Bulgarian Folk Songs Explained

Bulgarian Folk Songs^{[1] [2] [3]} is a collection of folk songs and traditions from the then Ottoman Empire, especially from the region of Macedonia, but also from Shopluk and Srednogorie, by the Miladinov brothers, published in 1861. The Miladinovs' collection is the greatest single work in the history of Bulgarian folklore studies and has been republished many times.^[4] The collection is also considered to have played an important role by the historiography in North Macedonia.

History

Collecting and publication

The two brothers were interested in Bulgarian folklore. This inspired them to compile the collection. Dimitar was the first one to start collecting songs. He was visited by the Russian Slavist Victor Grigorovich in 1845, who advised him to begin collecting folk songs. In 1846, Dimitar promised to send some folk songs to him in a letter.^[5] He and his brother started to collect folk songs. In 1857 Konstantin took the collection they prepared to Moscow with the hope of publishing it there, but could not find a publisher.^[6] One of the main problems was that the materials were written down in Bulgarian, but with Greek letters. In Moscow, he received the encouragement of the Bulgarian students there. Vasil Cholakov assisted, providing him with songs, and taking a direct part in transcribing the songs taken down by the Miladinov brothers, in preparing for publishing their collection.^[7] The 660 songs were collected mainly between 1854 and 1860. Most of them by the elder brother, Dimitar, who taught in several Macedonian towns (Ohrid, Struga, Prilep, Kukush and Bitola) and was able to put into writing 584 folk songs from the area. Women recited most of the songs. The songs from the Sofia district were supplied by the Sofia schoolmaster Sava Filaretov. Those from Panagyurishte area, were recorded by Marin Drinov and Nesho Bonchev. Rayko Zhinzifov, who went to Russia with the help of Dimitar, was another collaborator.

In 1860 Konstantin addressed Croatian bishop Joseph Strossmayer, who sympathized with the Bulgarian people, with an appeal to publish the collection. Originally, the book was written using Greek orthography. He answered Konstantin's letter positively, but insisted the folk songs should be written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Konstantin transcribed the songs from Greek into Cyrillic.^[8] Its preprint was finalized in Đakovo and it was printed in Zagreb by Ante Jakić in 1861.^[9] The collection was dedicated to Strossmayer. In the preface to the collection, the brothers expressed their gratitude to Cholakov, among other associates.^[10] The book represents an anthology of 660 folk songs, but also folk legends, traditions, rituals, names, riddles, and proverbs.^[11] The brothers called the land they collected from as "Western Bulgaria", as they announced regarding the publication of their collection, because they disliked the name "Macedonia" since it was a Greek term.^{[12] [13] [14] [15] [16]}

Legacy

The collecting was well-received by its contemporaries - Lyuben Karavelov, Nesho Bonchev, Ivan Bogorov, Kuzman Shapkarev, Rayko Zhinzifov and others. The Russian scholar Izmail Sreznevsky pointed out in 1863 that the Bulgarians are far from lagging behind other peoples in poetic abilities. Elias Riggs, an American linguist in Constantinople, translated some songs into English and sent them to the American Oriental Society in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1862, Riggs wrote the collection presents an interesting picture of the traditions and fancies prevailing among the mass of the Bulgarian people. The collection also had an impact on the development of the modern Bulgarian literature.^{[17] [18]} The collection has been published many times in Bulgaria. The second edition was published in 1891 by Dimitar's wife Mitra, already in the Bulgarian Principality. The third one was released in 1942, edited by literary historian . The fourth one was released in 1961, edited by literary historian .^[19]

In post-war Yugoslav Macedonia the collection was published for the first time in 1962 and afterwards in 1983 under the title "The Collection of the Miladinov Brothers", by literary historians Haralampije Polenaković and .^[20] The reference to Macedonia as "Western Bulgaria" in the foreword was removed. All references to "Bulgarian" and "Bulgarians" were replaced with "Macedonian" and "Macedonians". During the Yugoslav era, the original collection was unavailable to the public.^{[21] [22]} After the fall of Communism in 1999, under the auspices of Dimitar Dimitrov, a Bulgarophile and minister of culture, the collection was reissued under its original title, which caused serious protests from Macedonian historians.^{[23] [24]} As a result, the Macedonian State Archive, funded by the Soros Foundation, displayed a photocopy of the book and the text on the cover was simply "Folk Songs", the upper part of the page showing "Bulgarian" was cut off. Bulgarian scholars have accused their Macedonian colleagues of forging the original edition of the collection by deliberately deleting the word "Bulgarian". This Bulgarian argument has strong support in international academic circles.^[25] Although the book contains a number of songs in which the literary characters are Bulgarian,^[26] Macedonian researchers claim the "Bulgarian" designation appeared in the title shortly prior to the book’s publication, and it originally was titled "Macedonian Folk Songs".^[27] The collection's historical context and its authors' national identity have been disputed between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.^[28] Today in North Macedonia the pupils do not have the access to this collection in original. In March 2021, a shipment with the original edition of the book, intended for the Cultural Center of Bulgaria in Skopje, was not allowed on the territory of North Macedonia, which caused an official protest from the Bulgarian side.^{[29] [30]}

See also

• Political views on the Macedonian language
• Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians

External links

• The original collection: Бѫлгарски народни пѣсни. Собрани отъ братья Миладиновци, Димитрıя и Константина и издадени отъ Константина.
• The collection transliterated in modern Bulgarian orthography on Liternet.
• The collection transliterated in modern Macedonian orthography on Wikisource.

Notes and References

1. [Cyrillic]
2. Modern Bulgarian: Български народни песни, in Bulgarian pronounced as /ˈbəlɡɐrski nɐˈrɔdni ˈpɛsni/, Macedonian: Бугарски народни песни, in Macedonian pronounced as /ˈbugɑrski ˈnɑrɔdni ˈpɛsni/.
3. The book is known in North Macedonia as the Collection of the Miladinov brothers (Macedonian: Зборникот на Миладиновци, in Macedonian pronounced as /ˈzbɔrnikɔt nɑ milɑˈdinɔft͡si/).
4. Book: Charles A. Moser . A History of Bulgarian Literature 865–1944 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG . 2019 . 3110810603 . 85.
5. Book: Janette Sampimon . Becoming Bulgarian: The articulation of Bulgarian identity in the nineteenth century in its international context: An intellectual history . 2006 . Pegasus . 9061433118 . 33-34.
6. Book: Larry Koroloff . The Miladinov Brothers: A Miscellany . Macedonian Historical Society of Canada . 1982 . 4-8; 12.
7. Simeon Simeonov, Vassil Cholakov in the Folklore of the Bulgarian National Revival . Български фолклор . 1979 . 3 . 31-43 . bg.
8. Book: Loring Danforth . The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World . Princeton University Press . 1997 . 9780691043562 . 63.
9. Tihomir Živić . Antonija Vranješ . 2017 . Josip Juraj Strossmayer: A Statesman of Culture . Култура/Culture . 138-139 .
10. Mariya Mitskova . The papers of Vasil Cholakov in the context of dialectological researches during the Bulgarian National Revival period . Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv . Research papers . 54 . 1 . 2016 . 77 . bg.
11. Book: Mary Lee Knowlton . 2005 . Cultures of the World: Macedonia . . 9780761418542 . 72.
12. In the announcement by the Miladinov Brothers about the subscription for their collection called Bulgarian Folk Songs, published in Belgrade by Konstantin Miladinov on February 7, 1861 in the Bulgarian newspaper Dunavski Lebed, issue № 20, he wrote: "We started collecting folk songs six years ago from all parts of Western Bulgaria, i.e. Macedonia... as well as from Eastern Bulgaria. These folk songs will be supplemented with traditional rites of betrothal and match-making from Struga and Kukush; proverbs, riddles, legends and about 2,000 words which have become obsolete or differ from other dialects". For more see: D. Kossev et al., Macedonia, documents and materials, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, (in English) Sofia, 1978, p. 48.
13. Book: Andrew Rossos . Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History . Hoover Institution Press . 2008 . 0817948813 . 84 . On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term ‘‘Bulgarian’’ in the title of his and his brother’s collection of Macedonian folk songs: ‘‘In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek.’’ Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation..
14. Book: Tchavdar Marinov . Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian identity at the crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nationalism . 285 . Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies . BRILL . 2013 . 900425076X . Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called “Western Bulgaria”. Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian historian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek..
15. Book: Chris Kostov . Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto . Peter Lang . 2010 . 3034301960 . 72 . Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands"..
16. Spyridon Sfetas . The image of the Greeks in the work of the Bulgarian revolutionary and intellectual Georgi Rakovski . Balkan Studies . 42 . 1 . 105-106 . 2001 . 2241-1674 . The struggle over the historical legacy of the name “Macedonia” was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to Rakovski, dated 31 January 1861: On my order form I have called Macedonia “Western Bulgaria”, as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them..
17. Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост. Академик Емил Георгиев, (Държавно издателство Народна просвета, София 1980)
18. Петър Динеков. Делото на братя Миладинови.(Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)
19. “e-Journal VFU” . Варненски свободен университет "Черноризец Храбър . 12 . 2019 . Три страници от началото на българската ономанистика . Димитър Маринов . 12-13 . bg.
20. Миладинова, М. 140 години "Български народни песни" от братя Миладинови. Отзвук и значение. сп. Македонски преглед, 2001, Македонският научен институт, бр. 4, стр. 5-21.
21. Георги Тренчев . Сборникът „Български народни песни“ в хърватския периодичен печат от 1860 – 1861 г. . Македонски преглед . 2021 . Македонският научен институт . 3 . 85–100 . bg.
22. Book: Phillips , John . Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans . I.B.Tauris . 2004 . 186064841X . 41.
23. Tchavdar Marinov . Historiographical Revisionism and Re-Articulation of Memory in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia . Sociétés politiques comparées . 25 May 2010 . 6.
24. Book: Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto; 1900 - 1996 . Chris Kostov . Peter Lang . 2010 . 3034301960 . 93-94.
25. Lazarević, Dragana 2015. The politics of heritage in the West Balkans: the evolution of nation-building and the invention of national narratives as a consequence of political changes. Cardiff University, PhD Thesis, pp. 323-324.
26. Book: Vlado Treneski . White book about the language dispute between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia . Sofia . Orbel . 2021 . 978-954-496-149-7 . 89 . The book contains a number of songs from the geographical area of Macedonia, in which the local population only declares itself to be Bulgarian: „Maria Bela Bulgarka“ (song 76), „I am a pure Bulgarian“ (song 76), „Turks killed young people Bulgarians” (song 87), “Gino, too young Bulgarian” (song 95), “Krotko mi igray oy bugarino” (song 150 from Prilep), “Veliko, dulber bugarko” (song 356), “Moshne mi se dear Bulgarian maidens” (song 474), “They quarreled, quarreled three beautiful girls. One was a Vlach, another was a Greek, the third was Bulgarian” (songs 431, 465). „Three Bulgarian Girls“ (song 504) and others..
27. Book: Vemund Aarbakke . Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913 . 2003 . East European Monographs . 9780880335270 . 36.
28. Book: Bechev, Dimitar. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. 2009. 149.
29. Web site: Minister Zaharieva summons North Macedonia’s Ambassador to Sofia over slander campaign . Radio Bulgaria . 27 March 2021.
30. Web site: North Macedonia’s Blockade on Book Donation Riles Bulgaria . Sinisa Jakov Marusic . Balkan Insight (BIRN) . 29 March 2021.