Composer Kristian Boyadzhiev has been awarded on many occasions. He is also a leading music editor and host of programs produced by the Hristo Botev channel of the Bulgarian National Radio. A few months ago he turned 60, and on 26 February he is going to receive a great music gift from his colleagues and friends - the BNR Studio 1 is hosting a concert with some of Boyadzhiev's best songs in the rendition of Orlin Goranov, Margarita Hranova, Mihail Yonchev, Trik, Te and Spectrum.

"The Bulgarian National Radio gave me an incredible chance - to discuss the music that I love so much. I have always been keen on presenting the very best and air unique recordings. In my life music has always been an aspiration and a guiding light. The BNR music library is a veritable treasury. What I have failed to find there I have taken from my private music library that I have been collecting since adolescence. Today, most things are available online but in the past we relied on vinyl records that were not easy to find, at least in Bulgaria. I have asked friends to buy vinyl records for me as they traveled abroad. Hence the great fascination, the special thrill of listening to some good music for the first time.”

"I am skeptical where success is concerned”, composer Kristian Boyadzhiev goes on to say. “I have always seen success as a challenge in the first place. Of course, I feel happy when I receive prizes.

I remember quite vividly the 1992 Golden Orpheus International Pop Song Competition. I took part with the song Close to Me performed by Vili Kavaldzhiev. Part of the song is for vocals and piano while the rest was performed with accompaniment of the Festival Orchestra. This orchestra included the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio, part of the strings section of the BNR Symphony Orchestra and conductor was legend Vili Kazasiyan. I am aware of my potential as pianist and it was crazy on my part to play the piano on that stage and in such a reputable company. But it worked, and I was given the Golden Orpheus Grand Prix. Four years later I got the same prestigious prize for the song Don't Do It Again in the rendition of the KriMi duo including me and singer and poet Mihail Belchev. To me the prizes from that festival have symbolic meaning. I remember clearly the year 1969 and the stage of the festival in the Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach when my father, composer Atanas Boyadzhiev became the first holder of the Golden Orpheus statuette.”

An interesting detail in Kristian Boyadzhiev's bio is that he had a late start in music. His parents tried to get him play the piano at an early age but without success, so he was left to his boyhood. He took his first serious lessons at age 20 and at first listened to famous pop and rock songs trying to transcribe them. This, he admits, has been very helpful in my career as composer. Kristian Boyadzhiev goes back in time to one of his first successes:

“Once, all by accident I found lyrics by Mihail Belchev in handwriting on my father's piano. I decided to try and write the music to them. It came quite naturally in fact. When my father was back I played the music to him, he approved it and told me to call the singer and begin work. What a happy moment! I wanted to share it with friends and went to see Rumen Boyadzhiev from the Free Sailing Band. He had just written A Clock of Sand that later emerged as one of the hits of star Vassil Naydenov. It was a great night of celebration. My latest song Yesterday is on lyrics by Valery Stankov. It is associated with the Beatles. I only recently recorded it at Ivan Lechev's studios. Lechev did a new mixing, and here we go with the song, a present to Radio Bulgaria's audience.”

English Daniela Konstantinova

Audio: songs by Kristian Boyadzhiev

1. Faith, Hope and Love performed by Mihail Yonchev

2. On Such a Night performed by the vocal group Trik

3. Close to Me performed by Vili Kavaldzhiev

4. Yesterday