Valya Balkanska

Valya Balkanska ( Bulgarian Валя Балканска; born January 8, 1942 in Arda, Smolyan Oblast ) is a world- famous Bulgarian folk singer. With the folk song Izlel e Delju Haydutin from the Rhodope Mountains they will be heard as only Southeast European musician on the plate Voyager Golden Record.

Valya Balkanska was born near the small southern Bulgarian village of Arda near the Greek border. Since her young age, she sings the typical Bulgarian folk songs of their home region. She has more than 300 Bulgarian folk songs in their repertoire. She became famous after 1972, together with the Gaidaspieler Dimitar Petrovski the song Izlel e Delju Haydutin ( е Излел Делю Хайдутин, German And went Delju the Heiducke ) recorded. This song was recorded in 1977 with a further 26 pieces of music on a record that was sent to interstellar space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 into space.

Balkanska works with the Rhodope State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances from Smolyan, with which it occurs as a soloist since 1960. Their album " glass ot vetschnostta " ( Bulg Глас от вечността / "Voice from the eternity " ), brought out in 2004. It is a compilation of their best-of songs, including A bre junache ludo i mlado, Goro le goro zelena and Majchinko stara majchinko.

In 2002, the singer with the medal " Stara Planina " was honored for her contribution to the Bulgarian music.