Yanka Rupkina

We were saddened to hear about the death of Yanka Rupkina, the chief vocalist of the legendary Trio Bulgarka, and a member of the choir from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares,  who we worked with on several memorable occasions. Yanka sang with a late version of the Trio on the album ‘Impossible Broadcasting’  and solo on ‘Moonshout’ and ‘A Gathering of Strangers,’ the last being recorded in the original building of the Bulgarian National Radio. She was a remarkable lady and, despite the language barrier, a great source of stories on the road in the Communist days, (and also a source of  various strangely coloured sorts of Bulgarian refreshments).

As a vocalist she seemed both in command of the tradition she’d worked in for so long, and able to surrender to the music with an  enthusiasm that could make it sound like she was singing for the first time. As an artist she was still engaged by the musical world around her and we did a few concerts and sound systems with her and the Trio. One of our favourite memories of her was at a festival at Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. After the show we found that a group of Bulgarians living in Ireland had been unable to get into the festival. She commandeered a step ladder from somewhere or other, climbed up to the top of the perimeter fence and gave them all a solo performance. A wonderful artist who we will remember with great love and respect.