За пътеките, които се събират на върха: Любен Ботушаров (1938 – 2023)
About the Paths That Converge at the Summit: On Luben Botuscharov (1938 – 2023)

Summary/Abstract: This text was presented as a report at a conference in homage to the 75th anniversary of the distinguished Bulgarian musical folklorist Luben Botuscharov. In 2023, a special section of the Bulgarian Musicology Journal was meant to mark his 85th birthday. However, his passing altered the dedication, and now it stands in memory of our dear colleague, whose work – illuminated by vast knowledge and insightful thought – will live on and continue to further inseminate the manifold scientific fields developed by him. Luben Botuscharov’s entire musicological oeuvre is connected with constructing a perspective on folklore. This is a process in which the musicologist sets himself up in such a way as to be called a “folklorist” in the fullest sense of the word. This sense encompasses multi-layered aspects, ranging from field researcher to theorist. Among them, the primary one is the aspect that defines Botuscharov as a methodologist. The path he follows (whether concentrating on a specific phenomenon or delving into a theoretical subject of the highest order) and the path towards which he directs others always commence with the music itself whose specifics (be it characteristic of a particular place in folk culture or pertaining to a given composer within the professional realm) he is “listening into”. The report explores a small part of Botuscharov’s research, revealing his immense contributions to the science of folklore.

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