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BarkellWH -> RE: Building a Bulgarian Tambura (Nov. 29 2011 22:35:52)
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Stephen,
I will be interested in following your progress in building the Bulgarian tambura. Many years ago (1974-1976) I was posted to the American Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria as a young Foreign Service Officer. It was my first assignment after entering the U.S. Foreign Service, and to make matters more interesting, it was at the height of the Cold War, with a hard-line, totalitarian communist government in charge and Todor Zhivkov at its head. The American, British, West German, French, and other Western diplomatic missions were deliberately kept isolated from the Bulgarian people by their own government. We dare not have casually approached ordinary Bulgarian citizens, since to have done so would have put them in danger of the "midnight knock on the door" from the Bulgarian secret police. All inter-action with Bulgarians had to be carefully choreographed. If you have ever read the British espionage novelist Eric Ambler, particularly his book "Judgment on Deltchev," you will have a good idea of how it was.
Your order to build a tambura revived pleasant memories of the instrument and Bulgarian music. Although the communist government of Bulgaria discouraged any experimental music, opera, theater, and other arts, it did underwrite traditional culture. I particularly remember a visit to the town of Koprivshtitsa, located due east of Sofia, in which there were well-preserved, traditional Bulgarian houses and buildings, as well as musicians. I remember sitting for a couple of hours in a traditional cafe, drinking good Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon (which was very good indeed!), and listening to a Bulgarian group play traditional music in which the tambura played the main role. Very good music, and for a moment one could forget that one was living in what amounted to a prison for most Bulgarians. Of course, all that has changed now. I hope, though, that there are still musical groups playing the tambura, and that Bulgarian society has not been overtaken by "rap" and "hip hop."
Cheers,
Bill
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