“Magic Land” is Yonka Dragomanska's love song to Bulgaria

Yonka Dragomanska has lived in Vienna for years, but she makes a point of calling herself a Bulgarian singer. She is also a composer, singing teacher and children’s choir director, and the founder and conductor of the Yagoda Choir in Vienna.

Dragomanska was born and raised in Pazardzhik in a musical family and has been singing since she was a small child. Her grandmother Yagoda, after whom the choir is named, was a folk singer of the calibre of Nadka Karadzhova, one of Bulgaria’s best-known traditional folk singers. She was invited to join the Bulgarian National Radio ensemble, but family circumstances prevented her from accepting. 

Yonka’s mother, Violeta, played the accordion and sang in two-part harmony with Yonka from her early childhood. One childhood memory has stayed particularly vivid: sitting for hours in an old pear tree in the family garden in the village of Gelemenovo, singing and making up her own songs.

Like many creative people, Yonka has more than one talent. Alongside music, drawing had a place in her heart from an early age. After moving to Vienna, she was accepted to study architecture in the class of world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid. But even as she was living that dream, Yonka did not give up music. In Vienna, her talent was noticed by the Vladigerov brothers, who helped her take her first steps as a professional singer.

Later, she met her first vocal teacher, Svetla Ivanova, who awakened her love of opera and prepared her for admission to a private conservatory in Vienna. Yonka graduated with honours and went on to perform oratorio and operatic repertoire.

Her love of Bulgarian music and homesickness eventually prompted her to set up the Yagoda Choir. Its members are Austrians and people of various other nationalities who learn and perform Bulgarian folk songs. Many had never sung before joining.

Dragomanska has developed her own exercises in breathing, voice production and vocal technique, which she uses at the beginning of every rehearsal. The singers first translate the lyrics and then practise speaking them in rhythm to get the Bulgarian pronunciation and diction right.

Over the years, the Yagoda Choir has performed in some of Vienna’s most beautiful concert halls and on some of its most prestigious stages, bringing Bulgarian folk music to large international audiences.

In 2026, Yonka Dragomanska wrote her first original song, “Magic Land”. It is a song about Bulgaria, love for one’s roots, the strength of a happy childhood and the resilience of the human spirit. The lyrics grew out of memories that still give her strength today, while the melody seemed to find its own way to the words.

The arrangement is by Petar Aleksiev, who also plays piano on the recording, and Alex Nushev. The violin part is performed by Slava Atanasova, concertmaster of the Sofia National Opera orchestra.

The video was filmed in both Austria and Bulgaria. The Austrian footage includes locations around Semmering and the Rax mountain and was shot by Martin Zayranov – a musician and first violinist with the Wiener Symphoniker who is also an aerial photographer and drone cameraman – with the involvement of another Bulgarian, pianist Martin Pulz.

Austrian cinematographer and director Klaus Hundsbichler, who has worked with Dragomanska on her opera projects, also took part. His previous work includes filming ZZ Top and Frank Zappa, as well as productions and films featuring opera stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón.

The Bulgarian footage was put together by Viktor Dimchev and Aleksandar Duhtev using aerial images from Travel TV’s drone archive. Among the locations are Leshten, Veliki Preslav, the Rhodope Mountains, Ruse, Dzhebel, Kaliakra and Sinemorets. Slava Atanasova’s scenes were filmed in Sofia’s Borisova Garden.

“For me, ‘Magic Land’ is not simply a song, but a meeting between two cultures and two worlds that are part of my life. That is why I wanted the video to show this connection – the beauty of Bulgaria through the eyes of someone who lives and creates in Austria, but deep inside carries Bulgaria and the love of her roots,” Yonka Dragomanska says.

Editor: Desislava Semkovska