First edition for 2026 of the Music Cultural Practices Seminar in the Music Sector

Within the framework of the first edition for 2026, which took place on 20 March in Hall 1 of the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Assoc. Prof. Mihail Lukanov, PhD, presented an academic lecture on ‘Prophetic Consciousness in Speech and Melos: Identity Horizons of the Bulgarian Church of God’. The lecture focused on the oral song tradition of the Bulgarian Church of God (BBC) from its founding in 1928 through the political changes of 1989, and on its dynamic transformation in the years that followed. As the title suggests, the focus was on the way in which the community makes sense of its specific, "Bulgarian-national" hymnography as a key marker of its community identity – for a relatively long time, the followers of the Bulgarian Church of God have perceived their professional hymn-making as a specific mark that distinguishes them from the other evangelical circles in Bulgaria. A particularly important emphasis is that, as an element of the oral culture of the BCG, the songs are perceived not just as artistic creations, but as prophetic, God-inspired messages, "clothed" in speech and melos. Various stylistic influences that shaped the community's oral song tradition, in the context of sociocultural and psychosocial prerequisites, were analysed. Metaphorically, the oral hymnography of the BCG could also be summarised as a kind of “theology in song”, since the professional ethos of the participants in the tradition has fed their spiritual practice for decades.
The lecture was followed by a lively discussion on the topic, which included representatives of all research groups in the Music sector of the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as well as from other research institutes and professional communities. Some applied research approaches were discussed. At the centre of the conversation were the methodological requirements arising from the problematics of the studied object, including the opportunities and specific challenges when working with “testimonies” as a basis for the analysis of oral traditions.