The band
Angela
Rodel
Grisha Manikatov
Emanuil A. Vidinski
Ivan Valev
Ivan
Hristov
Petar
Tchouhov
News
Concerts
Music
Poetry
Gallery
Useful links
Contacts
|
 I was born in 1978 in a village near Ruse. Even as a
child I was strongly drawn to art, since I saw it as a way to escape
reality. In 1991, I had a role in the school play, “The Female Kingdom,”
in which I was dressed in women’s clothing, to the audience’s great
amusement. This early acting success caused my literature teacher to
send me to the theater track at the humanities high school in Gabrovo,
where I met wise people who saved me many years of aimless
soul-searching. I took part in every performance of my high school
theater, published poetry in the local periodical, sang in the choir, listened to lots
of jazz, and started playing kaval. This was my most Romantic period by
far.
In 1996 my name was inscribed in the book of honor for the city of
Gabrovo in recognition of my “contribution to the spiritual life of the
city.” So I continued to study literature at
Sofia University, but my desire to perform for the public did not die
away; thus, in 1998 I founded the ethno-music group The Paleontologists
with my Japanese friend Shinji Iwasaki, who played the Bulgarian folk
instrument tambura. Shinji and I lived in the same dorm and
played music together frequently, and got to the point where we could
understand each other with a single glance. In 2001 The Paleontologists
recorded an album “Attempt at Remembrance.” My first book of poetry,
“Farewell, Nineteenth Century” also appeared during that year and won
the national “Southern Spring” award for a debut book. This prize
decisively tipped the scales towards literature.
In 2003, I did my mandatory army service in the village of Shtruklevo in
Northern Bulgaria. I was a regular guardsman, and no one suspected that
as I did my sentry duty, circling a cistern armed to the teeth, that the
idea was taking shape in my head for my second book, Bdin. I finished
my military duty in 2003, and by 2004 Bdin was born on paper and aroused
great interest among literary critics. During this period I began to
play music with Petur Chuhov; later Angela Rodel and Emanuil A. Vidinski
joined us, and Gologan was born. Musically, I have evolved from jazz to
ethno, finally coming into my own in rock. I’m not sure to what degree
the Bulgarian army can be held responsible for this development. In
2005, my album “Attempt at Remembrance” came out on the Stigmati label.
I currently perform with Gologan at various musical-literary
performances, concerts and readings, both in Bulgaria and abroad.
What more can I
say? You can learn more about me at:
http://liteos.de/ivan_hristov/.
|
|
