Народни песни за Апостола на свободата Васил Левски от Македония
Folk Songs about the Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levski from Macedonia

Summary/Abstract: Whether the Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levski did actually found revolutionary committees in Macedonia is a question, which historians are tying to clarify. What is more important here, is that his spirit used to hover above Macedonian lands; his personality and his example of selfless devotion to the struggle for the freedom encouraged the enslaved folk and inspired the participants in the Liberation movement. The Bulgarian folk song tradition has preserved the memory of revolutionary activists in a great number of songs. It is strange, however, that Levski, one of the Greatest Bulgarian heroes, is presented quite rarely. Only about a dozen of songs about the Apostle have been recorded in Macedonia. This fact is due to the circumstance that after the Liberation of Bulgaria the territories of Thrace and Macedonia were left under Ottoman rule and the fight for freedom continued even more ardently. The Exarchate schoolteachers there transmitted the whole repertory of revolutionary folk songs, including the songs about Levski. They came to be an active ‘assistant’ of the Revolutionary movement. After the departure of the Bulgarians from Macedonia these songs returned back to the free Motherland. The author makes a survey of the main plots and motifs in the songs’ texts about the Apostle – his ability to outwit his enemies by disguising himself, his capturing after the treason of one of his adherents, his tragic death and the deep love of the Bulgarian people.

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