This has been the song Ivan said to Dobra. It is one of the first songs that Nelly Petkova recorded with the Folk Music Band of the Bulgarian National Radio. “I love folk music and I will never give it up”. Before revisiting her first steps in music we bring you one of her Thracian songs, Irina, lovely girl.

 “There are no professional musicians in my family. My parents appreciate good Bulgarian folk music and I fell in love with it at an early age. I was dreaming of the stage, recorded songs on tape and learned to sing them. At school I loved singing in public in my home town of Karlovo. I chose music as my future career so I took a few lessons in singing and solfeggio. In the meantime, I was also keen on the songs of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Selin Dion. As to folklore, my favorite singer is Valkana Stoyanova. I later went to study at the Folk Music School in Kotel.”

The recordings of Nelly Petkova that we play today were made in 2004, and come from the archives of the Bulgarian National Radio. Back then was her debut on professional stage.

 “I remember the large lineup of the Radio’s folk music orchestra. I was impressed that everything was recorded in real time. Well, this is a challenge, requiring top concentration. I was stressed out. Rebec player Angel Dobrev arranged four songs for folk orchestra. I had composed two of them. The other two were the work of rebec player Hristina Beleva, soloist of the Filip Kutev Folk Ensemble. Then I went to an audition for the Ku-Ku Band that appears daily on Bulgaria’s most popular TV evening talk show. And things changed overnight.”

After winning the audition Nelly Petkova became soloist of the Ku-Ku Band and her popularity rose quickly. In the course of seven years she was on the lineup of Slavi’s Show, a leading TV talk show in this country. Over the years she has sang in various music styles and has joined a few tours with live concerts. Listen to Where is my sweetheart in the rendition of Nelly Petkova and Ku-Ku Band.

Last summer Nelly Petkova left the talk show choosing a solo career in music. Miro Gechev has become composer and producer of her songs. Lucky One was the first song that the twosome launched on the air – in both Bulgaria and Spain. The English-language pop song had its first presentation in Calafat, Romania. Nelly joined an international Balkan pop festival there for young singers, The Crown of the Rose, where the Bulgarian talent delivered an a capella performance of the folk song Kalimanku Denku. The concert was covered by the Romanian TV and press, as well as by a few Balkan radio stations. For only a month Nelly Petkova’s debut in pop music Lucky One climbed to the top three of the Bulgarian pop charts.

After Lucky One that you’ve just heard, Nelly Petkova presented her second song, this time in Bulgarian, Eto tova, It’s this. “We have been working with US producer Curtis Richardson”, the singer said. Nelly and Miro have also made a Spanish version of the song with a view to their foreign fans with whom they keep in touch online. They have also shot a video to It’s this. Nelly Petkova and Miro Gechev continue work on the young singer’s debut album. The third single from it will have its presentation in January next year.

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova