Contributed By: Bob Byers (bob@hsph.harvard.edu)<BR>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 23:51:33 -0400 (EDT)
<P>

So one day I'm listening to my favorite Celtic music radio show and this
tune comes on that I immediately recognize: BULGARIAN BULGE!!! It was
being played by a traditional Irish folk music group, called Planxty. Can
you imagine Bulgarian Bulge being performed on guitar, mandolin, bouzouki
and fiddle?? This really blew my mind!! How can two vastly different
musical genres (jazz and celtic) end up using the same obscure Bulgarian
folk tune as inspiration?
<P>
I eventually bought the Planxty album. The liner notes mention that one of
the band members had spent some time busking in Romania and Bulgaria
("living a quiet reflective life of indolent drunkeness"). Obviously this
is the Bulgarian Bulge connection.
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Details on the celtic "Bulgarian Bulge"...

<PRE>
          Group: Planxty
          Album: After the Break
          Label: Tara (of Holland)
</PRE>
Note: Planxty's "Bulgarian Bulge" is called "Horo". But there's no
mistaking it, these two pieces are definitely one and the same. 
<P>
Further note: Planxty is no longer together, but ex-Planxty member Andy
Irvine now tours with a group called the East Wind Trio, and bills their
music as "a fusion of Celtic and Balkan music".