88.1 KDHX Saint Louis

This show will be an overview of "Wedding Music" in Bulgaria and its greatests exponent, Ivo Papazov. We start with an example of what the government at the time called "pure Bulgarian folk music" - bagpipe and drum. This is what was allowed at folk festivals in the 1960s through 1990. Because the internet is down in this area, the show may not be archived. For questions about any of the pieces, i can be reached at musicfromthehills@kdhx.org

The recording date given is 1982, with the cassette coming out in 1985. The resistance to having a Roma player officially represented on he national Bulgarian recording label, was that great. He was paid only a small amount, was not allowed to use his own band, and the arranger was paid 3 times as much. Papazov was also not allowed to play in his preferred style.

"kycheks" had taken over Bulgarian music, even by the late '60s, but were not "legal" to play in public until after 1991. The explosion of popular cassettes after that era fueled popularity of the style. Cover art usually featured scantily clad women (the title of this cassette, Gol Kychek literally means "Nude kychek" and had cover "art" to match).

an example of what followed the kychek craze - chalga. Azis was a cross-dressing male singer who sported a Mae West-style red velvet dress and a bleached blond goatee on stage. Still, he was an important singer in the early 2000s