England's Ladytron & 1980s Bulgarian Rock; Combined!

As I was preparing for my latest Balkan Hour show, I was listening to the local college radio station WRFL 88.1 when I caught the strange diction of Bulgarian voices over the airwaves. Turning it up while I was driving around I realized I was listening to a strangely familiar song, remixed. After looking it up on WRFL's playlist, I YouTubed the song Kletva (I oath, I swear) and found the old Bulgarian hit by the Crickets. I learned some of my limited Bulgarian from this song so it brought back memories of my Peace Corps experience. Most Bulgarians universally break in song whenever its played in concert so Kletva is instantly recognizable to any Bulgarian. If you listen to the song, Ladytron pronounces the words slightly different.

The Crickets - Kletva (Oath)




Ladytron's Bulgarian Connection:

Mira Ayoro

The Bulgarian accents from Ladytron are rooted in Mira Aroyo's link to Bulgaria from her childhood. Mira, who left the country for Israel at age 10 with her family, travels back to Bulgaria once or twice a year to see family and vacation. With this introduction, Mira has occasionally mixed Bulgarian songs like Kletva as well as voice samples from the national anthem and other Bulgarian dialogue. When asked why she uses Bulgarian, she profers that the Bulgarian combined with the Ladytron music provides an intriguing sound. Interviews: Sydney Morning Herald, Chief Magazine

Miro Aroyo recently was interviewed about Bulgarian Chalga by Beast Magazine. After being asked whether Chalga music would be involved with Ladytron's next music adventure, she responded enthusiastically. It certainly would be interesting if some of Azis or Galena were sampled in the next album.  Interview with Beast Magazine (Great interview, read all of it)

Also, notice the backlash in the comments about the article assuming that Chalga is of Bulgarian origin. Interesting reaction that happens a lot on the Internet.

Their new album Velocifero samples a lot of Bulgarian and they are planning on touring in Eastern Europe with Depeche Mode.  Bulgarians go crazy over Depeche Mode (and why shouldn't they?) so the tour should be amazing.

Eastern Europe tour!!!! (and others)

• May 16 2009  Beck’sperince @ Parc Izvor w/ Depeche Mode | Bucharest
• May 18 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ Vasil Levsky Stadium w/ Depeche Mode | Sofia
• May 20 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ USCE Park w/ Depeche Mode | Belgrade
• May 21 2009 Tuborg Greenfest @ Arena w/ Depeche Mode | Zagreb

Here are some other songs by Ladytron's Mira Ayoro in Bulgarian:

Ladytron - Black Cat


Ladytron - Commodore Rock