‘Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares’: the cult Bulgarian choral album loved by musicians
Music has always had its best-kept secrets, and Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares is certainly one of them. An incredibly profound record loved by an array of influential artists, it remains a mystery why it is not better known like so many other notable moments that emerged from off the beaten track. Translated as The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, this compilation album remains one of the most narcotic out there, comprised of modern arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs, featuring Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir, the Filip Kutev Ensemble and soloists such as Kalinka Valcheva and the influential Yanka Rupkina.
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares was the result of 15 arduous years of work by the famous Swiss ethnomusicologist and producer Marcel Cellier, who worked wonders in bringing the musical folk traditions of Eastern Europe to a Western audience, including the work of Romanian nai player, Gheorghe Zamfir. In 1975, the compilation was released on his independent Disques Cellier label, with some of the recordings originals he made and some taken from the Radio Sofia archive.
As is often the case when cataloguing folk traditions, Cellier’s record drew upon existing albums. One of which was the Kutev-conducted 1966 release, Music of Bulgaria: Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic, which was a reissue of 1955’s Ensemble de la République Bulgare, itself recorded in Paris by the now-defunct publishing house, Le Chant du Monde. The publisher was famed for being one of the first to release ethnographic and traditional recordings. It also was home to releases by Django Reinhardt and Édith Piaf.
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares wouldn’t stay the commodity of intellectuals for long. In the 1980s, it would come to greater prominence thanks to the support of a couple of unlikely figures. In the 1980s, Ivo Watts-Russell, a figure at the forefront of 1980s musical innovations as the founder of tastemaking label 4AD, was introduced to the record on an old cassette lent to him by goth pioneer and all-round artiste, Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy. Rapt by the transcendental sounds from deep within the Balkans, Watts-Russell sought out and eventually licensed the recordings from Cellier.
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares was re-released in the UK in 1986 by 4AD, by Nonesuch in the US in 1987, and by Philips in other regions. These releases brought it to a wider audience, and the ensuing 1988 release Volume 2 even saw Cellier win a Grammy Award. Volume 3 and 4 arrived in 1990 and 1998, respectively.
The list of artists who champion the exquisite music of the first Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares is star-studded, which also begs questions about why it remains such an unknown entity for so-called music lovers. Its supporters include David Bowie, Kate Bush, George Harrison, Robert Plant, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa and Elizabeth Fraser, a former 4AD signee with Cocteau Twins, who possesses her own hauntingly beautiful voice.
Even Graham Nash of The Hollies and CSNY said that every musician who takes themselves seriously should listen to the record as it will make them totally rethink the dimension of the voice and singing. Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia was a big fan, too, saying: “They’re like angels… exceptionally pure, really polished. Our song ‘Uncle John’s Band’ was inspired by the village music of Bulgaria.”
One of the most famous releases to draw upon the magic of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares is the single ‘Home’ by The God Machine, a 1990s alternative rock classic. The American trio always had a hypnotic, deeply atmospheric essence, so it made sense that their highest-charting 1993 single should utilise ‘Pilentze Pee’, the striking opener of the compilation. It drives the song along and provides an unorthodox undercurrent that works alongside the industrial beat.
Elsewhere, Kenji Kawai’s iconic soundtrack for 1995’s influential anime noir Ghost in the Shell was directly inspired by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, and even recently, it has been used by a very popular, but divisive band. In their 2020 single ‘Parasite Eve’, Bring Me the Horizon sample ‘Erghen Diado’ in the beginning, with frontman Oli Sykes saying he chose it because it toed the line between euphoria and hysteria.
