A big day for many in Bulgaria's post-communist history...
25 years ago today chalga star Rumyana died in a major car accident near Blatets, on the main Sofia-Burgas highway. She was only 33 years old.
A talented singer who had released a number of cassettes featuring traditional Bulgarian folk music, Rumyana Naydenova eventually turned to chalga in the mid-1990s as there was no money in traditional folk. She soon became notorious for singing rather provocative songs typical of chalga (Bulgarian pop-folk music of the 1990s), such as this one, Pantalona (Trousers) where she tells how she goes into the backseat of a suitor's BMW, he takes off his trousers but she's quite disappointed that she "couldn't feel much down there"...
However, Rumyana is more better remembered for her ballads, with her 1998 hit "Dve ochi razplakani" being her most popular. This song was one of the first Bulgarian chalga songs to be covered by artists in neighbouring countries.
Rumyana's real passion was for traditional Bulgarian folk songs, particularly from the southeast of the country, the region where she came from. Rumyana was a trained folk singer and instrumentalist having attended the prestigious Kotel School for Folk Music. Here is one of her earlier folk songs.
Rumyana was also known for her long red hair - 110 cms long to be exact. Rumyana took on having long hair from her grandmother.
Despite the rather racy lyrics of many of her songs, Rumyana was a devout Orthodox Christian who would regularly make mention of the importance of her faith in interviews. The elevation of her devotion took on another level posthumously. A relative told me in all seriousness that he had heard, and believed, that the car accident happened because Rumyana "saw on the road before her an apparition of the Virgin Mary, who was going to take her to heaven".
Like many other stars cut down in their prime, Rumyana was elevated to legendary status. Her fans even raised the money for this monument of her in her birthplace Kameno.
While it might seem a bit frivolous that a singer of such a denigrated music genre be given such gravitas, the life and early death of Rumyana are so figurative of the nature of Bulgaria's chaotic post-communist society. She's a firm feature in Bulgarian modern popular culture – understanding her life and the cult around her is understanding modern Bulgaria.
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