Aishinka

1. Aïshinka, My Little Chickadee 4:22
2. Vida, Vida 2:52
3. Hey, Sing To Me 4:33
4. Are You Still Lovesick, My son? 4:22
5. Five Dances And Songs
  From The Pirin Region 6:46
  5.1 Yourga, My Sister 0:43
  5.2 Margalinka. A Young Girl 1:39
  5.3 Yana, Gather Together 0:26
  5.4 Up I Went 2:06
  5.5 Prodana, Pretty Girl 1:52
6. The Young Bride Fell Asleep 3:28
7. Rada The Innkeeper 4:06
8. Mehmed, My Love 4:34
9. Mehmed, My Love 6:24
10. The Dividing Woman 4:32
11. Aïshinka, My Little Chickadee 4:11

IVAN SPASSOV
"Aishinka" - Two Bulgarian Female Choirs A Cappella

Labor Records is proud to reintroduce Aishinka, the seminal recording by IVAN SPASSOV, one of Bulgaria's most prominent composers, who at the time set his sights on choral singing, his country's best-known musical export.

Featuring two choruses, the Women's Folk Choir and the classically trained Women's Chamber Choir (both of the Plovdiv Academy), the recording balances two strikingly different musical worlds and traditions.

The musical phenomenon known as Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, with its sold-out performances and Grammy-winning recording on the British pop charts, made Bulgarian women choristers unlikely musical stars. Their singular sound and emotional richness won avid fans among such diverse arbiters of artistic quality as George Harrison, David Byrne, Bobby McFerrin and the Kronos Quartet.

That Bulgarian sound, with its straight-toned power, tucked traditional folk roots into carefully notated contemporary arrangements. The result was ancient yet modern, simple yet sophisticated. The classical music critic of the Boston Globe cited the "beauty snd individuality of the sound," and "the connections of that music to universal feelings and experiences," while the pop critic of the Los Angeles Weekly called it "the hippest show on earth."

Having introduced Western contemporary compositional styles to his country in his orchestral and chamber works, Spassov takes that distinctive choral sound to an entirely new level of sophistication. The ancient rhythmic complexity and polyphonic richness meet tone clusters, chance elements and a full range of 20th Century sonorities. From their very different perspectives, the two choruses find the common ground between folkloric freedom and Western classical expression.