'Tuned In' review: There's fiction in Vlada Tomova's 'Balkan Tales'

Vlada Tomova's "Balkan Tales"

“Balkan Tales,” Vlada Tomova (Kuker Music)

Brooklyn-based, Bulgarian-born singer Vlada Tomova went on a song-finding mission to a remote village in her native land, and the results manifest themselves in her new “Balkan Tales.”

Yet those who expect this to be a revealing tribute to indigenous Bulgarian music should be forewarned: Tomova, a Berklee College of Music graduate anchored in the music business, takes more than a few liberties with what she unearthed in Bulgaria. Her faux folk includes instruments like the oud and the bansuri as well as the violin and the cello plus the likes of trumpet, accordion, double bass and acoustic guitar. Her geographic mash-up essentially fuses Bulgaria with Brazil, India, North Africa and North America. And her vocals aren’t exclusively in Bulgarian — sometimes her delivery isn’t in any language, it’s just wordless exclamations and exhalations.

That may seem self-indulgent and self-important, however Tomova is hardly the first to embellish Old World music: Lisa Gerrard even made up her own language to stunning effect with Dead Can Dance.

Tomova is no Gerrard, but those who can overlook the complicated contexts and misleading insinuations of “Balkan Tales” will be rewarded with her broadly evocative range, from the meditative enchantment of “Kara Deniz” to the buoyant fever of “Women’s Dance.” She explores her lower register as her voice wells with emotion on “Augoustos” while on “Leili” she leads the methodical build of tension to a frenzied climax.

And though they drift into a little flamenco here and a little jazz there, the arrangements are well-executed apart from the overly ponderous “Dilmano” and off-kilter “Messechinko.”

Tomova may stray from strict authenticity with “Balkan Tales,” yet her unconventional touches are mostly satisfying.

Rating: 3-1/2

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