Eugenia Georgieva, Victoria Mancheva and Victoria Evstatieva met through the London Bulgaria Choir and decided to form their own trio under the name Perunika Trio. All vocalists are of Macedonian descent, are highly educated and spent their early years in the Bulgarian cities of Sofia, Plovdiv and Veliko Turnova. They are now based in London. The Perunika Trio formed in October 2005.
Developing their debut CD, Introducing Perunika Trio, turned out to be a profoundly personal experience of self discoveryfor these young women as they grew up absorbing both contemporary pop and their age-old musical tradition.
Eugenia Georgieva is the only one amongst them who is classically trained (she even fronted a rock band at one stage) but all have spent time in various choirs. Working on the songs for the album made them aware how deeply rooted the tradition of Bulgarian vocal harmonies is within them.
Bulgarian folk music reflects centuries of political oppression. Bulgarians were for example forbidden by the Ottomans to wear clothes of color other than black, grey and brown and musical instruments were limited. So the human voice became the main outlet for creativity both as folk music and to glorify God in Orthodox churches. Song and the human voice became the instrument.
Introducing Perunika Trio is a journey through Southern Bulgaria, with laments from Strandja, melancholic chants from Rhodope, Thracian love songs ,asymmetric Pirin diaphony and the clashing sounds and ‘hiccupping’ from Shopsko.
The lineup in 2017 included Eugenia Georgieva, Magdalena Stoyanova and Antonia Keteneva.
Discography:
Introducing Perunika Trio (INTRO109CD, 2008)
A Bright Star Has Risen (Arc Music EUCD 2409, 2012)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
