So far I can only see silhouettes, I am still recovering, the doctors in Germany continue to monitor my condition
– I find you in Germany, did you move there permanently?
– No, we are also going home to Bulgaria. We come here when we have appointments with doctors. The main treatment is in Germany, because I had the operation here, and they are monitoring the recovery process.
– How are you feeling right now?
– I’m fine, I’m getting better. Hemoglobin readings were very low due to blood loss, but are improving very quickly thanks to my husband taking care of me.
– Has your vision started to recover?
– Not yet, I can only see silhouettes so far, I hope it starts to improve. It should be given special attention. In Germany, they deal with post-operative treatment and to prevent recurrence of the tumor. On October 18th I have a full examination to see the condition of my brain. Otherwise, I have made an appointment with Dr. Clyde, a very famous Belgian ophthalmologist, who will arrive in Bulgaria at the end of October. I will also consult with Bulgarian specialists, who are also very good.
– I am crossing my fingers that the results of the examinations are good and that the doctors help you to see normally again! Are you there with your husband and do the children travel with you every time?
– Our daughter studies here, she is already 16 years old, and our son is a student in Bulgaria, studying economics.
– Did any of them inherit your musical talent?
– Both of them have no interest in music, but I really want to. With the knowledge I have now, I can help any singer become famous. I know all the rules of the game. Otherwise, I have heard the little one sing, she has talent. But one must have the desire, the engine is to want to be on stage, not to worry. My father, for example, sings very well, but he says he would never go on stage. And I feel at ease there and know how to put on a show, to entertain people. Even in the hospital I used to sing, even though people here don’t know me. But the patients, when they found out that I could, kept asking me to do different things for them.
– What did you sing to them?
– “Ave Maria” should have been something universal, which also excites the Germans, they don’t know Bulgarian music. There were also Croatians who wanted Serbian songs and were surprised that I knew every song they could think of. They had no idea that a lot of Serbian music is heard in Bulgaria. And I always wanted to
all Balkan countries to listen to our songs
and to copy us, not the other way around, as has been happening so far.
– Is there any chance of this happening at all?
– Why not, if a hit is made that conquers the world… How come the Romanians can and we can’t? We have a lot of good voices, but we lack the managers who can get the artists out there. In our country, the producers are not interested in the singer’s voice, but whether she has a rich sponsor to realize her career, but this time is not right.
– And where have you performed concerts outside our country?
– Before I became a singer in Bulgaria, I sang all over Italy, but then I performed canzonets. There, every town has a saint whom they honor on a certain day, a festival is held, and we participated in these events. I was on tour with a Bulgarian group – No Smoking, they sent us a wonderful manager and the best performer of Italian songs in our country – Dimitar Yosifov. This was in 1992, we were there for 6 months and even at one of the concerts we warmed up “Ricky is Poveri”. During this period I learned Italian as well as all the canzonets and sing them to this day.
– What happened after you returned to Bulgaria?
– I stayed in Dupnitsa because I had nothing to do. We had a central restaurant in the city and I used to go there to listen to the orchestra in which my friend Lucy Todorova sang. One evening the conductor asked me if I wanted to perform something and I chose an Italian song. They were surprised that I had talent and started asking me why I didn’t do music. But I had no repertoire and at that stage I could not even work in a restaurant. After some time, the then famous impresario from Kyustendil – Shamshala came to the restaurant, who said that he was going to audition for a job in restaurants in Serbia. The musicians were very happy because it was a dream for every orchestra at that time. There was a lot of work there and the money was good. But the impresario asked to have three blonde singers. Lucy was one, and she was blonde, but they needed two more. I had dark hair then and the musicians told me to go blonde, learn a Lepa Brenna song and perform with them. We were joined by Daniela Nikiforova, who later also became a folk singer. The audition was in Kyustendil, where there were about 20 restaurant owners. I sang “You are my sin”. We were hired to work in Montenegro.
– How long did you spend there?
– Only one month, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was very scary, just before the war, and the Montenegrins were fired up, they kept wanting the orchestra to play some of their patriotic songs. The whole establishment was on its feet, hats were thrown and
they began to thunder with pistols,
were set for war. One night, while I was singing, one of the patrons grabbed the column and started banging his head against it. I was very scared, locked myself in the apartment and told the owner of the restaurant that I wanted to go home to Bulgaria. However, he kept our passports and would not return mine. I categorically stated that I will not go to work anymore. For three days I stood in the lodgings and cried, finally he gave it to me.
I came back to Bulgaria and I had already started to like Serbian music. Before that I only listened to Italian music with my first school crush who was half Italian. But at an already mature age, I was 28, I began to pay attention to things from a practical point of view and saw that Serbian brought financial dividends. I started to learn such songs, but in our house we still mainly listened to pop music. And I decided to make such a song.
– You were unknown to the Bulgarian public, in those years it was not easy to realize such a thing, how did you manage?
– I went to Sofia, looking for composers in the national radio. I met Ivan Peev, Lili Ivanova’s first husband, who explained to me that it was almost impossible to break through, because the names in the show had firmly taken positions. But I insisted that he write me a song and that’s how “Star Rain” appeared, I went on TV shows with it. Hacho Boyadzhiev let me sing it in various TV programs. Ivan Peev advised me to go to my region, because there was no particular effect on the national airwaves. I listened to him, got on the train and went to the radio station in Blagoevgrad, where in the corridor I met the composer and leader of the newly formed “Pirin Folk”. This is destiny. I told him I was a young pop singer and I was wearing a tape of my performance. He listened to it, found my voice interesting and asked if I wanted to record his song for the new festival. He gave me “I don’t want to forget you”. I studied it all night, but something was missing in it. In the morning it occurred to me to add the most popular name in Bulgaria – Georgi. That’s how “I can’t forget you, Georgi” turned out. I recorded it in this version, everyone liked it very much and in August I appeared at the festival with it. As soon as I stepped on the stage, the audience received me with thunderous applause, because my vision was quite different from that of the other singers who had sung until that moment. I was in my famous red dress, short, with a high neckline. Mostly folk singers took part there, they went out in more modest outfits, with shirts and suits, short skirts were absurd. I appeared like a butterfly and the audience loved me at first sight. I received thunderous applause and after the end of the festival, everyone wanted to buy the “Cassette with Georgi”, on which the entire event with all the performances was recorded. The festival was also broadcast on television. The interest in it was so great that
for one night
1 million cassettes were sold
In the whole country.
– Did you get an award then?
– No, but it was a fulfilling moment for me. I can’t help but notice that along with my hit there was another, very big one that won the first place – “Son, son”. This song has become a classic. Back then, “Pirin Folk” produced hits. There were at least 4-5 of them in one cassette.
– For the past two years, you have been attending this competition as a special guest.
– Yes, now I received three awards, which was very exciting for me. One was “Saint Vrach”, the award of the municipality of Sandanski, the other was from the journalists, and the third was from the jury, which ranked my song “Bože mili” in second place. It is brand new, written by the young composer Julian Asenov, with whom I sang it in a duet. The author said he was inspired by my fate. And I really saw myself in it, because it is sung: “My dear God, my soul cries, with you I have passed through fire and water”. In fact, I really walked through fire and water with him, he held my hand as I walked through the shadow of death.
– What kept you emotionally during this difficult period?
– Faith in God, I found support in the words from the Bible: “He who lives under the roof of the Most High, he stays under the shadow of the Almighty.” Only the Almighty can do anything.
– When did you turn to God?
– Years before the test, but the fact that I was a believer did not prevent me from being human and making my mistakes.
– Years ago you said that your provocative image on stage has nothing to do with who you are in life, is that really the case?
– That’s how it was. I don’t know why I wanted to be different. It would be much better to be the way I am. But I was creating some illusion for myself,
that I was a seductive woman, which did not suit my nature
I was like a contradiction between form and content. People first perceived the vision and then were surprised that there was actually substance under the shell. It was like a challenge to be radically different from who I really am. It wasn’t right.
– But in that period, the provocative vision brought lightning success.
– In a market sense, I may have sensed the right direction for PR, which I was doing myself. I haven’t had any producers either. A person, when he is alone, also makes mistakes. The side view is very important, it’s nice to have someone to give you advice. I consider it a mistake that I did not listen to anyone and thought that I knew everything and could handle it myself. I followed world music and culture, but that wasn’t enough. There should have been a person next to me who would tell me: “You are wrong here”. My husband used to say these things but I didn’t listen to him either, but now I do and all my steps are correct. I follow all his advice.
Otherwise, I have my creative ideas and scope. I now only want to perform value music, but I’m still thinking about how to make it commercial as well.
– Are there any songs you are already working on?
– Just recently, unexpectedly for everyone, my colleague Vasko Lazarov, with whom we worked a lot, passed away. He was one of the founders of “Pirin Folk”, with him I took my first steps on the stage. He was a friend of our family. And in January, he gave me a song dedicated to my marriage with my husband. It’s called “My Dove”, I really want to record it.
– You have obviously abandoned the provocative look, what clothes do you choose now?
– Maybe under the influence of my husband, and I myself have such a desire to go very simply dressed. Here in Germany I mostly wear tracksuits. On stage already, as it was this year at “Pirin Folk”, I showed that my vision is very different. There was no neckline and short skirts. I was wearing a tucked-in, floor-length dress. And yet the audience rose to its feet. The impact of the music is very important, the singer should not be a jester or a spectacular attraction.
2023-10-14 20:00:00
#Sashka #Vaseva #famous #Bulgaria #sang #canzonets #Italy
