The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices and Lisa Gerrard: Bulgarian voices at Warsaw’s Stodoła

The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices, also known as Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, was founded in 1952 as the Bulgarian Television Female Vocal Choir. In the 1960s, Swiss producer Marcel Cellier discovered them while travelling in the Balkans and, many years later, arranged their first album’s release. The unassuming “Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares” appeared in 1975. Nobody suspected that, a decade later, it would bring the Bulgarian singers worldwide fame. Bauhaus’s Peter Murphy played it to Ivo Watts-Russel, head of legendary label 4AD.

An enchanted Russel immediately released a reissue and arranged further releases. “Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Volume 2” won a Grammy in 1989. The singers’ phenomenon results from a combination of more than a thousand years of Bulgarian vocal art, contemporary sounds and multilayered compositions. Kate Bush recognised their skills, recording “The Sensual World” and “The Red Shoes” with three of them. Lisa Gerrard needs no introduction to Polish audiences.

The Dead Can Dance co-founder is renowned for a voice that is as beautiful as it is distinctive, drawing on early music, Gregorian chant and world music in its broadest sense. Dead Can Dance formed as a duo in 1981 and released their debut album on 4AD three years later, but their real breakthrough came with the albums recorded between 1985 and 1988: “Spleen and Ideal”, “Within the Realm of a Dying Sun” and “The Serpent's Egg”.

Lisa was also one of the mainstays of the supergroup This Mortal Coil. She began her solo career in 1995, recording the warmly received “The Mirror Pool”, which confirmed her formidable vocal abilities. She collaborated with Tangerine Dream's Klaus Schulze and wrote film music. The “Gladiator” soundtrack, co-composed with Hans Zimmer, earned an Oscar nomination.

“BooCheeMish” also features Skiller, Bulgaria's 2012 world beatboxing champion. Aleksandar Deyanov avoids hip-hop inspirations, treating beatboxing as a vocal art and drawing on diverse musical traditions. He has performed with Shaggy, Stereo MCs and Transglobal Underground, among others. Percussionist David Kuckhermann and a string orchestra complete the line-up.

“BooCheeMish” will have three parts. First, The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices perform traditional repertoire supported by Skiller. Second, Lisa Gerrard performs her own pieces with the choristers and Skiller. Third, the choir and Lisa Gerrard perform specially prepared compositions a cappella. Expect surprises, solos, improvisations and continual encounters between seemingly incompatible traditions separated by more than a thousand years.

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