Bulgarian Voices Angelite - Triptih (Three Customs)

Bulgarian Voices Angelite - Triptih (Three Customs) - "Voices of Life"
arr. Nikolay Kaufman
Amazon.com's Best of 2000
What makes this recording so special is that it's the choir's first opportunity to showcase their virtuoso vocals in a finely recorded setting where solos rebound in sorrowful echoes and the ethereal power of the 20 women resounds. The new songs from Eddie Jobson melt into the Bulgarian folk tradition seamlessly and though a complex melancholy permeates the album, Voices of Life ends up being just what its title says. --Karen K. Hugg

Amazon.com
After listening to the Bulgarian Women's Choir one might think Bulgaria is the most wondrous country on the planet. And in some ways it is. Geographically it lies where the origins of the Western musical scale developed, but the music made there was isolated for centuries after the Eastern Orthodox Church split from the Roman Catholic Church. The result is a choral ensemble such as BWC, whose sound is born somewhere between the medieval Byzantine church and the Eastern European mountains. While the vocals are piercing and plaintive, they're also heavenly and childlike, and this is the complex beauty of the Bulgarian Women's Choir.

Recorded in 1999 for a forthcoming documentary, Voices of Life beautifully displays the ensemble's bold harmonics, wavering tonality, and yodel-like whooping. The effect is chilling when the pitch drastically fluctuates under their masterful throat control, as on "Pilentze Pee," or when the sorrow explodes forth via a soloist, as on "Kalimanko Denko." Unlike the collaboration with Africa's Ray Lema or the electronic dance treatment of From Bulgaria with Love, this collaboration with writer-producer Eddie Jobson is not a miss. In fact, it's a direct hit, thanks to Jobson's deep understanding of and respect for this style of Bulgarian music. Listen, and be amazed. --Karen K. Hugg

More about this album: http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_edge_eddie_jobson/