Dear Nikola
It is so nice to meet you here. From my experience there is no doubt that Nikola Antonov’s contribution to the Bulgarian tradition of church music (whether psaltic or not) merits an own documentation by fieldwork, not less than Neofit (right now the Patriarch of Bulgaria) or Stiliyan, the tipikar of Bačkovo who is still vivid in our memory and who was documented by Deniza’s fieldwork during many years.
Right now I am very busy with so many other things (the fact that you could meet me here is not only that I was looking for recordings made of Nikola, but also due to my need for distraction). Despite the fact that this “distraction” helped us to improve our seminary in Berlin and to get prepared for it, I have many many questions concerning your experience!
I hope we can continue our exchange here soon (maybe within the thread of your youtube account), and hopefully also personally in Bulgaria (probably next year).
You are right that the situation in Bulgaria is serious (and always was, since I started fieldwork in 2002), but I also have seen much worse. At the same time, chanters we could meet, were very generous and in their character very unique, firm, but at the same time also laid back. In their very particular way they do miracles and they get never tired to share their experience. When I met Stiliyan, he was already old and weak, and sometimes we needed to protect him and to care that he did not exhaust himself too much.
Being within a tradition is always oriented between the past (learning from experienced chanters, their unique and their local way, and human beings who are aware of their skills, will never stop learning), the present (the daily practice) and the future (passing on the own skills to the younger generation). But from what I saw I know that one can find so much pleasure in it.
Ivan Kaikov who must have had so much hope in the founded state Bulgaria, must have suffered from so many disappointments (especially from people in his own circle). But despite the important role he had within Bulgarian history between the patriarchate in Sofia and the exarchate in Constantinople. It is my work experience that every cultural heritage always goes beyond borders defined by nation or religion, even in case it has an ethnic marker, but cultural heritage is always defined by the people within the field and not by the ethnologists. This is also the official definition made by the UNESCO.
We will stay in touch, see you soon and thank you so much for using the internet in such a generous way!
Oliver (inscribed here under the name Daidalos)