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

Better than "Le Mystere"

After "Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares" made a Bulgarian a cappella woman's choir an international favorite "sound" about fifteen years ago, it has been hard to sift through all of the sequels and imitations. Luckily, this CD is neither. "Aishinka" features two female choirs, one a folk choir and the other a classical choir, performing original songs by Ivan Spassov, one of Bulgaria's most important composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century. The sound is recognizably Bulgarian and the music is very close in spirit and content to the arranged Bulgarian folk music of the "Le Mystere" collections. But these are songs found on no other CD, and the choirs both worked closely with the composer at the Plovdiv Academy to make this definitive CD of his most hauntingly beautiful music.
- Dean Georgiev (Berlin) / Amazon.com ***** (highest rating)

National Public Radio named Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares (Nonesuch) the best CD of the 1980's, and once you've heard it, you know why: the pungent, nasal tones of the women's chorus cut deep and permanent scratches into your mind's ear, and the women's fearless and dead-accurate negotiation of impossible, non-traditional harmonies would leave even classical choirs scratching their heads in wonder. "Aishinka" is cut from the same rough cloth, but, if anything, it makes an even deeper impression. Not strictly authentic, these songs were composed by Spassov in the style of different varieties of Bulgarian folk music. (Director/composer/arranger Philip Koutev did the same on the Nonesuch disc.) Two women's choirs from the Plovdiv Academy are featured: the Women's Folk Choir and the smoother-toned, more classical Female Chamber Choir. Spassov asks them to do things most Western composers would never dream of, from note clusters to canine yips, and they comply with home-style strictness. At once prehistoric and daringly modern, this CD is the musical equivalent of bondage and discipline.
- Ramond Tuttle / Miami New Times

"…In all respects - performance, arrangements, recording - this music is the equal of the Mystere sessions. And what otherworldly music it is: droning, piercing yet ethereal, with unusual meters and beautiful (but not conventionally pretty) harmony. For this listener, no other music this side of Bach and Mozart has such power to transport." - Tom McDermott / The Riverfront Times