On March 31 this year, prominent Bulgarian composer and arranger Ivan Staykov would turn 89 years old. Born in Sofia in 1931, Ivan Staykov graduated from the Academy of Music (today the National Academy of Music Professor Pancho Vladigerov) with a degree in piano. He was one of the last students of Bulgaria’s prominent composer and pianist Dimitar Nenov. He began his professional career as an arranger and worked very closely with BNR's Yosif Tsankov and the Big Band of the BNR. He was active in the field of popular music and musicals, he also wrote film music, classical pieces and song lyrics. Among his songs the most popular are "The Bridge of Lovers", "Everything is good in this world is blue", "We are walking down the street, the two of us", "The first meeting" and others. Ivan Satykov also wrote the music and made te arrangement for the first Bulgarian filmed musical "Escape to Ropotamo". In his lifetime, he received numerous national and international awards and distinctions, including the Audience Award for “Rhapsody in 7” at a competition in Plovdiv and the Order of Cyril and Methodius, Grade I (1981).

Let's remember the great Bulgarian musician with one of the last interviews he gave for Radio Bulgaria:

On the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the composer, the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio conducted by Antoni Donchev presented "Na Ikindia" - a concert with compositions of Ivan Staykov. Prominent artists Mimi Nikolova, Vasil Petrov, Snezhina Temelkova, Vladimir Marinov and Gencho Vartovski also appeared on the stage of Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio.

The funerary service will be held on February 5, 2020 (Wednesday) at 12 noon in the church of the Central Sofia Cemetery.