How did the village of Stoikite become the home of the bagpipes?

The only Bagpipe Museum in the country is located in the village of Stoikite. It was discovered in 1922. The author of the film “The Bagpipes – Music from Space” and presenter of “STORIES ON AIR” on television Bulgaria ON AIR Miglena Georgieva told details about the museum and the person who inspires it.

“Stoikite is the home of the bagpipe, for the simple reason that the folklorist and the man who created the eponymous orchestra “101 Bagpipes” was born there Apostle Kisiv. He was born in 1924. He started playing bagpipes at a very young age,” said Georgieva in the studio of “Bulgaria in the morning”.

Apostle Kisev is an orphan and when he was very young he was given to study in the seminary so that he could feed himself, survive and get an education.

“When he returned to his native village of Stoikite, he started as a teacher. A very active person. All the time, only teaching was not enough for him, and that is why he set about creating a folklore ensemble in the village.”

At first he made an ensemble that had nothing to do with bagpipes.

“He was a soldier in Burgas, he lived there, and when he returned to his village, he again engaged in this activity, and this is the thing that is most close to his heart. He had a motorbike and traveled around all the villages with it in the vicinity of Stoiki, and when he learns that an orchestra of 101 balalaikas has been created in the Soviet Union, he says “I will create one of the 101 Kabagaids”. Everyone tells him that this is impossible, as the bagpipe is a very specific musical instrument. To play in an orchestra, all the bagpipes must be tuned to play as one.”

The viewers of Bulgaria ON AIR will also be able to enjoy another film that will be broadcast in Saturday at 1:30 p.m., dedicated to Lazarov Day.

“We all know that Lazarov’s Day is before Easter and Palm Sunday. It’s a very nice girl’s holiday and it has been preserved to this day, but there are very few who remember or know the tradition of Lazarov’s Day and in fact in the film we tell the tradition, such as it was in ancient times,” Miglena Georgieva also pointed out.

Watch the entire conversation in the video.