Chalga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chalga (Чалга) is a form of Bulgarian popular music drawing from Balkan folk traditions and incorporating Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and Roma (Gypsy) influences, as well as motifs from Balkan traditional music, flamenco and klezmer music.
Often indistinguishable from Bulgarian pop music, it remains popular as music played in dance clubs and pubs. It is denigrated as a second-rate musical genre and originating from foreign sources, and its critics often claim that chalga fans are relatively uneducated or unrefined. Chalga is known for repetitious themes and hook-laden dance rhythms. Its commercial exploitation has resulted in a vibrant night scene, especially in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) and Varna, as well as many televised videos featuring extravagantly glamorized singers. Azis, a Roma cross-dresser, epitomizes the deliciously cheap and addictive quality of the genre.
Chalga absorbs culturally diverse musical styles. Many chalga hits were Greek or Turkish hits, covered by Bulgarian singers, often in more complex musical arrangements.
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[edit] History
The word chalga comes from the Turkish word çalgı (pronounced "chal-guh"), which means "playing" or "music". Indeed, the movement is derived from the art of the chalgadzhia (derived from the Turkish çalgıcı meaning "musician"), a type of musician, often a Roma, who could play virtually any type of music, but added his own distinctive beat or rhythm to the song. Often a chalgadzhia would not be able to read music, but instead played from memory on his caval, (an end-blown flute). Playing in groups at festivals or weddings, these performers initiated the popularization of chalga.
[edit] Behind the Iron Curtain
Throughout the Communist years, this genre was held in disfavor by the establishment for many reasons. Such simple peasant music had no place in a forward-looking, modern socialist state[citation needed], and when Zhivkov (the last communist leader of Bulgaria) decided in the 1980s to steer a more nationalistic tack, such Eastern-originated traditions were regarded as inferior to those with more purely Slavic roots. Chalga also came with a provocative hip-shaking dance and at times lewd lyrics, and thus its morality as well as its origins were dubious. It is also possible that, as an art form predominantly practiced and developed by the Roma, racial and ethnic discrimination played a part.
While discouraged in Bulgaria, Chalga flourished in neighbouring Yugoslavia, which operated a much more flexible form of socialism. Many Bulgarians listened to "turbo-folk" on Serbian radio stations.
Throughout the Balkans, folk traditions have been modernized. In Greece, pop music incorporated the traditions of laïkó ("popular"), a genre based maindly on the melos of Asia Minor Greeks. Many of its tunes were later borrowed by pop-folk musicians in Bulgaria. Laïkó's relative known as "skyladiko" is close to early Bulgarian chalga, as exemplified by the Kristal Orchestra and others. In Turkey, arabesque music, a mixture of local and Middle Eastern influences, has gained ground since the 1960s.
[edit] Post-Communist renewal
In 1989, when the Bulgarian Communist regime fell, restrictions were lifted and a new culture emerged. The "new" and "forbidden" were released from the underground. Chalga tunes swept the nation, now played openly and available on cheap pirated tapes and CDs. A new generation of scantily-clad and cheap, huge-breasted "superstars" grabbed the public spotlight, performing songs that might have led to official sanctions only a year before. Lyrics about sex, gun-running and gangsterism, were the order of the day, danced to across the nation in new chalgoteki, or folk discos.
Some fans consider the movement reached its peak around 1998-1999. Earlier folk divas like Toni Dacheva, the singer of Kristal Orchestra, were followed by stars such as the "Mother of Chalga", Rousse-born Gloriya, (Rousse is a Bulgarian city on the Danube) onto the scene; pop-folk legends Desi Slava, Ivana, Aneliya, and others all became household names. Several recording studios, headed by Payner and Planeta, pump out a steady stream of tracks every week on dedicated, hugely popular TV channels.
The current government has cracked down on CD piracy and tightened up copyright laws, which have often been violated on the chalga scene.
[edit] Chalga in the new century
By the 2000s, chalga's popularity somewhat waned, but it remains a vibrant genre. It was partly replaced by Western pop music[citation needed] , more traditional Bulgarian music, and that of Bulgarian musicians exploring new avenues (most notably hip hop, like Dope Reach Squad, Upsurt, Misho Shamara and Spens), and musicians like Slavi Trifonov[citation needed] .
Today, chalga record companies work with partners from other European countries, making this Bulgarian music popular both at home and abroad.
[edit] See also
- Turbo-folk
- Manele
- Arabesque-pop music
- Laïkó
- Laïka
- Skiladiko
[edit] External links
- Chalga playlist - Chalga playlist
- Music-Bulgaria.com - List of Bulgarian chalga CDs
- Bulgarian Chalga Singers - Photos of Bulgarian Chalga singers
