Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, or The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir is an Eastern European women's choir with limitless talent and a unique and exotic sound. Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares remains one of Bulgaria's best musical groups, and certainly the most famous internationally. The group relies on a very chesty sound produced through the throat, which results in a very guttural, haunting sound.
Languishing in dissonance and buzzing tone clusters, the group punctuates their sometimes lax, sometimes sharp diction with whoops and other atonal vocal attacks. Filled with melisma and other basic folk ideals, they have truly brought the art of traditional music to an entirely new level.
On the popular side, their music has been exported to the United States and most other countries. If you think you've never heard them, you're probably wrong, as they have been featured in many commercials as background music, and their gorgeous "Polegnala e Todora" featured prominently in an Audi commercial recently.
Other hits include "Erghen Diado", "Guns e Paprica" (yes, it means what you think), and "Bulgarian Rhapsody", featured on a compilation CD. In fact, they are so famous that they have a remix album, where European DJs, including Munich's Stevie B and the guitarist Ulrich Bassenge remixed their songs, appealing to a more electronica crowd.
Lost in the sea of mostly national music, La Mystère des Voix Bulgares provides true joy in folkloric music, and a unique style that is guaranteed to be new and appealing to anyone with even a passing interest in the vocal arts.