Biography
One of Bulgaria’s foremost ensembles in the domain of traditional vocal music, the Bisserov Sisters—known domestically as Sestri Bisserovi—feature lead singer Lyumbimka Bisserov, born in 1953, alongside harmony vocalists Neda Bisserov, born in 1955, and Mitra Bisserov, born in 1957. In contrast to the majority of Bulgarian choirs, the trio also functions as multi-instrumentalists, accompanying their performances on an array of indigenous Bulgarian instruments. They further distinguish themselves through formal conservatory education in folklore and ethnomusicology, a background uncommon among their peers. Although academically trained, they concentrate exclusively on repertoire from their family’s ancestral region, the Pirin Mountains in southern Bulgaria, thereby infusing their recordings with a pronounced emotional resonance.
The sisters made their initial public appearance in 1978 after winning a national contest that secured them a slot at the eleventh World Youth Festival in Cuba. Although still in their early twenties, they had absorbed local songs from their mother and grandmother since childhood and had participated in village rituals and dances that reinforced this oral tradition. Their debut album, Pirin Traditional Songs, appeared in 1979 on Bulgaria’s state-run label. Two additional domestic LPs followed—Traditional Songs From Pirin in 1981 and Bisserov Sisters and Trakiiska Troika in 1986—along with the cassette-only collection Old Traditional Songs in 1988. Their first release aimed at international audiences arrived in 1990 with Music from the Pirin Mountains on the Dutch world-music imprint Pan.
The global attention generated by Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares, together with the early-1990s dissolution of the Iron Curtain, prompted a succession of recordings on European, Japanese, and American labels: Folk Chorus From Bulgaria in 1991, Bulgarian Polyphony III in 1992, The Bisserov Sisters in 1993, the two-volume Slaveite ot Pirin in 1995, the well-regarded Pirin Wedding and Ritual Songs and Diloto in 1996, and the retrospective compilation The Hits of the Bisserov Sisters. In 1999 the trio collaborated with their mother and daughters on From the Roots to the Top: Three Generations of the Bisserov Sisters. That same year they united with three Tuvan throat singers and five Western musicians to establish the intercultural Globe Orchestra.
The sisters made their initial public appearance in 1978 after winning a national contest that secured them a slot at the eleventh World Youth Festival in Cuba. Although still in their early twenties, they had absorbed local songs from their mother and grandmother since childhood and had participated in village rituals and dances that reinforced this oral tradition. Their debut album, Pirin Traditional Songs, appeared in 1979 on Bulgaria’s state-run label. Two additional domestic LPs followed—Traditional Songs From Pirin in 1981 and Bisserov Sisters and Trakiiska Troika in 1986—along with the cassette-only collection Old Traditional Songs in 1988. Their first release aimed at international audiences arrived in 1990 with Music from the Pirin Mountains on the Dutch world-music imprint Pan.
The global attention generated by Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares, together with the early-1990s dissolution of the Iron Curtain, prompted a succession of recordings on European, Japanese, and American labels: Folk Chorus From Bulgaria in 1991, Bulgarian Polyphony III in 1992, The Bisserov Sisters in 1993, the two-volume Slaveite ot Pirin in 1995, the well-regarded Pirin Wedding and Ritual Songs and Diloto in 1996, and the retrospective compilation The Hits of the Bisserov Sisters. In 1999 the trio collaborated with their mother and daughters on From the Roots to the Top: Three Generations of the Bisserov Sisters. That same year they united with three Tuvan throat singers and five Western musicians to establish the intercultural Globe Orchestra.
Albums
