The road that gives a beautiful meaning to my life!
Maria Ilieva is one of the most attractive and intelligent Bulgarian singers with a remarkable voice. For ten years now, she has been building a successful solo career. She has won prizes in all Bulgarian charts and has repeatedly been distinguished as "Artist of the Year". She recently took the award "Icarus" for contemporary Bulgarian music, which is awarded for the first time. We are all seeking the formula for success - according to Maria Ilieva, it is a collection of talent, discipline, faith and ... luck.
Maria Ilieva shared with Radio Bulgaria’s Maya Raikova a little known chapter of her biography.
“I am linked to music by genes because my parents are classical musicians. My mother is Vanya Moneva, she is a choral conductor and founder of the Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria Choir. She was the person who many, many years ago made me fall in love with Bulgarian folk music. My father Krasimir Iliev was concertmaster of the Sofia Wind Orchestra and he is a talented clarinetist. I started playing piano at the age of five and at six joined the choir led by my mother. Singing has been an ongoing interest of mine - as a process and as an experience. Meanwhile, I was listening to a lot of music. At home, we had records of the Beatles, also of French and Italian artists who were then popular. I continued singing in the choir until we moved from my home town of Veliko Tarnovo to Sofia. When I started to feel the strength of my character and personality, I decided that I was more interested in pursuits other than music. Perhaps because since my very first steps, music was constantly a part of my life. So I graduated the Sofia-based Mathematics High School and I believe that mathematics is the foundation of all art. I believe that when you find the right way and the right approach to a young person, he or she becomes really absorbed in the matter and does not feel the complexity of the subject. I had incredibly good teachers. Musically, I learn from all the great masters, whether talking about classics, folklore, rock or metal music”.
Maria Ilieva consciously returned to music during her studies at the Economic University in Sofia:
“During my second year in univeristy, at a student party, the pianist of my first band, Niki, heard me sing and invited me to an audition. It was an enourmous - a test of my will and concentration. I remember that I did not know how to hold a microphone. Now I go back to those moments with much love. The first song I sang with the band was in the repertoire of Dutch rock singer Anouk - "Nobody's wife". After the first few notes, I felt good, relaxed and in the end we knew that we wanted to work together. So I became the vocalist of the band "Visoko”.
With this band, Maria Ilieva travelled throughout Bulgaria for gigs in night clubs. The musicians did not have their own repertoire, playing only covers of popular rock hits. In this period, she was invited to host two music TV programs – one in the Bulgarian National Television and another - in a cable television. The enthusiasm of the team was contagious, but the singer felt she wanted to be on stage. Some time later, she joined a new band - "Caffe". At that time she was invited by a record label and chose to start a solo career. “I took a huge risk with this and am very happy that I had the courage to do it because this road beautifully lends a meaning to my life”, the singer says today.
Few people know that Maria Ilieva has a degree in Insurance Business and a few years later defended a Masters degree in International Relations.
Now she has two producer's companies. She uses one to produce her own songs and with the second, Stereo Room, she works on developing young artists. Maria is now working on a few surprises for the audience - by the end of the year we expect her DVD "10 years of Moon Dream" and a new solo single.
English: Rossitsa Petcova
