Following Bulgaria’s decision to award chalga music producer Payner Media with development money, a public outcry has arisen in Bulgaria over the culture of this particular music culture.
Chalga is the name given to pop-folk music which is known for its modern dance beats, explicit lyrics and videos and glamorisation of aggressive males and promiscuous females. The funding was awarded to Payner for a technology upgrade of Planeta HD, with the government providing 60% of the money for the project.
Some critics of the decision have pointed out that Payner already holds 80 to 90% of the Bulgarian music market and shouldn’t be awarded funds intended for small businesses, while others believe that chalga shouldn’t be awarded funding due to the morals and values that it promotes.
‘This is monstrous… Is this the only culture we can show to the world in this idiotic country of ours?’ theatre director Alexander Morfov told BGNES news website.
Following the public outcry, the European Commission called for an investigation into the funding decision to determine whether it was abiding by funding rules, but Payner decided to withdraw from the programme and has announced that they will pay for the equipment themselves.
Forbes Bulgaria editor-in-chief Yordan Mateev believes Payner decided to pull out to avoid the public objection altogether.
‘Whether we like it or not, chalga is a legitimate business,’ he told the BBC. ‘[Payner] would have got the money but they chose to be less hated, at the price of 1m euros.’
There’s no denying that chalga is extremely popular in Bulgaria. A 2012 study revealed that advertising, news, politics, entertainment and school textbooks are all in some way influenced by this popular style of music.
‘It’s appealing because it displays glamour and a luxurious lifestyle that are out of reach for the vast majority of people in the unstable post-communist economies,’ Rada Elenkova, formerly project coordinator at the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation said.
There is particular concern that the culture has a huge influence on adolescents, dictating how they should dress and behave. But 25-year-old Elena Ivanova doesn’t believe it has a negative effect – at least not on her.
‘I go to these places because there isn’t much elsewhere to go,’ Ivanova said in reference to Sin City nighclub, which is renowned for playing chalga music. ‘I don’t see myself in this music. It doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t bring me anything, but I know people my age who compare themselves to the singers.’
Chalga is not only popular in Bulgaria, but also in several Balkan countries and has even garnered some international appeal. It was viewed negatively during the communist era in Bulgaria, but soared to popularity once again after the communist regime fell in the 1990s.