Macedonian and Bulgarian Folk Music

Nikolay Doktorov — Solo Kaval Music from Bulgaria

Image of Nikolay Doktorov playing the kaval while dressed in a traditional Bulgarian shirt and vest.

Izvor Music is happy to offer a new and FREE CD (available as a download only) of traditional Bulgarian kaval music featuring Nikolay Doktorov. This CD, originally released in 2019, presents 17 recordings of unaccompanied solo kaval, including both dance tunes and slow melodies. The download also comes with all the images and text of the original CD.

Nikolay Dimitrov Doktorov was born in 1959 in Varna, a city in northeast Bulgaria. He started playing kaval at the age of 12 and attended the folk music school in Kotel from 1974-1979. In 1975, he started playing professionally at weddings near Kotel with fellow students, with whom he would later form the ensemble Kabile. Following two years of obligatory army service, he attended the music conservatory in Plovdiv where he studied kaval with Lyuben Dossev, while also playing in the professional ensemble Trakiya. After graduating from the conservatory in 1984, Nikolay returned to Varna to teach kaval and music. Since then, much of his life has been spent educating young Bulgarians in traditional music, including folk improvisation. He has worked extensively with disadvantaged populations including blind adults, special education students, and child cancer patients. He has also taught kaval at workshops in the United States and Europe.

Nikolay plays in a traditional style, but he is also a composer and improviser, with the ability to create interesting original melodies that maintain the feel and emotion of folk melodies. It is difficult to fully convey Nikolay's enthusiasm and dedication to the kaval, and to teaching kaval. Perhaps it is best said in his own words: "Kaval is the short way to the heart…This is my life: this is the best."

List of the Songs on the CD (with 1-minute excerpts)

  1. Trite puti (3:29)
  2. Shumensko Koichovo Horo (3:37)
  3. Tell Me, Grandfather (4:41)
  4. Proletno Paidushko Horo (4:28)
  5. Slow Song: “Esen Se Zaesenyava” (3:05)
  6. Kabilenska Ruchenitsa (3:24)
  7. Kaval Melody (2:35)
  8. Kaspichanska Ruchenitsa (3:39)
  9. Slow Song: “Yankin Brat” (1:59)
  10. Rhodopchansko Horo (4:30)
  11. Zlatonivsko Trite Puti (3:22)
  12. Woodland Story (4:03)
  13. Denkovo Horo (3:49)
  14. Zulvenska Ruchenitsa (2:48)
  15. Slow Song: "Stoyan Na Grozda Dumashe" (2:32)
  16. Varnensko Daichovo Horo (4:21)
  17. Dobrudzhanska Tropanka (3:38)
 
 

This is a free item. To download the CD audio files and CD pdf booklet, please go to the download page.