Sublime Bulgarian Choir to Return to Symphony Hall

Under ordinary circumstances, a concert promoter would not reach for his checkbook if an agent described one of his acts as two dozen middle-age women in ornate Slavic costumes singing incomprehensible lyrics in an alien style. But the circumstances were anything but ordinary when the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir came to town last March.

The choir had received a lot of media attention for its 1987 album, “Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares” (The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices), sales of which pushed it onto Billboard’s Top 200 pop chart. Volume 2 of “Le Mystere” even won its producer a Grammy Award in 1989. Such recognition undoubtedly raised the troupe’s profile and made the booking a little less risky than it might otherwise have seemed.

Nonetheless, one was surprised to see hundreds of locals elbowing into Symphony Hall for the choir’s performance, which elicited uncountable, well-deserved ovations. The group returns to Symphony Hall for a concert at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Certainly, the Bulgarian choir satisfies our thirst for the exotic. Isolated from neighboring countries by five mountain ranges and the Danube River, the Bulgarians, over the centuries, have developed a unique strain of Euro-Asian folk music. This music has taken on regional characteristics that reflect the country’s striking topographical variety (for example, dissonance in the low-plains areas, sweeping melodies in the mountainous regions).

In Thursday’s concert, the choir will perform traditional music of Bulgaria’s seven regions, as well as works by contemporary Bulgarian composers. Included in the latter category is the American debut of a long, demanding piece by Phillip Koutev, who is largely responsible for the sudden importation of Bulgarian culture to the West.

It is a composite of the chorale’s style that lingers in the mind like a multivoiced mantra. Employing vocal techniques that defy Western traditions of voice production, the singers juxtapose flat, nasal tones with full, round ones; dissonant, unearthly harmonies with consonant blends right out of a Christian hymnal; slow, trance-like shifts in texture and harmony with complex, percussive, rapid-fire rhythms.

The choir punctuates this music with bizarre, Turkish-derived, vocal sound effects--”yipping,” “clucking,” “trilling,” “swooping,” “warbling”--that occasionally encourage charmed laughter in listeners. But the total effect of the choir’s performance is more profound. This is not a novelty act or a funky folk outfit but a highly skilled, supremely disciplined choir whose music is mesmerizing in its primal appeal, breathtaking in its sublime beauty. Listeners of any persuasion should find their concert a memorable experience.

TicketMaster is living up to its name by adding the Wherehouse chain to its roster of outlets. Seven of the “music, movies, and more” stores (Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, La Mesa, Imperial Beach, Carlsbad and the College Area) became fully functioning TicketMaster locations Tuesday. All 17 area Wherehouse retailers will be on board by April 19, which in turn will bring the total number of TicketMaster locations to 38 countywide (152 throughout Southern California).

TicketMaster, with other offices across the country, came to town in 1984 and in time established domination of the local market. Last year, the company took away rival Ticketron’s last remaining account, Starlight Bowl, thus effectively forcing their major competitor to pack up and leave town. (TicketMaster recently signed a letter of intent to purchase the entire Ticketron system, which remains a major force in Northern California, the Midwest and Northeast).

“We have a very good relationship with two other music chains--Tower Records and Music Plus,” a spokeswoman said, “but by adding the Wherehouse we’re putting outlets into areas of town where we’ve been a little thin. This will make it very convenient for people to purchase tickets close to where they live. Pretty soon, we’ll be everywhere.”

GRACE NOTES: And speaking of TicketMaster, ducats are now on sale at all their locations for the San Diego presentation of “Yesshows ‘91: Around the World in 80 Dates,” a tour featuring a reconstituted Yes. Actually, it is as much an alumni reunion as it is a concert tour. Past and present Yes-men Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Alan White and Tony Kaye will perform on a revolving stage as a group, as soloists, and in various combinations. The Sports Arena show is scheduled for May 14. . . .

Also at TicketMaster, tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for the May 14 Jesus Jones show at Iguana’s. At 10 a.m. Saturday, tickets go on sale for Yanni at Symphony Hall on May 30.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

SEATTLE ‘BRITS’ AT THE BELLY UP

The Posies sure don’t sound like a band from Seattle. Given a blindfold test and no awareness of the quartet, I’d place them in Manchester, England, in the late ‘60s. This week, however, I place them at the Belly Up Tavern, where they’ll perform Thursday night.

Specifically, I’d guess that the Posies’ 1990 album, “Dear 23,” was a never-released album by the Hollies in their progressive-pop prime. More specifically, I’d say it was a demo for that album--a rough, raw, passionate barrage of hard-strummed acoustic guitars and close, emotional harmonies taped before a producer could get his mitts on it and filter out the manhood.

“Dear 23” is that rare achievement: a recording at once retro in its sound homages and current in its sensibilities, but with a scintillating other-ness that distances it from considerations of time frames. Like the Hollies, the Posies cushion fine pop melodies on thick blankets of guitar and frost them with dulcet harmonies. Like the Beatles circa 1965, they manage on “Dear 23” to canvas melancholy themes with a crooked-grin tunefulness that adds mischief to the mix.

Others have accomplished all this--among the more notable examples being Richard X. Heyman and XTC--but those artists either don’t tour or never make it to San Diego. The Posies, however, are very much an active band, and their Thursday gig promises to be one that attendees will rave about to their friends. Don’t wait for the band’s next visit; check them out now. Opening the 9 p.m. show is San Diego’s own Dark Globe.

Other noteworthy shows this week include avant-gardist Laurie Anderson, who performs at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium on Sunday, and the Chris Cain Band, which continues the excellent Monday-Tuesday series of blues concerts at Elario’s on April 15 and 16.