Bulgarian - Who are we ? Where do we come from ? Part 2

Bulgarian - "Who are we?", "Where do we come from?", "What cultural and historical traditions do we have?".
Isihia is the sound tangle of pure folklore motifs of the Bulgarian song and melody, the Hesychast sound of the Christian singing, the mystery of the Balkan spirit and the romance of national drama in Bulgarian history.
Isihia is the musical tale of the times of the most genuine belief in the history of the Bulgarian spiritual life -- Hesychasm.
Isihia is the musical glance back to the history of the Bulgarians.
The very end of the 20-th century was a time of severe trial for the Bulgarian people and the Balkan peoples as a whole, whose belonging to the European Christian civilization both in geographical and cultural, as well as in historical aspect is certainly doubtless. Most threatening to the Bulgarian nation today are not the political failures, the economic instability, not even the demographic collapse, but the weakness and impersonality of spirit. In such times, each nation turns to the stronghold of its traditions and history where its hidden strength lies. It is to reach the roots of that strength and to draw invigorating spirit from the shell of the Bulgarian identity that Isihia was born for, Isihia -- the bridge from the past to the present. The ancient spirit of the Bulgarian land, whose roots have been marked by the cultures of Thraceans, Romans, Slavs, Proto-Bulgarians, Byzantines and Ottoman Turks -- a spirit combining the pagan and Christian traditions is the strength giving inspiration and creating the musical aesthetics of Isihia.

The name "Isihia" epitomizes the search for the conceptual link making a reference to the Hesychast religious movement that occurred in the last years of the Byzantine existence and the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The Hesychasts of those times believed that everything mortal was doomed to death but what had to be saved and what had to survive were the spirit and the Orthodox faith. On the eve of the Ottoman occupation of the Balkan Peninsula, the Hesychast movement of the 14th century returned to the pure faith of the first Christians as a reaction to safeguard the Balkan Orthodox identity. In the very beginning of the 21st century, Isihia is going back to the Middle-Age Hesychast concept bearing the initial Christian ideas, which are so necessary today with their true faith, intact morale and genuine dedication of spirit. To the Middle-Age Christian person the word "Isihia" referred to the essence of Hesychast ideas and its literal meaning was silence, contemplation, peace -- the spiritual practice to accomplish the mystic union with God
The ancient Thracian city of Perperikon is located in the Eastern Rhodopes, 15 km northeast of the present-day town of Kardzhali, Bulgaria, on a 470 m high rocky hill, which is thought to have been a sacred place. The village of Gorna Krepost ("Upper Castle") is located at the foot of the hill and the gold-bearing Perpereshka River flows near it. Perperikon is the largest megalith ensemble in the Balkans.
According to a Late Antique summary of Aeschylus's lost play Bassarids, Orpheus at the end of his life disdained the worship of all gods save the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he went to the Oracle of Dionysus (there are ongoing discussions whether this is Perperikon or Mount Pangaion) to salute his god at dawn, but was torn to death by Thracian Maenads for not honoring his previous patron, Dionysus.

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