Guus Bosman

Saturday evening we went to a concert of an amazing Bulgarian women's choir: The Great Voices of Bulgaria, or Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares in French.

The event was in The Church of the Epiphany, a church in downtown D.C. We arrived early because we weren't able to get tickets online. There was a line inside but luckily there were still some tickets available and we quickly got inside the beautiful Anglican church. We joined Stratsi and Lozana in one of the front rows and had a good view of the stage.

The show was really beautiful and the music amazing. The choir members, 25 women and 1 man, were all dressed in traditional Bulgarian costumes. I had heard the choir before on CD recordings, but hearing them acoustic was even better. They didn't use any microphones, and no musical instruments. The choir brought the show with a lot of humour, and it was a real pleasure to listen and watch.

The evening was organized by the Smithsonian, as part of a serie of French cultural events. Except for the name there is nothing French about the choir so it was a bit strange that the Smithsonian Resident Associates choose it as their kick-off event.