The Super Stars of Bulgaria

The second season of the TV show "Bulgarian Idol" is well under way. Only 11 competitors have left to compete for the first prize. The competition is very thrilling, since all contestants have remarkable vocal abilities and amazing stage behavior. Three large concerts have been performed until now. The first one was themed "Evergreen Hits", where the performers had to sing a hit song from the 70s or the 80s. In the second concert, the candidates for the title "Music Idol of Bulgaria" had to perform Pop-Folk songs - perhaps the most popular musical genre in the country. Some of the best singers were the 16-year old Shanel Erkin, whose song was half in Turkish:

Another exciting performance was that of the heavy metal fan Toma Zdravkov, who gave a new sound to the pop-folk hit "Obicham Te" (I love you).


However, not all candidates for "Bulgarian Idol" were like that. During the regional castings, around 24,000 candidates appeared in front of the jury in 5 different towns. Some of them did not have any singing talents or came only for having fun and to be shown for the first time on TV. There were even some who decided to write their own lyrics for the songs they presented in front of the jury. The most hilarious of them sounded like "I washed my underpants yesterday on the canal" and "A tractor driver, a hooligan is my neighbor Ivan. He is well known in the police for stealing livestock from the farms." However, some candidates even invented their own languages, like Valentina Hassan (the video below). She tried to sing Mariah Carey's song "Without You" without knowing any English, only by recording what she heard from listening to her CD player:

Another enthusiast for becoming the next Bulgarian Idol was the 24-year old pastry chef Trifon Alexandrov, who declared himself as the "Michael Jackson of the Croissants":

The next "exciting" performance was given by the 17-year-old Milen Dimitrov, a Bulgarian of Romany descent from a village called Dalboki. His performance of Mariah Carey''s "Lead The Way" and "Never Too Far" made the jury wonder which were the songs that he sang:

Bulgaria Recognizes Kosovo!!!

The Bulgarian governement declared that it would recognize the self-proclaimed independent Republic of Kosovo. The decision was made with the cooperation of the governments Hungary and Croatia. The reactions from the Serbian side were negative and Serbia withdrew its ambassador from Bulgaria. Tensions between Bulgaria and its neighboring country have become very high. Bulgarian car and truck drivers have been complaining in the last few days that they were thrown stones at and had their tyres cut while passing through Serbian territory. Another example of how the Serbs "love" their neighbors.

Kamelia - Kadi Si Ti? (Where Are You?)



Gloria - Opiat



Preslava - Kogato Samne (When Dawn Breaks)


These are examples of Bulgarian pop-folk music, locally known as chalga. This style combines Balkan/Middle Eastern folk elements with modern pop/dance/techno and sometimes r'n'b rhythms. It is enjoyed in clubs throughout the country and similar styles of music are very popular in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.