Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 11:53 am
Post subject: Chalga Culture
Hi all! I want to share my experince in tasting the chalga music. That is something which I can not explain with simple words especially when it comes to a whole society and even culture (though I am not sure I could call it culture)related to this type of music. Last weekend I found myself in a club in Plovdiv which was supoposed to be a disco club with disco music. You can not imagine my surpise when the DJ started playing chalga and everybody jumped on the tables shaking their waist, and buttocks and everything what can be shaken. And most interesting for me was that this enthusiasm caught everybody, regardless of their age. It's like another world, another culture.. the rhytm and the moves are really unique. I felt that I can sit down on my chair and stare at people wandering what exactly the exciting thing is which they find int this music. I am interested what do expats thing of our chalga music.
Although I’m not an expat, I’d like to share my opinion on chalga. I simply don’t like it! The rhythm might be nice and really makes you shake whatever can be shaken, but the lyrics and the way most of the singers look like is way too vulgar for me.
Unfortunately one can’t just enter a random disco and have fun anymore, because chalga is everywhere. Last several times I decided to go to some unknown disco and was assured that no chalga will be played, “just by chance” the DJ had decided to “make an exception” and to play ‘some’ chalga. If it had happened once or twice, I would really have thought it must have been a bad luck, but chalgalisation seems to a common trend.
I’m a step away from returning to the home parties of my dark youth ages when discos were taboo for me ;)
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:36 pm
Post subject: What has 'Chalga' to do with 'Culture' anyway!?!?
Hello Mimimar
Are you sure that it's correst to place 'CHALGA' and 'CULTURE' in the same sentence?
It is very unfortunate indeed that nowadays such distasteful and unworthy 'music' became a phenomenon and it is favourite for (sadly!) quite wide circles of Bulgarians, including young and rather pretentious. The whole lifestyle that goes together with the chalga only shows the level of degradation in BG ... but... as I always say - everybody is entitled their own opinion.
My British husband and all other ex-pat friends we have really detest chalga... but this may not be the general case with all foreigners... many of them actually think that this is the real, authentic traditional Bulgarian music ... and that's driving me really crazy!
Stay well and enjoy good music (whatever that could be for you!) LOL
Hello,everybody. If i have to be honest, i don't listen such kind of music, but....Last weekend i was invited to a home party of my friend and guess, what kind of music there was, after that we went to the local Disco, and the music was chalga again. When enter in the supermarket,usualy a chalga music is sound from the radio. What i am talking about? I mean that although i don't prefer this music,unfortunately, i listen it from everywhere with or without my desire . I try to be tolerant to the other music's taste, although from time to time, it irritate me. This is the situation, here in Bulgaria, this music is the most popular, and we can't change that. The new generations are growing with the chalga music. A lot of them. And as i know, this is very exotic for the foreigners visiting our country.
What i am going to do. When i go home, i will listen only the misic, which i like. In the other occasion, just say: no, this is not my music and my culture and keep going.
Hi, expats and Mimimar. I don't like chalga music, i don't understand it and it's so strange for me to look how the girls and the boys dance on this music. The only problem is, that almost in every Disco club, sounds chalga and if you want to listen and dance on the other music, your choise is limited. So i prefer to go somewhere, just to eat something and talk with friends on the cup of beer.
Buy everobody. Have a lot of smiles and be be happy today.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Chalga Music
banski wrote:
Oh my I think i am about to show my age, or ignorance, but could someone enlighten me as to what Chalga Music is
Stupid Bulgarian music with **** lyrics. You hear it all the time everywhere.
fe Radka Piradka
Here comes Radka
she little pirat
banging her pussy naked...
this goes on until the next song, just to start over again _________________ J'ai le pessimisme de la réalité, mais l'optimisme de la volonter. Every day is a gift to yourself / intelligent people realise they aren't, people claiming to be intelligent aren't
Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 8:54 am
Post subject: Chalgra whatever !!
Oh that noise!!!! i know what you all mean now, thank you Sunset for pointin me in the right direction. Im off to sofia for the day today at last so will keep my eyes and ears peeled. Thanks again.
Sunset, you hit the bullseye with the translation of Radka Piratka- it sounds even more insane in English than it does in Bulgarian.... Though I am not sure whether to laugh or cry, interesting how such types of things manage to get mass following and turn into cult.
The worst part of it- the rhythm tends to be so catchy that it annoyingly sticks in one's head.... the stupid chalga is everywhere and it's all pervasive.
A few days ago I was watching some TV interviews about the life of teenagers. Turns out people aged 12, 13 and up know chalga better than they do anything connected even vaguely to Bulgarian culture.
So sad but true- this is reality. Anything similar to our chalga in Western Europe? Or is it typically Balkan phenomenon?
despite the negative reviews and...interesting glimpse at the gist of most of the chalga lyrics, i have to say that i think it is heartening to see the popularity of a sound that is unique to bulgaria/the balkans. no matter what you say about azis, he and the others do provide an alternative to reliance on top 40 hits from abroad.
Sunset, you hit the bullseye with the translation of Radka Piratka- it sounds even more insane in English than it does in Bulgarian.... Though I am not sure whether to laugh or cry, interesting how such types of things manage to get mass following and turn into cult.
The worst part of it- the rhythm tends to be so catchy that it annoyingly sticks in one's head.... the stupid chalga is everywhere and it's all pervasive.
A few days ago I was watching some TV interviews about the life of teenagers. Turns out people aged 12, 13 and up know chalga better than they do anything connected even vaguely to Bulgarian culture.
So sad but true- this is reality. Anything similar to our chalga in Western Europe? Or is it typically Balkan phenomenon?
I think it's a typical Balkan phenomenon which, however, is related to the orient, Asia Minor and the music they listen to there called arabesque. Chalga basically is a remake of rhythms and songs originally sung in Turkish or Arabic. Here in BG it is highly derivative as they steal the melodies, implant them then with some totally insane BG lyrics based on sexual intercourse and on women being eager and inviting men to sleep with.
Chalga used to be part of the subculture in BG some 15 years ago but ever since 1989, traditional Bulgarian culture and values have been changed with subculture and no values whatsoever. Nowadays, subculture reigns supreme ,culture has become obsolete. Proof of that is that any chalga singer can easily fill a 25 000 people stadium whereas traditionally popular BG singers of POP and Rock will now barely have an attendance of 300-400 people at any given place in the country.
Sad but true. However, I think this is just a passing phase. It's a period we are going through, which like any other transitional period is doomed to end one day when culture and traditional values will be reinvented and put back in place where they were previously. Chalga is like the sexual revolution of the 60s or the hippie movement. I must admit that they were much more presentable than crude chalga but, well, this is the Balkan version of it all.
Chalga now is a reminder to all that we are animals after all no matter what we do or work. That's the reason why BG men and women will break off doing anything and will dance to this music and when the chalga song is over, they'll resume doing whatever they were involved with as if nothing has happened. And nothing has happened, really, it's just noisy music with catchy rhythms, which you can still ignore like I do by simply avoiding the places where they regularly play it. There are places where they don't, and for the time being the best advice I can give is go there.
Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:09 pm
Post subject: Chalga a go go
Hi there,
For me Chalga is equivalent to N/A Country. If you were to play a N/A Country and Western song backwards; your dog would come home,the bank would give you back your farm, your wife would return and your brother would apologise for stealing her, you would get your job back, and the beer you dropped wouldn't be open.
I had the unique experience of being with someone who would translate the Chalga lyrics, in all their inanity , all the while bouncing to the tunes. It got to the point where I formed a theory: the bouncier the tune; the more depressing the story. I actually played this game with her parents at Christmas. We would listen to a chalga song and I would have to "NAME THAT EMOTION". I was almost 99% correct using my theory.
Chalga could be to Bulgaria what Shania Twain is to Canada (in my humble opinion),: Something that is probably not indicative of the culture as a whole but something that is undeniably part of it.
Whoo, MY nightmare, Shania Twain singing Chalga.
There is soooo much better Bg music.
I was diggin' Avenue and Trio "Bulgarska Penev" so much I bought their cd's (amongst others); much to the chagrin of my Bulgarian friends who would have me down-load them (sounds dirty). The Trio "BP" was known to me before I got here actually and paying the rather small price of 10lv here was a bargain compared to the 40 $CDN I would have to have paid in Canada.
Chalga, like it or not, is a part of Bulgarian culture. I would rather the Chalga to the music I have heard in stores and taxis a couple of summers ago. There was an English Rap song that was horrendous and was getting constant airplay. I am hoping it was popular because it had a nice beat and was easy to dance to and not for its lyrics It was a song a gardener was singing to a lost piece of garden equipment and/or his favourite female dog I think, and the gardener was rather adamant about it.
To all those Platinum-Blond, scantily-clad, buxom, with more makeup than Tammy Fay-Baker , "beautiful" women wondering, in Chalga song, why they have lost their boyfriends ... maybe your boyfriend has taste. To Azis ... Good on you, milk it, but watch out. Look what happened to Jacko. Invest wisely while you can.
I have been involved in some weird trends. The first year I was here I couldn't escape Canadian music. The second year I was here a partner from Cuba joined me and everywhere we went it was latin-music-agogo.
This past year I haven't heard much music unfortunately, what has it been?
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:02 am
Post subject: C halga
Yes ... Oh, what to say. It would make my stomach upset. For sure, chalga has nothing to do with culture - in one phrase. It's reality tho. Very sad how a foreigner here has learned (wherefrom ...?) the lyrics - very harsh, but ... close to the genuine text. Perhaps here is the right moment to say - many of the chalga 'artist' are desperately trying to get to the other river bank, so to say - they are recording new songs and producing new silly videos with ... pop music. They just don't feel comfortably in the c h alga scene. (I have to shiver with anger when I am pronouncing the music stream, what to say about my state while listening unvoluntarily to this noise ...).
I have to be objective - those artists are sometimes very good singers, song-writers (even lyrics authors).
Chalga could be to Bulgaria what Shania Twain is to Canada (in my humble opinion),: Something that is probably not indicative of the culture as a whole but something that is undeniably part of it.
Whoo, MY nightmare, Shania Twain singing Chalga.
Chalga and Shania Twain have nothing in common, believe me even if we considered some of the lyrics and song titles like - Gotcha Real Good! by Shania Twain. Still, the differences would be vast and huge. In chalga music there's absolutely no barrier to unsensored language. The freer the language, the more the fans. In my opinion, however, chalga is too extreme to last long and also it is too derivative to leave a lasting impression- that's the reason why more chalga singers are trying nowadays to sound more pop, hence the term - pop-folk, which is how chalga is called these days. I think it's safe to say that in 10 years it will be alsmost obsolete strong as it may be now.
I like some of the Bulgarian chalga songs, for example I find recent duets of Sofi Marinova and Ustata very good, you can watch ther lates hit here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcwWa_lB-H8
The mix between chalga and rap or chalga and pop is something which sounds both familiar and exotic to me.The text can be often vulgar but you can hear words like 'do you on the back seat of my car' in many of the pop hits leading the top 10s _________________ Doggy
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