The music choices and tastes of legendary radio host Toma Sprostranov have influenced several generations. The darling of Bulgarian music fans has been playing the music that the audience wanted to listen to but could not find anywhere. As early as his green years he was involved in busy correspondence with people from across the world, and used to exchange vinyl records with them. In this way today he boasts an enviably rich and diverse music collection which was unrivalled in Bulgaria's communist years. Later, despite a restrictive regime on travel, he had the chance to travel to the West because he was married to an Englishwoman, Judith. Anytime he returned from Britain he would bring with him about 100 vinyl records with various music. So, he succeeded in playing on the radio the very best from what was being decadent music behind the Iron Curtain.

A silver-tongued storyteller with encyclopedic knowledge about the world's pop, rock and jazz music, Toma Sprostranov presents every performer in such a clever way so as to make him/her a favorite of the audience. I can remember how we would record his radio shows on the then huge tape recorders, and then played them during parties. Thanks to Toma Sprostranov music by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Shadows, Animals and other great western stars was for the first time played on the Bulgarian National Radio.

In the first years of democracy things turned upside down, and he alone would play Russian music apart from western one at a time when for other hosts Russian music had suddenly become a taboo. He is always at the top of trends, because he is a music editor not by training but by vocation. Toma Sprostranov joined Radio Plovdiv as a host of music programs while he was studying at the Higher Agricultural Institute in Plovdiv. Later he was invited to Radio Sofia. In the 1990s he took part in the programs of the Bulgarian section of the BBC. But let us recall: 4 January 1979 is unforgettable for him. It is the birthday of his third child Maria, and the day when his music show Pulsating Notes had its first edition on the Horizont channel of the Bulgarian National Radio; a show that has not lost popularity even today. What is the secret of success?

„I oppose the proverb that what is familiar becomes favorite. Many music editors play hits that will for sure be widely liked, because they are already the favorites of listeners. I for one however play on Pulsating Notes music that will become the favorite of audiences in the future. In this way, I have unwittingly started imposing my taste. I have worked with great music editors - late Ana-Maria Tonkova, she was my replacement when I traveled abroad; Snezxhina Stoichkova, Gergana Lazarova, Darina Galova. We spent many hours together at the Radio's music library browsing for various recordings to decide what songs and albums to present”, Toma Sprostranov goes back in time.

Thanks to his efforts a few big stars have been in concert in Bulgaria. One of them is Tina Turner:

 „I was reading tons of magazines. When I read that Tina Turner had divorced Ike Turner and took their four children away - two of them their own and two from his first marriage - that she was in dire financial situation and had to live with a fried, I urged Decho Taralezhkov, who was back at that time Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian National Radio Music Department, to invite Tina Turner. She came for a concert for a very small fee. The Bulgarian Balkanton music publishers released a record that has not been released anywhere else in the world.”

Toma has always some funny story to tell about his encounters with big names in music. One of them is with Sting:

„I was in England, in the house of my friends in Hampstead Heath. One morning I got up and sighted a neighbor of my friend clad in a blue jacket and trimming roses. And I have graduated agronomy, so I told him 'Well, it is the first time I see someone in England to trim wilted rosebuds! In many places I have seen many rosebushes, but nobody removes wilted roses. They suck in all the sap and it is hard for a new rose to blossom!' The man turned to look at me and I saw that was actually Sting. Later Sting came over for a concert in Bulgaria. I asked him for an interview. 'Do we know each other?', he enquired. I said, yes, once you were trimming your roses in England, and I was the guest of your neighbors'. 'What a journalist, indeed, not asking anything?' 'But how', I replied, 'early in the morning there is a man trimming roses. How could I ask you about music? Well, now I am going to ask you questions', Toma Sprostranov goes back in time.

Today, at the threshold of his 75th birthday due on 14 August Toma is still hosting his music shows, has great time with his three children and eight grandchildren whose drawings are everywhere in his notebooks. He also takes care of his companion, music editor Gergana Lazarova who suffers from Alzheimer's. We ask him for a definition of life.

„What is life? Life is first of all being alive and well. It is about dealing with problems with ease, to be able to support those who are not healthy enough. Life is what you make of your time, but is also your luck. I have another credo and it is that - life means to enjoy every single day. Believe me or not, with all my projects and work, I had to clean the snow outside my house over the weekend. Life is also about getting out, a huge spade in hand, and cleaning heavy snow so that nobody makes a nasty fall. Life is joy even when working.”

Currently, in connection with the 75th birthday of Toma Sprostranov, a big concert is planned to take place at the National Palace of Culture that is going to feature famous Bulgarian singers plus the release of several CDs 100 Favorite Bulgarian Songs of Toma Sprostranov accompanied with a booklet.

Here are four of them!

English version Daniela Konstantinova