July Morning
About this episode
The episode explores Bulgaria's July Morning celebration, a cultural festival marking the first sunrise of July, rooted in the music of Uriah Heep.
We're at the Black Sea coast on the last night of June. Everything is building up to the sunrise. This is Bulgaria’s ‘July Morning’ observance - somewhere between a counter-cultural musical festival, and a secular pilgrimage marking the start of July. It revolves around reaching the coast in time to meet July’s first sunrise. This celebration has an unlikely origin story - a 1971 song, also called July Morning, by English rock band Uriah Heep. Starting in Sofia, we make the road trip across Bulgaria to Kamen Bryag, one of Bulgaria's easternmost points, where the sun rises earliest over the horizon. Audio producer Carys Wall travels with friend Kami and Bulgarian musician and veteran July Morning attendee Milenita. Uriah Heep still have a significant following in the Balkans, and the band’s late singer John Lawton performed at the celebration several times. In the 80s, during the social and cultural restrictions of state-socialist Bulgaria, Uriah Heep and July Morning gained massive underground appeal, as a protest anthem. The festival grew from that – with fire, rock music, and Metal-inspired fashion. Many attendees are long-time rockers who remember these protest origins. For…
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