Introducing: Bulgaria's folklore areas

The Bulgarian folklore in nature and expression varies according to the regions where it occurred. In this regard, the country is divided into several folkloric and ethnographic areas: Dobrudzha, Northern, Shopluk, Thrace, Pirin, Rhodope and Strandzha. 

Source: Bulgarian folk dances

Each area has its own characteristics in terms of song and dance folklore.

• The Dobrudzha folklore and ethnographic area occupies the northeastern part of Bulgaria - the north is bounded by the river, in the east - from the Black Sea and to the west - from Northern folklore area. 
• The Northern folklore and ethnographic area is covering northwestern Bulgaria and Central Northern Bulgaria. Geographic area includes two subareas - Danubian hilly plain (without Dobrudzha) and northern Balkan. The boundaries of the area outline north of the Danube, to the south by the mountains, west of the Serbian border and east of Dobrudzha.
• The Thrace folklore and ethnographic area occupies a geographic region of the Thracian Plain. Mainly because of differences in the folk dance is usually divided into two subareas - Western Thrace ( Plovdiv and Pazardjik ) and Eastern Thrace.
• The Shoppe folklore and ethnographic area (Shopluk) covers the western part of Srednogorie Mountain, Sofia, Pernik and Breznik
• The Pirin folklore and ethnographic area (the Macedonian) includes the lands of the Pirin Mountains , Vardar and Aegean Macedonia.
• The Rhodope folklore and ethnographic area coincides with the geographical area of ​​Rhodope Mountain.
• The Strandja folklore and ethnographic area is located east of the Thrace region to the Black Sea, to the north extends to the Dobrudzha, and southward to the border with Turkey. In terms of folk dance is not much different from Eastern Thrace so it is sometimes regarded as a third sub-region of Thrace. Yet the musical folklore of Strandja is quite distinctive and different from that in Eastern Thrace, in consequence of which many researchers consider it as a separate folklore region .

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Dobrudzha folklore area

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Autumn in Dobrudzha. Author: Ivan Hristov

Dobrudzha area occupies the northeastern part of Bulgaria - the west is bordered by the Northern folklore area, the north is bounded by the Danube river and east - on the Black Sea. It is characterized by its rich and varied folklore. After the Liberation of Bulgaria (Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878) there was settled large groups of Thracian population from the Balkan regions of Stara Planina, Kotel and others.
In Dobrudzha area there are two styles - Thracian and Balkan that gradually flow into the deeper layers of ancient local traditions. 

The specific for Dobrudzha area is creation of a new, but typical for this region instrumental style, played on fiddle, flute and bagpipe. Particularly renowned are Dobrudzha's dance tunes "ruki", "sboreni", "rachenitza" etc. It will not be exaggeration to say that there is formed an interesting instrumental school as a result of the interpenetration of the Thracian and Balkan folklore. It is not underestimated the influence of folk music on neighboring Romania, which takes elements of Bulgarian folklore (7/16) , but it gives the Bulgarian instrumental folklore style specific maneuvers performance.

An element of an apron - part of the Dobrudzha
folklore costume

The Dobrudzha' dances have their own style, characterized by mood, free of body stiffness, dancing even with the arms and the shoulders. The dance is moderate with slightly leaning backwards. The Dobrudzha' people is closed in a semicircle or straight rachenitza. Men play in a straight line, but in a circle or semicircle if the dance is mixed men and women. The Dobroudzha' dancers love to play solo, even when dancing rachenitza in a group, it seems dancing is like if it is by individual soloists. The most common dances (hora in Bulgarian) are "Raka", "Sborenka", "Danets", "Buenets", "Paydushko" (5/8) , "Rachenitza" (5/8) etc. 

(Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/28349/bul/index.htm. )

See the illustrations from the book "Dobrudja. Ethnography , folklore and language studies". Ed . Academy of Sciences, 1974 . Illustrations published by Velin Neychev through Facebook - profile "Bulgarian costume".