Bluegrass in Bulgarian

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


My friend, the Bulgarian singer and fiddler Lilly Drumeva (who fronts the Bulgarian group Lily of the West),  has recorded -- with the Slovak bluegrass band Candy Floss -- what she describes as the first bluegrass song in Bulgaria.

It's called "Country in My Soul." The European Bluegrass blog reports:

The song was recorded in two countries: Bulgaria and Slovakia. Instrumental tracks and arrangement are by talented Slovakian band Candy Flossfeaturing Michal Barok(mandolin), Dusan Hronec(guitar), Simona Schmidtova(banjo), Michal Kovac(fiddle), Anton Naroda(double bass). Lead and harmony vocals were added in Sofia by Lilly Drumeva, mixed and mastered by sound engineer Stamen Ianev.

“Кънтри в душата” ('Country in my soul') is inspired also by John Denver’s 'Take me home, country roads', which is one of the most popular country music songs in the world. Lilly deliberately quotes fragments of its chorus, in order to raise more attention. In Bulgaria the term 'bluegrass' is relatively unknown and people only hear about it through country music.