Izlel e Delyo haidutin
„Излел е Дельо хайдутин”
[audio http://www.balkanfolk.com/pic/samples/180400/Izlel_e_Delio_haidutin.mp3]
(mp3 from balkanfolk.com)
The spaceship Voyager has a large collection of Earth music recorded on it, for the entertainment of any alien species it might encounter on it’s mission. This is one of them a piece of Bulgarian music from the singer, Valia Balkanska.
The lyrics go something like;
Izlel e Delyo haydutin,
haydutin enkesadjie,
s Dumbovtsi i s Karadjovtsi.
Zarochal Delyo, purochal
dari der skimnem aene,
aene kabadaylie.
– V selono imam dve leli,
da mi gi ne poturchite,
da mi gi ne poturchite,
chi ga si slezem w selono,
mnochko shtat mayki da plaknat,
po-mnochko, mladi nevesti.
But I’ve no idea what they mean, and can’t find a translation anywhere. I hope our alien friends do better then me!
** Update **
Apparently, according to our Bulgarian tutor, it’s written in an ancient dialect of Bulgaria which nobody understands. She can make out that it’s about a man called Delyo who goes off to do battle with the Turkish invaders.
The instrument that accompanies Valya is the Rhodope bagpipe, called “kaba gaida” (каба гайда), played by Petar Yanev (source: Toronto Public Library article). This type of bagpipe is often played accompanied only by a female singer.
The video below shows the 2007 winner of the Bulgarian talent show Music Idol, Nevena Tsoneva, singing this song. The video ends with the original song made famous by Valya Balkanska, and some stunning photos of the Rhodope mountains from which the song originates. Bulgarians are very proud of this song.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=351aJbkWPok”&w=900]