Bulgaria's top folk singers are starting to get excited about the annual Golden Mustang contest in Varna called on October 25.

The grand festival occupies pride of place for a number of chalga performers, who provoke contradictory opinions amongst music lovers. Popular folk music, which has been more and more commercialized over the last 10 years, has now been declining from its recent successes, according to some stage performers of quality music.

Even though this type of music creates arguments about its quality, it is still gaining popularity among some groups of people and being performed in special chalga bars and distributed by big musical companies such as Payner, Ara and Milena Records. Some of the hundreds of chalga singers are university graduates with a speciality in singing, unlike the rest, who are referred to as amateurs by their colleagues.

One of these amateurs, who has been extremely successful on chalga stages, is Sofi Marinova. She was the winner of last year's edition of the Golden Mustang with her song "Reach Out Your Hands."

The man who wrote the song, Toncho Rusev, a famous Bulgarian composer, commented that Marinova has the most beautiful voice he has ever heard and that her gift is absolutely God given. "I was extremely proud and honoured to have one of my songs performed with such passion and vocal qualities. For me, Sofi's voice is the strongest and most powerful one suitable for tender ballads and love songs," he said.

The composer, who has worked with most of the successful pop singers in the country, has experienced some emotional times recording Reach Out Your Hands, since Sofi's voice quite resembled Lili Ivanova's vocal powers.

Concerning the resemblance between the chalga performer Sofi and the prima donna of Bulgarian music (45 years on stage), Ivanova, there have not been any doubts. "At the beginning of my career I was told to do my best and imitate Lili. Now I am working on a style of my own," Sofi said. For Sofi, Ivanova remains the role model and she accepted comparisons with her as a challenge.

Rusev was very happy with the success of the song and continued working with the promising Sofi. For him, times change and people should always try to stay with what is commercial and challenging. Even though musicians and performers oppose the latest fashion on the Bulgarian stage, he considers this wave as temporary.

Another popular performer, Volodya Stoyanov, grew up in the Balkans around the town of Petrich and developed a love for folklore from a very young age. He was told by Vanga (a fortune teller and prophet) that he has a voice to be heard by the people. Without too much thinking about her words he became one of the top folk singers with his Pyramids and Pharaohs song. "I am the singer who launched the chalga fashion, but later on returned to typical Bulgarian folklore and its origins," he said.

Stoyanov considers authentic folklore as the only possible source for good and valuable singing. "The country's traditions and roots come from folklore and I feel ill when it is contorted in the lyrics of chalga songs," he said.

According to the chalga singer, what is important is that the soul of the singer shines through everything else. "It is not always the case that whatever is sellable is valuable and precious. Songs should be composed which do not make the singer feel ashamed of the words," he added. He dreams of a type of music with much more Macedonian roots in it and the typical Bulgarian hora (circle dance). The singer of "Take Fire And Light Me" would like to break down the borders between all the neighbouring countries around Bulgaria and to create one type of song with them all.

Many debates have been held about music in Bulgaria, and some are on the side of popular and commercial music. However, many of the solo performers expressed a dislike for the degradation of the music in the country. "I am ashamed of the way people try to educate children and force them to grow up earlier than they should," Silvia Katsarova, a pop singer, said. She considers that children listening to chalga are deprived of childhood and thinks that moral values are not being cultivated.

One of the favourites among the chalga singers who will perform on stage at the Golden Mustang is Tanya Boeva. She has acquired a series of awards over the last five years, and her favourite and most unforgettable one was for the song written by a fan of hers, "I Am Looking For You." She is on stage because that is how she always imagined her life and career.

She opposes the other singers' hatred and envy and appeals for a better world. "That is what my songs are about, the Magic in life and the nice things around us," she said. She talks about people as flowers having their own individual beauty and says they should not worry whether the flowers around them are prettier. Being on stage from the age of 13 in the Alchemics band in Dimitrovgrad, Tanya now feels that one of her goals has been achieved but she will never stop setting herself more goals.

Chalga singers perform on the Onyx channel on Bulgaria's cable television network and can be heard on Radio Vesselina (101 Mhz) and Radio Signal+ (90 Mhz). Popular venues for many chalga singers in Sofia are Kosharite Pub (Lozenets), Biad (Rakovski street) and Ambrosia Tavern (Stamboliiski Blvd).