site.btaKyiv Museum Hosts Presentation of Bulgarian, Gagauz, Ukrainian Musical and Cultural Heritage

The Ivan Honchar Museum, or the National Centre of Folk Culture hosted a presentation of Bulgarian, Gagauz and Ukrainian musical and traditional heritage in Southern Ukraine. The meeting was in a hybrid format and for those who could not attend, the presentation was streamed on the YouTube channel "The Musical Heritage of Budzhak".

The event began with a Bulgarian folk tune on the bagpipe performed by Valeri Gaidarji from the Bulgarian-Gagauz village of Kubey in the Bolhrad region.

"Valeri together with Aleksandr Polibza from Kubey are part of the team that collects information about the traditions of the peoples of Bessarabia on the ground, recording old songs," said Artem Tselikov, the head and founder of the project "The Musical Heritage of Budzhak”.

He told how in July 2024 the team of the research and practice project visited the Odesa region with the aim of learning and preserving old musical ethnic traditions of the peoples of the Ukrainian Danube region, as well as creating a public archive of old Budzhak music performed on traditional local folk instruments.

During the event in Kyiv, a 1958 film from the archives of the Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology. It presents Bulgarian folk dances from the Bulgarian villages of Chushmeliy (today Krinichnoye). and Kubey (Bolhrad district, Odesa Region) from the mid-20th century, recorded during the Bulgarian-Ukrainian expedition of the Institute of Music of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

"These are precious materials that show the Bulgarian dance art in Bessarabia, brought from Bulgaria and preserved here," said Tatiana Dukova from the village. She said she was a student at the local school in Bulgaria. During the event, Tatiana Dukova participated with an original exhibition of traditional Bulgarian peshkiri (towels and costumes, typical for the village of Chushmeliy).

"I have collected more than 450 songs from Chushmeliy, which my family and I plan to publish in a book," the woman said.

"We have a lot to show and to make tourists fall in love with the Bulgarian traditional culture. A special place in our location is dedicated to the ritual breads. About two years ago, the St George breads i were included in the list of intangible culture of Ukraine," the Bulgarian said, adding that two years ago, together with her daughter Ivanka, who is a professional musician and teacher, they revived the custom of Lazarice in Chushmeliy.

“In this way, we instil the love for the native Bulgarian culture in both children and their parents,” Dukova said.

Anna Konstantinova, head of the local history and ethnographic museum, talked about Bulgarian folk traditions in the village of Horodnie (Chyishiya) in Bolhrad district.

"We represent the most Bulgarian village in Bessarabia - Chyishiya, where everyone sings and dances. Here the traditional Bulgarian culture is very well preserved, which is repeatedly noted by our guests from Bulgaria, especially after visiting the museum. We have more than 6,000 exhibits in it, collected for the two centuries of existence of our village", said the local historian.

The presentation, which brought together fans of ethnic traditional cultures in Bessarabia --Bulgarian, Gagauz, Ukrainian, ended with a Bulgarian horo lesson and traditional Bulgarian dishes.