Yanka Rupkina Passed Away: We Lost an Iconic Voice of Bulgarian Folklore

Bulgarian folk singer Yanka Rupkina has passed away. The singer died at the age of 87 after a prolonged stay in a hospital, where doctors fought for her life for weeks, after she suffered a severe stroke in early March.

Yanka Rupkina remains in history as one of the significant ambassadors of Bulgarian folklore worldwide, a performer of song folklore from the Strandzha region. The singer owes her world fame to her work with the vocal trio "Bulgarka".

BNT is changing its programming and from 10:00 PM BNT 1 will broadcast Rosen Elezov's film "The Path".

Born on August 15, 1938, but registered with a birth date of August 25. In 1954, she graduated from high school in a nursing technical school in Burgas.

She began singing folk songs from a young age and at 22 she won the first prize at a song festival in the village of Gramatikovo. From 1960 for 30 years she was a soloist with the Ensemble for Folk Songs of the Bulgarian National Radio. She made many recordings for the BNR fund, released several gramophone records in "Balkanton", filmed many films for BNT. Her song "Kalimanku, Denku" impressed the Swiss producer Marcel Cellier, who included it among his favorites in the "Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices" album series.

Yanka Rupkina searched for and recorded hundreds of original songs from the Strandzha region for BNR and "Balkanton".

In 2012, she was awarded the high state award, the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Honorary citizen of Burgas since 2017.

We pay tribute to her memory!

BNT expresses its condolences to the family!