Afghanistan Movie Features Emblematic Bulgarian Folk Song

Valya Balkanska's record of the popular Bulgarian folk song "Izlel e Delyo Haidutin" waslaunched into space in 1977 as part of the Voyager Golden Record, included aboard both Voyager spacecraft. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The most popular Bulgarian folk song, which was launched into space in 1977, has been used in a documentary movie for Afghanistan by National Geographic.

“Izlel e Delyo Haidutin”, sung most famously by Valya Balkanska, was used in the documentary movie “Restrepo”, showing the life of American soldiers in Afghanistan.

You can view the moive trailer HERE.

The movie director, Sebastian Junger, who is also a famous American author and journalist, has won the grand jury prize for a domestic documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

However, in the movie, Junger has decided to use the Bulgarian song as a background to the presentation of the situation in Afghanistan. This was made clear in a reportage by the Canadian TV channel CBC, where Balkanska's voice could be heard as a background of the reporter who is talking about the movie.

Valya Balkanska has told the Bulgarian Darik Radio that no one has asked her for permission to use the song in a movie.

“Nothing has been settled or paid. They are mocking at the song. I do not know how could they be so audacious to use the song, and the voice, and the bagpipe. If someone ask me, I would not mind. They should at least show some respect and ask for permission,” Balkanska said.

However, Junger has told Darik Radio that he had the copyrights for using the song.

“The song was found by my wife, who is Bulgarian. I decided to use the song because ti is beautiful. I have the copyrights for this song, as well as for the rest of the music I used in my movie because this was National Geographic's request,” Junger wrote in his email to the radio.

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