page_title: Music of Bulgaria
section_title: Asymmetric meters
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Bulgaria / Folk music / Asymmetric meters
caption_attribution_description: English: Bulgarian folk dances in Brussels, Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva initiative
context_page_description: The music of Bulgaria refers to all forms of music associated with the country of Bulgaria, including classical, folk, popular music, and other forms.
  Classical music, opera, and ballet are represented by composers Emanuil Manolov, Pancho Vladigerov and Georgi Atanasov and singers Ghena Dimitrova, Mariana Paunova, Boris Hristov, Raina Kabaivanska and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Notable names from the contemporary pop scene are Lili Ivanova, Emil Dimitrov and Vasil Naydenov. Prominent Bulgarian artists living abroad include Sylvie Vartan, Kristian Kostov, Philipp Kirkorov, Lucy Diakovska, Mira Aroyo, Mikhael Paskalev, Nora Nova, Vasko Vassilev and Ivo Papazov.
  The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir has received a Grammy Award in 1990. The Philip Kutev Ensemble, the first of the Bulgarian state-sponsored folk ensembles and founded in 1951, also is featured on the 1990 Grammy-winning album and has had many well-known Bulgarian folk singers, including, at present, Neli Andreeva and Sorina Bogomilova. Rhodope folk singer Valya Balkanska has recorded the folk song "Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin", which was included on the Golden Disk sent into space with the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
context_section_description: One of the most distinctive features of Balkan folk music is the complexity of its rhythms in comparison to Western music.  Although it uses Western meters such as 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, Balkan music also includes meters with 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 beats per measure, sometimes referred to as "asymmetric meters". These can often be understood as combinations of groups of "quick" and "slow" beats. For example, the dance lesnoto ("the light/easy one") has a meter of 7 beats with emphasis on the first, fourth, and sixth beats.  This can be divided into three groups, a "slow" unit of 3 beats and two "quick" units of 2 beats, often written 3-2-2.
  Each basic folk dance type uses a distinct combination of these rhythmic "units".
  Some examples of Bulgarian folk dances are rachenitsa (7 beats divided: 2-2-3), paidushko horo (5 beats: 2–3), eleno mome (7 beats: 2-2-1-2), kopanitsa (11 beats: 2-2-3-2-2), Bucimis (15 beats: 2-2-2-2-3-2-2), and pravo horo, which can either be standard 4/4 or 6/8.
  Some rhythms with the same number of beats can be divided in different ways: for example, 8-beat rhythms can be divided 2-3-3, 3-2-3, 3-3-2, 2-2-2-2, 2-2-4, 2-4-2, 4-2-2, or even 4-4. This brief overview is but a simplified summary; one that Balkan musicians themselves would not use. It does not capture the full subtlety of Balkan rhythms.
caption: Bulgarian folk dances in Brussels, invited by the Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva
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