Ray Lema, Professeur Stefanov et les voix bulgares de l’Ensemble Pirin

Ray Lema tries a dialogue between Balkan melodies and tropical beats using jazzisms as a bridge. But instead of a full frontal encounter we get tracks like "Nalelela" that relegate L'Ensemble Pirin to female back-up vocal status or "Po Droum Mome Pobegnalo," which thrusts the choir into the foreground as Lema literally hums along. And what else can he do? This and the choir-only "Vila Ssei Gora" demonstrate the difficulty of re-inventing Bulgarian vocal music whose beauty rests on a centuries old balance between starkness and fullness, strength and frailty, defying augmentation by addition or subtraction.