. The ancient Thracians created their own original culture (the available sources and monuments date it back to the period between the second millennium B.C. and the 5 th or 6 th century A.D.), which is determined by social, spiritual and material conditions of life. This was a culture without literature. The most valuable manifestations (architecture, sculpture, painting, sepulchers, music, toreuthics, etc.) are aristocratic and impressive by their artistic characteristics. In the same time, the influence of Ancient Greece, partly Persia , Scythes, and Celts and generally of the Hellenistic world is obvious.

In the antic literature tradition Thrace is the land of muses, singers and musicians. Eminent examples are the mythic Thracian musicians such as Orpheus, Museus, Tamiris and others, whose performances and contributions have become part of the whole antic Greek and generally Eastern Mediterranean culture. The sources about the ancient Greek mysteries in which music is primordial confirm this interaction. For example, the name of Museus is mentioned in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries and the creation of orphic mysteries in Athens . According to one of the most competent theories, the Dionysian celebrations (which are predecessors of the ancient Greek tragedy) and the very cult of Dionysus are of Thracian origin.

Many researchers believe that Orpheus' land was east of the Nestos River (today Mesta River in Bulgaria ). It should be noted that the memory of Orpheus is well preserved in the rural tradition of the Rhodopes Mountain .

The names of Orpheus and the adepts of Orphism are connected to the Orphic poetry (Plato quotes orphic poems), including the so-called Orphic hymns; they are also connected to the Thracian Orphism – misting teachings in Ancient Thrace, which allegedly precedes the Hellenic Orphism. It is a solar cult (Orpheus-Apollo) and a chthonic, earthly cult (Zalmoksis-Dionysus). Orpheus – the king-priest and cultural character who, according to the antic tradition, founded the Eleusinian mysteries, the heroic metric and so on, impersonates the synthesis of these principles. Music as part of Orpheus' image and of the closed Orphic mystery men's societies has obviously played an important part. The later Hellenized image of Orpheus and the related mythology was partly re-interpreted in the early Christianity. However, the music element remains relatively unchanged.

In the Bulgarian musical and generally cultural tradition the above said creates a sensation of special, often symbolic spiritual relation with the antic Greek-Thracian musical culture and especially its Thracian substrate. Furthermore, some Thracian pagan relics can be traced across the development of the Bulgarian folklore tradition, celebrations, customs and beliefs up to now: Saint Trifon (Trifon Zarezan), Saint Iliya, Saint Marina, Nestinari (fire-dancing), mummery, etc. For example, fire-dancing is a complex of customs mainly relating to the cult of Saint Konstantin and Saint Elena, which culminates in the dance on fire. Mummers are masked characters who participate with in their incredible costumes to the carnival processions during the first week of Lent, seven weeks before Easter. Some Bulgarian researchers believe that mummers were messengers of the Thracian Dionysus who precede the creation of the tragedy and they even locate their origin in the ancient town Byzium in the Strandzha Mountain – residence of Thracian rulers and center of Dionysian celebrations, which is now Vize in the European part of Turkey .