The other name of CHALGA is bulgarian pop-folk music, pop-because it is popular music with no aspirations to be highly intellectual or inspiring, and folk- because it is very close in rythm and beat to traditional bulgarian folk music. It is true that there are some very vulgar texts but a more tolerant person will be able to enjoy their straightforward honesty and some very funny sexual innuendos. Most of the ballad texts have also very trivial lyrics but not less trivial than the pop and estrada text. As a matter of fact, most of the estrada music such as Tonika, Lili Ivanova and even Emil Dimitrov is copied, ok, COPIED, from Italian and French music popular in the 60s and 70s. That just shows how old fashioned this genre is while the chalga music is developing and becoming more modern every day.
by Simpatyagite October 08, 2006