THE BALKANARAMA SHEET MUSIC ARCHIVE
Song for Baba Nedelja
This is my own transcription of the basic melody for this song by Ivo Papazov. I've transposed it up one step from the original Cm to put it in a more comfortable range for our singers -- take it back down if you prefer. The chart doesn't include his mind-bending solo. I'm told the lyrics were written by Ivo's wife, Maria Karafezieva, about one of her grandmothers. Note that the song congratulates not Nedelja for her singing, but rather her husband for owning her. Martha Forsyth was kind enough to transcribe and translate the lyrics, which use ā to represent the unstressed vowel common in Bulgarian.
 
Image: Sheet music

Deto se horo igrae
sred selo nasred megdana
dor devet gajdi svireha
dor tri tāpana bijaha.

Nedelja, bulka hubava,
tja se sās gajdi nadpjava.
Gajda na gajda produma:
Mlāknete, gajdi, ta chujte

Mlāknete, gajdi, ta chujte
koj si sās naze nadpjava,
dali e pile slavejche
ili e siva gugutka?

Nito je pile slavejche,
nito je siva gugutka,
naj mi e bulka Nedelja,
chorbadzhi Sivuva nevesta.

Blazej na Sivo chorbadzhi
che ima bulche hubavo
che ima bulche hubavo
deto si gajda nadpjava!
There where people dance,
in the middle of the village, in the square,
nine bagpipes were playing
and three drums were beating.

Nedelja, the beautiful young wife,
had a singing contest with the bagpipes.
One bagpipe said to the other[s],
"Be quiet, you bagpipes, so you can hear

"Be quiet, you bagpipes, so you can hear
who is having a singing contest with us,
is it a nightingale
or is it a grey dove?"

It's not a nightingale
nor is it a grey dove,
it's the young wife Nedelja,
rich Sivo's wife.

Congratulations to rich Sivo
for having a beautiful wife,
for having a beautiful wife
who can out-sing a bagpipe!
Source: "Balkanology," Ivo Papazov, Hannibal HNCD 1363 © 1991 Rykodisc