 Bulgarian folk music is by far the most extensive traditional art and has slowly developed throughout the ages as a fusion of Eastern and Western influences . It contains Far Eastern , Oriental , medieval Eastern Orthodox and standard Western European tonalities and modes . The music has a distinctive sound and uses a wide range of traditional instruments , such as gadulka , gaida ( bagpipe ) , kaval and tupan . One of its most distinguishing features is extended rhythmical time , which has no equivalent in the rest of European music . The State Television Female Vocal Choir is the most famous performing folk ensemble , and received a Grammy Award in 1990 . Bulgaria 's written musical composition can be traced back to the early Middle Ages and the works of Yoan Kukuzel ( c . 1280 – 1360 ) . Classical music , opera and ballet are represented by composers Emanuil Manolov , Pancho Vladigerov and Georgi Atanasov and singers Ghena Dimitrova , Boris Hristov and Nikolay Gyaurov . Bulgarian performers have gained popularity in several other genres like progressive rock ( FSB ) , electropop ( Mira Aroyo ) and jazz ( Milcho Leviev ) . 
