The Bistritsa Babi & Bethan Huws

Bistritsa Babi, Bistritsa Town Hall, Bulgaria, 1992

The Bistritsa Babi are a group of elderly women from a village, not far from Bulgaria's capital Sofia, who still perform the dances and antiphonic and polyphonic open air singing traditional to the Shoplouk region. They are regarded as an important component of the cultural life of the area and continue to promote traditional expressions among the younger generations, their song passed down from mother to daughter since the Middle Ages. These women are among the few remaining representatives of traditional polyphony and the village of Bistritsa is one of the last areas in Bulgaria in which these traditions are still practised. Those that participated in the 1993 performance and film with Bethan Huws were Krema Georeva, Tsvetanka Tsenkova, Dana Ovnarska, Dinna Ancheva,Nadejda Pachaliiska, Evdokia Batlachka, Gerginka Pachaliiska and Sevda Gergova.

Bethan Huws was born in Bangor, Wales, graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1988 and now lives and works in Paris, France. Her work often references language, particularly the titling of artworks, as well as the position of artists and she works across mediums in film, sculpture, written texts and readymades. Her work as beens exhibited internationally, solo exhibitions include the Kunsthalle Bern, ICA London, and Chapter Arts Centre, Wales. Huws was the recipient of the Henry Moore Sculpture Fellowship at the British School at Rome, the Ludwig Gies-Preis für Kleinplastik der LETTER Stiftung, Cologne and the B.A.C.A. Biannual Award for Contemporary Art in Europe, the latter accompanied by an extensive retrospective exhibition at Bonnefantenmuseum, The Netherlands 2006/07.