Regional maps are teaching conventions, not immutable borders. A common scheme uses six broad regions; other Bulgarian and international sources count seven by studying Strandzha separately from Thrace. Horo shows all seven study areas and states that convention openly.
Gaida, kaval, gadulka, tambura and tupan form a familiar teaching core, joined by regional specialists such as zurna and double flutes. Drones matter enormously, but Bulgarian instrumental practice also includes moving accompaniment, heterophony and ensemble counter-lines.
The source practices did not begin in a concert hall. They were sung at weddings and harvests, played outdoors and danced in shared village spaces. Then in one extraordinary century it was collected, arranged, exported, banned, celebrated — and sent into interstellar space. Here is how that happened.
Recordings first and theory as confirmation form an effective study path for an oral tradition. Each entry says what to listen for.
Every reference in this app as an actual performance — the Voyager song, the Mystère choir, the Bistritsa grandmothers, Papazov's wedding band, and the dances.