Since the 1970s, Bulgarian wedding music has coalesced into a distinct genre that has more to do with conceptual approaches to performance than what we might call the content of the music, much like jazz. And just as jazz has historically derived much of its expressive power from its life in the margins, Bulgarian wedding music has represented and conveyed a powerful message of resistance to Bulgarian state control of artistic expression. But there must be some content, otherwise the musicians wouldn't know what to play. The conceptual approaches, therefore, move to the foreground. We can speak of three.
Instrumentation usually includes accordion, clarinet, electric bass guitar, and a trap drum set.
Second, the individual is featured prominently during solo improvisations. Unlike the large, formal, and rigidly directed folk ensembles associated with state socialism, Bulgarian wedding bands encourage the display of personality. Virtuosic improvisation contributes to the creation of star status for wedding musicians. Third, melodies are deliberately manipulated beyond recognition with techniques that include arpeggiation, profuse ornamentation, chromaticism, frequent key changes, and irregular phrasing, all at a blinding speed. SlavonicWeb is a project of the Cultural Committee of the Slavonic Cultural Center of San Francisco, a nonprofit organization.