The first volume presents the development of Bulgarian traditional creativity through a historical-typological interpretation of musical-folklore materials collected over the last hundred years. The work consists of two sections, devoted respectively to the archaic layers in song and dance folklore and to the instrumental folklore tradition. Folklore rituals, viewed as a basic cultural unit, provide the broader context in which musical events unfold. The rituals presented from the agricultural-calendar cycle and the life cycle of the individual direct the exposition not toward ethnographic detail, but toward the unity between worldview and culture characteristic of pre-industrial societies.