AUBG Ensemble Svetlina in Peyo Yavorov Hall




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  • 2012-04-24 20:00:09
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AUBG women ensemble Svetlina is having a concert in the Peyo Yavorov Hall this Thursday, April 26 at 8 pm. AUBG Daily met with the president of the ensemble, senior Lacey Cope, to ask about the upcoming concert and the idea of the folklore ensemble. [caption id="attachment_3645" align="alignleft" width="196" caption="Picture taken from Svetlina's Facebook page"][/caption] "Folklore ensemble Svetlina was born out of a collective effort,” Cope said. During her first year in AUBG she found out that there is no live folklore music and, as a child of musicians, she found it “absolutely crazy to be in Bulgaria and not be singing these(Bulgarian folklore) songs.” After dancing in a folklore group during her first year, she decided to create her own folklore group here at AUBG. “There was a lot of interest,” Cope said. “A lot of people saying hey I wanna do that, too, I love these songs, too.” So the ensemble, consisting entirely of women, was officially founded in 2010 after Cope conducted thorough research and got in contact with some of her old professors for advice and directions. Their first big concert was last April in the Balkanski Academic Center Auditorium. “It was a huge success, better than we ever anticipated, really well-attended,” Cope said with a smile. The ladies singing folklore songs kept the tradition going during Cope’s absence last semester and sang to the AUBG Gala night in Sofia. “When I came back they were all really anxious and excited and wanted to have a big concert,” Cope said. Since she and some of the other organizers are graduating this year, they decide to rent the Peyo Yavorov hall for one last big concert. “We kinda wanted to go out with a bang,” Cope said with a smile again. [caption id="attachment_3646" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Picture taken from Svetlina's Facebook page"][/caption] The Peyo Yavoro Hall has a lot of significance in the region, Cope explained, since it is the performing stage for one the most famous Bulgarian ensembles – Pirin Ensemble. “Pirin ensemble are amazing, they are incredible, so to get to perform on the stage that they perform on is huge,” Cope said. The attendants of the concert will see only Svetlina performing, with a guest appearance of the ensemble Biser, the group Cope used to dance in her first year. The music organization will be different from last year’s concert when the ensemble had only violins and drums for accompaniment. “This year we have the legendary Valery Dimchev playing tambura – he is one of the greatest tambura players alive,” Cope said. Georgi Petrov, “a virtual master of gadulka” will be another addition along with Radko from the Pirin ensemble itself on drums. And an AUBG student, Daniel Ivanov, is going to play dumbak – a smaller kind of drum. Fourteen songs are planned to be sung, one of which will be “Polegnala e Todora” (Todora Lied Down) – a classic song that the Mystery of the Bulgarian voices, the most famous Bulgarian choir, sang all over the world. Svetlina also has a couple of surprises prepared for the concert, but refused to give us a hint on what they are. The Peyo Yavorov concert is scheduled before JMC Rocks party "but we are very supportive of each other.  We would like to strongly encourage people to go check out JMC rocks after they come to see us,” Cope said. “We definitely hope for a very full showing from the AUBG community, because we’ve all felt a lot of support,” said Cope. They are also publicizing very heavily in the Blagoevgrad community. “We are getting support from the U.S. embassy in terms of promotional materials, so hopefully even people from Sofia might come to checks us out,” Cope said. The rent of the Hall was covered with SG funding. The travel expenses of the musicians were covered by a grant from Geoffrey Dean’s Spring Art Fest Svetlina is a part of. [caption id="attachment_3647" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Picture taken from Svetlina's Facebook page"][/caption] The entrance is free – “that was a high priority for all of us,” Cope said, adding that there was some deliberation on the issue at the beginning.  “But it’s folk music – it’s of the people for the people, so it really should be accessible to anyone who wants to hear it,” she said. In conclusion, AUBG Daily asked Lacey Cope to say something to her teammates from Svetlina who are staying behind to continue the tradition of the ensemble after her graduation. “When I first came to AUBG I never could have anticipated experiencing something like Svetlina and it’s one of the things that I am the most proud of in my life. It would have been absolutely impossible without this group of women,” Cope smiled, warning that she is going to get emotional, tears visible in her eyes. “I am so grateful to them, they never fail to amaze me.” Once again - Peyo Yavorov Hall, Thursday, April 26, 8 pm, free entrance – Bulgarian folklore music from the AUBG women ensemble – Svetlina. [caption id="attachment_3649" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Picture taken from Svetlina's Facebook page"][/caption] Pictures taken from Svetlina's Facebook page.