Search - Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares :: From Bulgaria with Love

Ever since Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares became a surprise pop smash in Europe in 1987, the continent's trendiest pop- dance producers have sampled the eerie sound of the Bulgarian female choir. Director Ivan Topalov decided the choir should be controlling its own samples, so he put the singers together with such Europop stylists as the techno-dance team Elio e le Storie Tese, which has already turned the album's first single "Pipppero" into a number-one hit in Italy. Munich DJ Stevie B (Steff Hummel) and guitarist Ulrich Bassenge (Robert Fripp) have done industrial dance remixes of the choir's traditional ballads, while Transformation has put together hard-rock titles like "Guns and Paprica." With the vocals cut up and reassembled over throbbing rhythm tracks, this won't appeal to the choir's folkloric fans (who can expect a more traditional album later this year), but fans of Ofra Haza and Enigma will feel at home. --Geoffrey Himes