“A Dragon Flew Over”: A screening dedicated to Martha Forsyth

On 23 February, Sofia University's rectorate will host a discussion and screening of the documentary A Dragon Flew Over, dedicated to the life and work of the American researcher of Bulgarian folklore Martha Forsyth (1940–2023).

The film traces the ethnomusicologist’s remarkable work in Bulgaria, which spanned more than four decades and produced significant results. A Radcliffe College graduate from Harvard University, Forsyth earned a Master's degree in Slavic languages from the University of California, Los Angeles. Early in her career, she taught Russian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

She visited Bulgaria at least 16 times, sometimes as a research fellow supported by IREX and the Fulbright Program. She collected and recorded folk songs in various settlements across the country, transcribed and translated folklore texts, delivered lectures, collaborated with Bulgarian ensembles, and promoted Bulgarian folk music internationally. She was also one of the founders of the well-known Bulgarian ensemble “Zdravets” in Boston.

Forsyth assembled an impressive archive: two hundred 90-minute tapes containing more than 4,000 authentic folk songs from Southwestern Bulgaria, recorded between 1978 and 1983. She donated this rich collection to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

The documentary A Dragon Flew Over, dedicated to her life and legacy, features a special appearance by the Bulgarian women's choir Yasni Glasove from New York, conducted by Vlada Tomova. The story unfolds as a reflection on discovering one’s roots, rethinking tradition, and experiencing it anew in a contemporary context.

The event on 23 February at Sofia University is organised by the Department of Ethnology at the Faculty of History, in collaboration with the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies and the Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Editor: Elena Karkalanova

Posted in English by E. Radkova