site.btaBulgarians Have Always Been Free-Spirited and Part of Modern World Culture, BTA Director General

The two key messages of the LIK magazine's latest issue, “Bulgaria in Jazz”, are that Bulgarians have always been free in spirit and part of the modern culture of the world, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said on Friday at the issue's presentation in Ruse (on the Danube). The October issue of BTA's literature, arts and culture magazine is dedicated to jazz music and the jazz festivals held in the country.

Valchev noted that Ruse is the city that hosts the oldest jazz festival in Bulgaria, which opens on Friday for the 48th time.

“In the October issue of LIK, which we are presenting across all BTA national press clubs in the country and abroad, there is a map of jazz festivals in Bulgaria. From it we see that over the past 50 years, Bulgaria has had at least 65 jazz festivals. Nine of them no longer exist. Six are general arts festivals, such as Apollonia in Sozopol, which include jazz elements. This means that there are currently 50 entirely jazz-focused festivals in Bulgaria, 50 years after the one in Ruse, which is the first and still active today. Moreover, the map in LIK shows that jazz festivals in Bulgaria take place in 21 of the country’s 28 regions,” Valchev said.

He added that only seven years after the first European jazz festival in Montreux in 1967, a similar event was held in Yambol, with records preserved in BTA’s archives. An article by Professor Claire Levy in the October issue of LIK also notes that the first jazz club in Bulgaria was founded in Sofia in the early 1930s.

“The Pop and Jazz Art Department at the National Academy of Music in Sofia existed as early as 1968. The first jazz concert dates back to 1938. The earliest news item on jazz in Bulgaria from BTA’s archives is from December 7, 1956, covering a concert by the Light Music and Jazz Orchestra of Radio Sofia conducted by Bentsion Eliezer in Bulgaria Hall. The BTA archives, featured in the current issue, preserve photographs of many future Bulgarian musicians who also speak at the end of the issue about the future of jazz, such as Antoni Donchev, Vassil Petrov, Vicky Almazidou, Zhivko Petrov, Yildiz Ibrahimova, Mihail Yosifov, Theodosii Spassov, Hilda Kazasyan, Hristo Yotsov,” Valchev said.

He noted that Bulgarians were captivated by jazz at the same time as the world’s most advanced nations.

“This issue also highlights the need for cooperation among jazz festivals in Bulgaria. Municipalities and local authorities should follow the example of Bulgarian musicians, who work together at all jazz festivals in the country. Meanwhile, the cities that organize them compete with one another and often open and close their festivals on the same day with the same performers. How much stronger the message would be if people in Bulgaria, as well as guests from abroad, could come in the summer and attend several jazz festivals one after another, each offering something different,” Valchev noted.