Bulgarian vocal music can sound quite exotic. Here’s an admittedly extreme example of 2-part singing from AYDE MORI – the same CD that brought you music for Kerem Eyle and Cobankat. Apparently this kind of singing was what women did when they were “noodling” around – sliding into and out of notes until the ears “buzzed”. What we would find extremely dissonant was music to their ears.
From the liner notes:
“Quoting our friend and Shope music specialist Martha Forsyth who has spent years studying these traditions: “This song, as you probably know, is a harvest song – the kind that would be sung during (or to make) a short break in the work – maybe when they got to the end of a row, or sometime when they wanted to stand up and get together a little group to sing a few intense, close-harmony lines (one woman said, “When we want to let the wind blow on us to cool us off”)”.
Finishing a phrase with a “yeee” is typical of Savic folk singing. Similar singing is found in Russia, where the Slavic migrations began.
Folkdance Footnotes 