Stockholm’s Lele Lele Orchestra with a Balkan Jam Session in Burgas and Sofia

“You grow to love your homeland when you get to know it. You long for it when you leave it.” Reflections like these lie at the heart of the professional journey of a man from Vidin with a tambura, who turned Bulgarian folklore into a sensation in Sweden.

His name is Mihail Dinchev. Born in Vidin (Northwestern Bulgaria) to an English teacher and an engineer, music was not his predetermined path, but a personal choice. He started playing the guitar at the age of seven in a local school – a passion and hobby that never gave way to the temptations of youth.

In 1992, at just 17, he moved to Sweden to study languages, hoping to find his path to music. He began studying jazz and pop music in Finland, and later rhythmics at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. He set aside the guitar and took up the tambura, with which he continues to write his musical story to this day.

''Along the way, one naturally discovers different things. One looks for forums to meet skilled musicians in order to grow and develop alongside them. And so, when I arrived in Sweden at the place that appealed to me most for studying music – the Royal College of Music – I met my colleagues from the first lineup of the Lele Lele Orchestra, which I founded in 2003. I went to Plovdiv in 2005–2006, when I truly wanted to devote myself to Bulgarian folklore. I specialized at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts “Prof. Asen Diamandiev” in the city. It was an incredible year for me because I was fully immersed in Bulgarian folk music. That time proved pivotal for my future development in this genre'', says Mihail Dinchev. 

Even though Mihail Dinchev’s family members were not musicians, Bulgarian folklore has always surrounded him. “As a child, folk music was everywhere around me”, Mihail Dinchev recalls. And when he left his homeland, it turned out that folk music was the delicate thread that kept him connected to home.

“It’s all tied to my going abroad and the need to stay connected to the country you come from, the place you left, and your roots. I want to say again that, no matter where someone is, they cannot escape who they are and what they carry within – at least, that’s how it feels to me”, Mihail Dinchev went on to say. 

Although he has undergone academic training, Mihail Dinchev considers himself a self-taught musician. He founded the Lele Lele Orchestra 23 years ago. In the beginning, it experimented with traditional Bulgarian folklore and Indian music. Over the years, they moved toward a sound closer to the Balkans. Musicians of different nationalities and interests came and went, but the emotion their music created for the audience remained.

Before each performance, Mihail Dinchev holds preliminary workshops with the audience, introducing them to a culture unfamiliar to them – showing steps from traditional folk dances and familiarizing them with the characteristic instruments and melodies of the Balkans.

In this way, Dinchev and his collaborators turned the Lele Lele Orchestra into a “Scandinavian sensation”, as Goran Bregović himself called them after a joint performance.

More than seven years after their last visit, the Swedish sensation returns to the homeland of its founder. The Lele Lele Orchestra will hold two concerts – on March 17 in Burgas at the Adriana Budevska Drama Theater, and on March 19 in Sofia at Sofia Live Club. The musicians are in Bulgaria at the invitation of producer Georgi Toshev, marking the start of the first edition of the “Balkan Jam Session”, organized with support from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Plan. Thanks to European funding, all concerts have free admission until all seats are taken.

On stage alongside Mihail Dinchev, who will play the tambura, the audience will also see Kai Sundkvist on clarinet, John Runefelt on accordion, Stian Grimstad on tuba, and Moa Danielson on tupan (Balkan drum). The program will also feature several very special Bulgarian guest musicians – “friends”, as Dinchev calls them. 

Mihail Dinchev thanked everyone involved who helped make this Balkan Jam Session happen in Bulgaria.

“Without Bulgarian culture and Bulgarian music, there would be no ‘Lele Lele’ from Sweden. I feel grateful for this opportunity and to be back in Bulgaria once again. Our goal is to reach the widest audience possible, so everyone is welcome. We look forward to seeing you!’, says Mihail Dinchev.

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov