Philip Kutev Prindi Saada link

The National School of Folk Arts "Philip Kutev" – Kotel, Bulgaria

The National School of Folk Arts "Philip Kutev" is situated in Kotel, a little and picturesque town in the mountains of Eastern Bulgaria. 1100 students have graduated the school since it was opened and about 70 per cent of them have continued their education in different universities and academies in Bulgaria. The school has given the world a lot of celebrities such as Teodossy Spassov, Tsvetan Marinov, Tsvetan Radkov, Binka Dobreva. In 2007 the School celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Bulgarian traditional folklore singing; Bulgarian traditional folklore music - kaval, gaida (bagpipe), tambura, gadulka; Bulgarian folklore dances and the craft of making Bulgarian music instruments (luthierie).

All students take part in various school bands or/and in a number of small and/or big performing groups - of 7,14, 22, 35 or 45 members. These groups comprise vocal or instrumental, or vocal-andinstrumental and/or dance ensembles. These groups take part in various concerts, festivals and competitions throughout the country and abroad. The skills of the talented girls and boys make it possible to mix various genres - from traditional Bulgarian folklore, to the ethno-jazz, techno and film songs, all new forms of expression. Evidence of this is that they have already taken part in a rock opera and several international art projects. Representative performing groups of the School have shared the beauty of Bulgarian folklore music and dances with audiences in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Turkey, the Czeck Republic, Cuba, Moldova, France, Holland, USA, Spain, Costa Rica, etc.

For connoisseurs of the folklore arts, the National School of Folk Arts "Philip Kutev" has a repertoire of multiple interpretations of songs full of dissonances and expressing deep psychological states - nostalgia, dreams, sadness, ritual, legend, love, death, nature and the love of life, which is the sublime architecture of the Bulgarian spirit.

Beautiful Bulgarian tunes are being given a new and eternal life through the magical vocals of the talented student singers. These are some of the eternal non-material treasures of Bulgaria.