“I am becoming more and more ancient, ie. I am already too old to die young, and that is why I say to myself: “Before you die – live! And I do it! ”, Says Agent Tenev on the occasion of his 70th anniversary, which was on September 2. To properly mark the occasion, he had planned to give a big concert on December 18 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture with 26 big names on our music scene, who have sung his songs over the years. Due to the restrictions, which are likely to become stricter, it has to be lifted. And he celebrated the holiday with his ex-partner – the singer Kristina Dimitrova, and their son Dimitar.
“If you think about the past year and do not cry with joy or sorrow, think that the year has been wasted. And I have to think about 70. Death does not occur as a result of old age, but as a result of oblivion. I am happy that some of our most important writers, artists, doctors, composers, singers remembered me. Abe friends! ”, Adds Ivan Tenev.
In his more than 35-year career as a lyricist
there is between
650 and 700 songs,
but actually falls into this area by accident, dealing with applied graphics. As a student, they began to publish his caricatures first in the “High School Flag”, then in the “Student Tribune”.
They liked his works in other editions as well, until he reached the highest level at that time – “Starling” newspaper. The cartoons were given to the editorial office every Tuesday, and in the afternoon between 2 pm and 4 pm the authors trembled whether the big names on staff at the newspaper would approve the drawings for the upcoming issue on Friday. Over time, Ivan Tenev made a name, won many awards abroad, participated in dozens of exhibitions, and became a member of the Union of Artists in the section “Applied Graphics”. Meanwhile, Lili Ivanova invites him to make her posters and covers for her records. Preparing the next album, they go to the sea for a photo shoot, and there she is an honorary guest of “Golden Orpheus”. During the competition they were placed at the same table with Damyan Damyanov and his wife Nadezhda Zaharieva. While talking, Lili Ivanova told Damyan Damyanov: “Look at what the artist did,” and handed him a quatrain sheet that Ivan Tenev had written for her. “I was surprised when he asked me to show him other things of mine. I told myself I couldn’t expose myself, and in two days I wrote four or five things the way I imagined the stage. They were bloody moons, a knife in the heart, the crescent of the moon, the lunar path “, Agent Tenev says with a laugh.
He took them to Damyan Damyanov, who told him that it was obvious that they were written in a hurry, but he had great technique and had to write. A call from the composer Kiril Avramov followed with a proposal to make a song together for the contest “Songs about the sea, Burgas and its working people”. Ivan Tenev had a suitable ready-made text, he gave it and so the song “Sailor and Beach” was born. It went through a commission, they approved it, Boyan Ivanov sang it and won third place. When they returned to Sofia, Kiril Avramov told him that the spring radio competition was coming up. With “Love and Music” performed by Stefka Berova and Yordan Marchinkov take second prize. The new lyricist found the new role very interesting, especially since
his debut
pieces receive
prizes
But he did not immediately abandon painting and went to Blagoevgrad as an artist at the final concert of the Alen Mak Festival.
It was there that he met his future wife Kristina Dimitrova, who is still a student and an unknown name for the big stage. He started writing about her. They created the duet Kristina Dimitrova – Orlin Goranov because of the song “Sun” to the music of Dimitar Penev. “It was written for Christina, but it kind of sounded like a duet to me. I asked Orlin Goranov, who was already a name, if he wanted to fill it with a young singer. He agreed and things started to turn out very interesting. They are the only Bulgarian duo in which the woman is the low voice and the man is the high one. The scheme of Al Bano and Romina Power. Very unusual “, says Ivan Tenev.
He had to abandon painting because he no longer had time for it, he was involved in the entire organization of the duo and Christina’s performances as a solo artist, with whom they were already married, and Orlin Goranov became their godfather. They released records with a circulation of 100,000 copies, traveled around the world. And as their careers went up, personal relationships collapsed. Kristina Dimitrova met the football player Georgi Dimitrov-Jackie, with whom she later married and had to end her professional relationship with Ivan Tenev.
“It simply came to our notice then
in an unharvested vine,
but then I decided to do a secular chronicle, ”he recalls.
Initially he wrote columns in two newspapers, then he started his column in the Bulgarian National Radio, where Radoslav Yankulov invited him to “Horizon for you”, and then he started in the sports radio show of Kalin Katev. And since he often had to travel, Agent Tenev announced his column: “Always on Sunday, but not every Sunday.” Not long after, he returned to writing songs, because the marriage of Kristina Dimitrova and the now deceased former football player did not start and the couple separated. And with this return he began to receive invitations from many other artists to write songs about them. His is, for example, Georgi Hristov’s hit “Black and White”. With Margarita Hranova they won the Golden Orpheus. In every concert for the last 4-5 years Lili Ivanova also sings his lyrics, Vasil Naidenov recently recorded “At a random station”, which Ivan Tenev created together with the composer Stefan Dimitrov.
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