Gergana Dimitrova and Lisa Gerrard blend cultures in “The Dance of the Birds”

Known as a soloist in The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices Female Vocal Choir and an essential part of Eva Quartet, as well as through her own project Belonoga, singer Gergana Dimitrova continues to explore Bulgarian folklore in all its dimensions through the freedom of music-making. In recent years, she has embarked on various collaborations that have given her the opportunity to reveal more and more of herself as an artist and expand her potential as a singer. Among them is her collaboration with Lisa Gerrard — best known as the vocalist of the band Dead Can Dance, but also as an artist with a strong interest in going beyond conventional boundaries of self-expression.

They first met while working on the album BooCheeMish and quickly discovered similarities in their artistic pursuits. This eventually led to their latest joint project, whose first single is ''The Dance of the Birds''.

Gergana Dimitrova says that this is a long-dreamed-of project. She began working on it five years ago during the COVID pandemic, at a time when she had no concerts at all. Gergana decided that the pandemic was a time to look inward and cope with the situation in the best possible way — through music and creativity. Shortly before the pandemic, the highly successful tour presenting the album “BooCheeMish” by The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices with Lisa Gerrard had concluded, during which the mutual admiration between the two singers evolved into friendship.

Thus, Gergana began creating new music with trusted collaborators: Ivaylo Petrov, one of the founders of the band Irfan, as well as with her husband, kaval player and composer Kostadin Genchev. Gergana has more about the process of working with Lisa Gerrard:

“The foundation starts from here, from me. Together with Ivaylo, I created several pieces, incorporating Bulgarian vocals and my own free improvisations, and I gave Lisa the opportunity to integrate herself into them by sending her the finished recordings. In other words, she started from our inspiration and added her own. From there on, we brought these two worlds together into one, so that it would sound in the best possible way, without it being a competition or an attempt at dominance. On the contrary, it became a fusion, a complement, a shared feeling that resulted in a beautiful outcome.”

The full collaborative album by Gergana Dimitrova and Lisa Gerrard is set to be released on May 22.

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov