Shopska music and instruments

Bulgarian folk song is most often sung in one voice or two voices. The two-voiced folk singing is an ancient singing tradition in a large part of the country, including in Shopska folklore area. The duet is most often constructed as follows: the first voice is sung by one singer and the second of several. The first voice is said to "shout", "raise", "hand" or "eyes", and hence the singers are called "shouters", "lifters" and others. For the second vote, they say that "pulls", "voices", "puts", and the singers call "tugs" and "putters".

It is characteristic of the Shoppe duet that the singers in the second voice try to drown out
the first. According to them, the best singing is when the second prevails over the first. The two-voiced songs of the shoppers cover all song genres - ritual, wedding, labor, on the table, and most of all - dance songs Usually the shoppers accompany with songs of the dance. The melodies of these songs are fast, lively, and playful, but not with singing this "whirlwind" of the dance, which occurs in an instrumental, can be achieved
accompaniment.

The reed instruments (and hers) are most often used in the Shopska folklore area variety - kemeny), duduk, dvoyanka, bagpipe, in the past also gusla, and less often some other instruments (flute, tambourine, drum).