Странджански панагирски песни
Panagiri Songs from Strandja

Summary/Abstract: In the past, the Panagiri (“fairs”) were an implicit synonym and milieu of the Nestinarstvo. They were voiced for days and nights by songs and dances, by “common” and special musical instruments for the fair. In the following decades the traditional form of the dances that are performed while singing declined and for the real state of their repertoire and intonational specifics one can rely on the data of previous researchers and collectors. Panagiri songs contain the characteristic musical traits of the region. In different villages songs with identical texts are sung with different melodies and with a different calendar function (including the one known as “panagiric”). For that reason and because of the great intonational and verbal diversity of the Panagiri songs, there appears the question whether this song cycle is an independent one. Or, whether it is rather an “authentic” compilation – mainly of songs that belong to the spring and summer rituals (i.e. the period when the Nestinari danced in the fire). It is especially notable that, unlike the instrumental Panagiri and Nestinari melodies, the song performances did not belong to the list of “mandatory” ones. Parallel to the esoteric Nestinari rituals, the vocal element promoted another type of musical and poetic reality – the other ethos of the Panagiri, which sounded in the space open to the life of the community. The decline of this ethos and of the Nestinari practices as well took place in the second half of the 20th century.

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