Voices & Images From Bulgaria

More than forty years ago, Martin Koenig embarked on a trip to the Balkans that would transform his life. Armed with a letter of introduction from Margaret Mead, Koenig went to learn more about the Balkan folk dances that he loved. However, his mission changed when he found a society in rapid transition, and he soon felt compelled to document the disappearing agrarian life-style and village culture. In this initial trip and on almost a dozen additional trips made between 1966 and 1987, Koenig worked in villages throughout the different areas of the Balkans filming, recording, and photographing the traditional music, dance, and ceremonies. These historic, black and white and color photographs memorialize a way of village life that has since been transformed by modernization and globalization. Text in English and Bulgarian. Hard cover with dust jacket, 96 pages with 43 stunning black and white photographs, Size: 21 x 28 cm (8.2" x 11"). Texts by: Martin Koenig; Lanny Silverman, Chief Curator, Chicago Cultural Center; Dr. Anna Ilieva, Senior Dance Ethnologist, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. About the author/photographer: Martin Koenig was founder/director of the Balkan Arts Center (later the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, today the Center for Traditional Music and Dance) in New York City. 1966 and 1994, he conducted fieldwork that included audio recording, film and photography in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the United States, and Canada.