tapes were quickly deteriorating and I was afraid that this precious music would
disappear forever. The new digital technologies were now
accessible and affordable, so I went ahead and created BMA
Productions.
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Yves in Bulgaria 1969
with his Uher reel-to-reel portable recorder
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(IM) Which musicians that you met on your field trips did you think exception?
(YM) Oh, there were so many great ones. Each of these recordings reminds me of magic moments spent in villages as a special guest. The women of the Shopluk and Pirin regions
with their powerful voices (Vol. 3) were amazing. But then, so were the Rhodope gajda players (Vol. 1) and the Vlach musicians of Northwest Bulgaria (Vol. 2) and the kaval and gadulka players from Eastern Bulgaria (Vol.1). I still get chills when I hear the compelling voice of Valja Balkanska (Vol.1), the soulful ballad of 78-year old Nikola Vajtushev (Vol.2) or the powerful zurna playing of Selim Demirov (Vol. 3)
(IM) I am sure you have many a good memory of your field trips to Bulgaria but are there any certain areas, dances, experiences you have had that you would want to share?
(YM) I loved the trips to the mountain regions of the Rhodopes and Pirin. Today, it's perhaps there that you might still find some "living" Bulgarian folk traditions. In terms of dancing, the earthy and strong dances of Dobrudzha appeal to me. Overall, my experiences were very positive. The Bulgarian people were kind and hospitable. There were so many times when I "crashed" a village wedding just to hear the music and ended up as an honoured guest at the head table !
(IM) There seems to be a wide variety of folk dances in Bulgaria, is it a case of each village having a variation on a theme or are they quite distinct from each other?
(YM) There are dances which are common to all regions of the country: Pravo Horo, Rachenitsa, Paidushko, etc. Then there are some which are proper to each region with specific steps and styles. In the Shope and West Thracian regions is where you can find the most complex dance rhythms: 11/8, 13/8, 15/8 and even stranger combinations. The main characteristic is that the dances are of the horo type done mostly in circles or lines. Some of the older forms of dances were once connected with specific rituals or functions: Springtime, Winter Solstice, etc.
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| Yves Moreau teaching Bulgarian dance workshop at Cecil Sharp
House, London, Sept. 2001 |
(IM) Was there much improvising of dances in villages?
(YM) Not so much in the horo forms if you talk about steps. The "variations" are to be seen within the "energy levels" of each individual dancer. In the rachenitsa, however, there is more possibility of improvisation as it is
primarily a solo dance.
(IM) What distinguishes Bulgarian dances do you think from surrounding countries? Have you perceived any trends in the folk dance and music of
Bulgaria in the 30+ years you have been studying it?
(YM) Bulgaria does share some common characteristics with its neighbours (Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey) in traditional music and dance. For a long time (500 years) these territories were under Turkish Ottoman rule and the borders were not as defined as today. There were also many nomadic people who carried traditions far and wide. Most Balkan countries share the basic circle or line dance forms: horo, oro, hora, kolo, etc. Bulgaria probably stands out for its complex patterns, meters and high energy. The other "trademark" is the great number of dances where the dancers hold on to each other's belts (za poyas). As for trends, there have been many, among which: The formation of professional Folk Ensembles (starting in the fifties with Filip Kutev) with their elaborate female choirs, orchestras of folk instruments and dance contingent; the growth of the "wedding band" type of folk music in the eighties with its jazzy free style (Ivo Papazov etc.); the trendy "mysterious" voices (as coined by Marcel Cellier) which led to many variations: Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Trio Bulgarka, Angelite, Balkana and their associations with Western artists and agents: Jo Boyd, Kate Bush, Linda Ronstadt. Theodosii Spassov, the virtuoso kaval player has also combined folk with jazz and percussive forms with some fascinating results. In recent years, I do think that the presence of Bulgarian folk artists on the World Music scene has faded significantly.
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| Yves Moreau with his wife
France Bourque-Moreau receiving gifts from group leaders at workshop in Okinawa, Japan, November 2003 |
(IM) With your folk dances classes, are they strictly Bulgarian or do they encompass other country's dances?
(YM) During my dance workshops, I concentrate primarily on Bulgarian dances. Occasionally, I teach some repertoire from other Balkan countries and even from my native Quebec !
(IM) Without being too academic, how do you categorise the folk dances to a 'western' audience, is it
men's dance, women's dance, couples' dance or by region?
(YM) I approach the dances from different angles: by region, by levels of difficulty, by their social and ritual context, their strong link to singing etc. As for "gender" classification, specific "men's" and "women's" dances are not as significant as they were let's say 60-75 years ago. Basically, I teach the dances with the "recreational" spirit in mind. The people who attend my workshop are
primarily well-educated urban folk from industrialized countries who want to "reconnect" with community values and traditional folk heritage which they either lost or never experienced.
(IM) Are there any folk dance choreographers that you consider important?
(YM) In Bulgaria, I particularly have a lot of respect for Kiril Dzhenev, Dimitar Dimitrov, Todor Bekirski, and Petar Angelov who always kept a strong link with tradition in their stage creations. As I am more interested in collecting original non choreographed material, I am more interested in the work done by dance researchers and ethnologists such as: Boris Tzonev, Raina Katzarova, Anna Ilieva, Krasimir Petrov etc.
(IM) I was told you did a presentation to Bulgarians on how the 'west' perceives their folk culture, what was their reaction this this?
(YM) Yes, that was in 1986 at an International Folklore Conference in Sofia. I presented the results of a survey I had undertaken about why "foreigners" were fascinated by Bulgarian folk music and dance. I showed them photographs of Japanese dancers in Tokyo dressed in Bulgarian costumes doing a wild Bulgarian dance, I played musical examples of "westerners" playing Bulgarian tunes in various styles from
Celtic to New Age, they heard Balkan women's a capella singing groups from California which sounded as good as any
professional group in Bulgaria etc. There were many well-known musicologists and ethnographers at my presentation. I think most were amazed at how far and wide their folk culture had
traveled. I certainly was well positioned to talk about this as I was myself one of those "foreigners" and had been among the most active in promoting their culture to thousands of people worldwide.
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Yves Moreau and
France Bourque-Moreau at a dance seminar in Germany, December 2003.
Far left: Turkish dance teacher Ahmet Lüleci and on far
right, German dance leader & music producer Michel Hepp |
(IM) When did you start the company BMA Productions? Was
it out of some frustration at the lack of Bulgarian folk music available?
(YM) BMA (Bourque-Moreau Associates) Productions was started in 1999 together with my wife France Bourque-Moreau, a specialist in folk dance and music for children.
I had just finished editing the final selection for the "Beyond the Mystery" series and my wife was working on a CD with French-Canadian traditional repertoire and we wanted to create a label under which we could produce our own projects. The Beyond the Mystery series certainly wanted
to offer some real traditional Bulgarian village music to counterbalance the incredible amount of "arranged", stylized or "fusion" stuff we had been exposed to in recent years. I do want to recognize however the work of other collectors who also released some excellent field recordings of Bulgarian music: A.L. Loyd (Columbia & Topic), Deben Battacharya (Argo, BAM), Martin Koenig & Ethel Raim (Nonesuch) and Herman Vuylsteke (Chant du Monde) etc.
(IM) Boris Karlov: your 2 x CD set of accordionist Boris Karlov recordings has met with universal acclaim you must be very pleased with it?
(YM) Yes, indeed. There have been some great reviews in such publications as: Songlines (UK), Trad (France), Sing Out (USA) and several specialized websites. Word-of-mouth publicity also works; I get regular orders coming in through
my website.
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Boris
Karlov
'Legend of the Bulgarian Accordion'
(BMA1005-6) 2 x CD set |
(IM) Most of the Karlov recordings are naturally from Bulgaria, but there are several done by Jugoton in Yugoslavia, is he still popular he there?
(YM) Karlov had achieved some popularity in former Yugoslavia in the late fifties and early sixties. Many fans in Serbia and Macedonia listened to him on the radio. His repertoire was mostly West Bulgarian, close to their style of music. He toured several times with Serbian and Macedonian singers and musicians and did record a few times
with Jugoton. He actually died during a concert in Serbia in 1964. There is even a small monument in his memory in the town of Kraljevo, Serbia. Today, only people of a certain generation (mostly in their 60's and more) would likely remember him.
(IM) You never got to meet Boris Karlov but you obviously have spoken to many who knew and worked with him and he does seem a likeable character. Since releasing the CD compilation have any other stories about him come to light?
(YM) Unfortunately, Karlov died 2 years before my first visit to Bulgaria so I never got to meet him. I met several other musicians and singers who worked with him and hope to meet with some of his children when I return to Bulgaria later this year. Most of the anecdotes about him were compiled by Manol Todorov, an ethnomusicologist who helped me with the CD project. He had known Karlov personally and also interviewed at my request, Karlov family members for the CD accompanying booklet. I'm sure I'll collect more stories about him when I go back to Bulgaria.
(IM) Before your compilation there seemed to be nothing of his work available, seems odd?
(YM) Not really. I guess because he died so young, there was not that much that he recorded. There were a few 78rpm records which came out on Radioprom in the forties and later on Balkanton, the State-owned record company. The one recording which did exposure was Balkanton BHA 402 an LP with 12 of his tunes which came out in the early 60's and which was exported here and there. A few of his tunes also ended up on several compilations released under license abroad: Chant du Monde, Monitor, etc. You have to realize Balkanton and Radio Sofia were State monopolies and they decided who got to be recorded. They also had limited means and technology. On my double-CD compilation, there are 40 tunes. This probably accounts for 90% of the instrumentals he ever recorded.
(IM) What are your plans for the future of BMA? Any new releases in the pipeline?
(YM) Well, this year I released for the North American market 2 CDs with the music of Macedonian bagpipe (gajda) master Pece Atanasovski. This was by special agreement with Michel Hepp in Germany who obtained the licences from the original recording companies in former Yugoslavia. I plan to continue the Balkan Folk Archives series and introduce some other music "legends" in the coming years. Among my wishes: The Korenyashka Bulgarian Brass Band led by Karlo Aliev, Boris Karlov's father; the Thracian clarinet master Georgi Koev; the Bulgarian bagpiper Kostadin Varimezov; the Strandzhanska Grupa folk band; and hopefully other great musicians from Serbia, Macedonia and Romania who were active in the period 1945-1980. My wife also has plans for more children's CDs with French-Canadian and multicultural themes.
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| Yves Moreau at a dance workshop in Kyoto, Japan, Nov. 2003. On his
right, Japanese tour organizers and on his left, Romanian dance teachers
Lia and Theodor Vasilescu, and France Bourque-Moreau |
(IM) I know that you are involved with several other organisations, what is your role with the EEFC? And their CD release
BALKANALIA?
(YM) I was on the Board of Directors of the East European Folklife Center (EEFC)
(www.eefc.org) from 1988 to 2001 and have been a regular staff member at their summer workshops in the USA. This is a wonderful organization which acts as a network for Balkan music and dance enthusiasts in North America and elsewhere. When I was on their Board, I was one of the strong supporters of releasing music CDs with the incredible talent pool which had worked with EEFC over the years. The Balkanalia CD is the result of this collective project. I was a member of the Music Selection Committee which had to chose from hundreds of great tunes and artists. The final selection was based on several criteria: variety of styles and techniques, overall quality of recordings, etc. It was not an easy task. I think most are pleased with the result. It is a great album for listening and even for dancing and a useful tool to promote EEFC.
(IM) Will there be a volume 2?
(YM) I certainly hope so. EEFC must first continue to promote the
Balkanalia CD and work on its distribution network. There is plenty of material to put out several volumes but it's a complex and costly undertaking.
(Interview conducted in June 2004)
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| Yves Moreau with Bulgarian bagpiper
Vasil Bebelekov, at the EEFC Mendocino Folk Music and Dance Camp,
California, June 2003 |
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