Razvivaj Dobro freely translates into “may life unfold well” and can be considered a wish for fertility, growth and prosperity. It is a dance song associated with local Lent customs from the Rhodope Mountain Region in Southern Bulgaria. Razvivaj Dobro is a Horovodna Pesen (a song accompanying a dance) and belongs to the category of seasonal folk songs. The song is about young budding life, both literally in the form of flowers, trees and crops and figuratively in the form of a blooming romance. This is a popular theme of many Bulgarian spring songs and customs and is performed to announce the approaching spring and new life. Plans or announcements for marriages are often made during this time of year, especially on Lazarovden, St. Lazarus day, which is Palm Sunday. Razvivaj Dobro is sung and danced exclusively by women and is part of a larger repertoire of spring rituals, symbolic customs, songs and dances. According to an old tradition, the horo is headed by a mother who is still nursing a baby and does not have any dead children. This again is symbolic for unfolding life, fertility and growth. Learned and notated by Jaap Leegwater from Danja Djankova in Smoljan, Rhodope region, Bulgaria in the winter of 1979. Dance notes…
