The great Bulgarian musician Filip Kutev (1903 – 1982) was a prominent and original artist, a representative of the so-called "second generation" of Bulgarian composers. In 1951, together with his wife Maria Kuteva (philologist and folklorist), he founded the State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances.

Until his death, Filip Kutev was the chief artistic director of the Ensemble. He established its high professional level and world popularity. He made the first arrangements of the original monophonic folk songs for a polyphonic choir, preserving the authentic melody. His work has become a model for other Bulgarian artists in the genre of folklore processing. Dozens of his masterpieces are today considered original folklore and are a musical emblem of Bulgaria in the world. But one of the songs seems to be unsurpassed in popularity.

The story of the song is well-known, but it is best told by Maria Kuteva: "Filip Kutev's assistants in his work with the choir were the two sisters Pavlina Popova and Parashkeva Popova from the village of Kalugerovo, Pazardzhik region. Both well-mannered, modest and hardworking - they mastered the individual parts with exceptional conscientiousness, especially since at first everything was learned only by ear... After a few years, Pavlina Popova (Bedrova) also became a choir conductor and Parashkeva was her assistant...

It was in 1953. In the spring we went abroad for the first time. The ensemble took part in the music festival "Prague Spring", Czechoslovakia. The success was exceptional. /…/ Very shortly after we returned, we participated in the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest... We were returning, travelling by bus and we stopped by the Danube for a rest. It was dusk, people sat down in groups right on the ground. The singers also made a circle and sang just for personal pleasure. Then Parashkeva Popova sang one supposedly simple songs – ‘Polegnala e Todora’. Pavlina started singing, everyone started singing. Whether it was the girls' souls freed from tension, or the joyful state of everyone, or the cool and pleasant evening by the Danube with the setting sun, or the joy that we were going home - all of it together probably made the impact extraordinary.

We had heard this song before but now it captivated us... The small break after our return was entirely dedicated to the song. Filip developed it for an antiphonal choir - the harmonized melody and a vocal quartet. When we started working again in the autumn of 1953, the song was ready in its final form... Everyone fell in love with this song so much that not only then, but even now, the dream of many singers is to be included in the quartet…"

"Polegnala e Todora” today is a symbol of the National Folklore Ensemble "Philip Koutev". For a whole year, the song was the emblem of one of the most popular radio programs in Japan at the request of the listeners. Six decades after its creation, it sounds at the beginning of the successful film "The Banshees of Inisherin", which received eight Oscar nominations, four BAFTA awards and two Golden Globes in 2023. Here is the magnificent interpretation of the singers from the Filip Kutev Ensemble with soloists Verka Siderova, Yanka Taneva, Roza Tsvetkova and Sidera Nikolova.

Author: Tsvetana Toncheva

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: philipkoutev.com, clubabagar.com, Facebook /The Banshees Of Inisherin