Goro Le Goro takes us to the cool, green forests of Bulgaria where heroes roam, nightingales sing and cherry trees bear fruit. Distant voices singing ‘on high’ cut through the mist and the sunshine reveals beautiful maidens. But the forest is also a place for men so there are songs of rampant flirting and seduction, of fighting for freedom from the Ottoman Turks... and of knitting, manfully. Mixed folk choirs are unusual in Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian choral repertoire is almost exclusively female. This album’s masculine tone, in contrast with our more feminine debut Alyana Galyana, emerged as we worked with Bulgarian composer Kiril Todorov. Kiril’s music was already a vital part of the choir’s repertoire, and with the BBC Performing Arts Fund helping to foot the bill, we commissioned him to write new songs to make full use of our vocal range. We have been flattered and stunned in equal measure by the muscular new arrangements Kiril has written for the choir, and relish performing the songs. We hope you enjoy the result.