>> Vlada Tomova: Hello, I am Vlada Tomova: a Bulgarian-born singer, performer, songwriter, ensemble leader and music educator. I am also the Founder and Executive Director of the Bulgarian Master Singer Series, an ongoing program of interactive webinars, which I created in the beginning of the pandemic. The webinars make it possible for world renowned folk singers in Bulgaria as well as well as local practitioners of disappearing folk styles, to teach us songs from their native regions. By taking these webinars, singers and students all over the world - from over 20 countries on 4 continents - were able to extend much needed support to master singers in a time of dire economic need. Unfortunately, artists received no relief funds in Bulgaria. The webinars provide us an invaluable opportunity to study with Bulgarian luminary folk singers from the safety of our homes, while connecting with one another in these times of severe isolation during the pandemic. The American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress contacted me and asked me to produce the concert you are about to see with one of Bulgaria's most beloved and respected traditional singers, Neli Andreeva, who taught several webinars in the Bulgarian Master Singer Series. Neli Andreeva was born in Asenovgrad and grew up in the resort of Narechen in the majestic Rhodope Mountains. There she learned some of her first songs from her grandmother and mother. Neli graduated from the national school of folk instruments and singing in the village of Shiroka Luka in 1995. Neli is renowned for her stirring interpretations of her native Rhodope region songs. She is a soloist as well as choirmaster of the Philip Koutev Ensemble, one of Bulgaria's premiere folklore ensemble, as well as the Founder and Artistic director of the Nusha vocal ensemble, an educational and performance group. Followers of Bulgarian folk singing and music invariably associate Neli's voice with the songs "Malka moma" and "Kozhilyo", which you will hear in the concert, as well as others which have brought her worldwide recognition. I hope you enjoy the concert!