On the occasion September 6, a holiday dedicated to an important historical event - the Unification of Bulgaria, we recall a legendary Bulgarian patriotic march. Certainly in September 1885, "Edin Zavet" (One Legacy) did not accompany the uprisings in Panagyurishte, Chirpan, Pazardzhik, Golyamo Konare and the military coup in Plovdiv. The author of the music - Georgi Shagunov, was 12 years old at the time, while the author of the lyrics - Ivan Yonchev, was born in Samokov a year and five months before the date of the Unification.

The main motives in Yonchev's work are unrequited love, impossible happiness, attachment to mother and homeland.

The Balkan wars changed his life and poetry. He was sent to the front, where he created some of his famous poems, which later became patriotic songs. He was wounded and after returning to Sofia in the autumn of 1915, he wrote the poem "Zavetat na dedite" (“The Legacy of the Ancestors”), dedicated to Lieutenant Colonel Todor Girginov. With it and several other poems, which became the basis for songs, Yonchev left his mark in the Bulgarian literature.

Georgi Shagunov is one of the prominent Bulgarian musicians associated with the army. The talented composer and conductor was born in 1873 in Plovdiv. Until the age of 16, he studied at a French college and then his father sent him to Lyon to study medicine. Instead, Shagunov enrolled in the Lyon Conservatory, where he specialized in French horn, cornet, music theory, composition and conducting. He participated in the Balkan War, then until his retirement in 1930 he was the conductor of the military orchestra of the 24th Infantry Black Sea Regiment in Burgas. Georgi Shagunov is the author of about 1000 works, as over 400 of them are military marches. Of course, the most popular today is the impressive "Edin Zavet".

There is an intriguing story, according to which in the winter of 1919 the famous bandmaster Shagunov welcomed his firstborn son Petar - a recently admitted cadet at the Military School, who was on his first leave. When Shagunov saw how well his son looked in the elegant uniform, he was so excited that in a burst of paternal pride he remembered about the poem by Ivan Yonchev. Just a few days later, Yonchev's poem was "dressed in a marching melody", which the young cadet Petar Shagunov brought as a Christmas gift to the Military School.

This exciting story is to some extent refuted by the renowned musician, teacher and long-time military conductor Atanas Ivanov, one of the most informed researchers of the history of brass bands in Bulgaria and their repertoire. In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio in 2012, included in a series dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Balkan War, Ivanov said that since the Military School held a marching song festival every year and they knew that Petar Shagunov's father was a bandmaster, they sent him on leave for 2-3 days, gave him the text of Ivan Yonchev’s "The Legacy of the Ancestors", and ordered him a new song. So, his father wrote "One Legacy"…

Whatever the truth, the fact is that the song was enthusiastically received first by the cadets. "Edin Zavet" soon left the army and became part of the repertoire of student, amateur and professional choirs, including ensembles such as "Gusla" and "Kaval", which presented the song on the big national and European stages.

We offer you a performance by the "Gusla" choir under the baton of the great Vasil Stefanov, to recall a highlight of Bulgarian musical culture – "Edin Zavet" by Georgi Shagunov, which has turned into a synonym of the connection between past and future.

Author: Tsvetana Toncheva

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: Archives State Agency, Regional History Museum - Burgas, burgas.bg, Krasimir Kamenov, archive