The renowned folk singer Vasilka Damyanova has devoted decades of her life to singing traditional songs of the Northern region of Bulgaria. She has enthralled audiences in Europe, America, Asia and Africa with her art.

From a very young age Vasilka Damyanova was inspired and fascinated by the Bulgarian folk song tradition in her native Gorna Mitropolia, Pleven region, where music festivals are regularly held. The town of Gorna Mitropolia is located in the Central parts of North Bulgaria, in the region called Mizia - the ˮkingdomˮ of brass bands, and Vasilka grew up in a family of musicians who taught her love and devotion to Bulgarian traditional music.

A great school for her singing development were her stage performances in the folk singers group led by Kanyo Bedrov, with which she toured the country. She also enriched her musical skills in the ensemble of the Thracian Society in Sofia, in preparation for her next professional peak.

In 1971, after a tough competition in three rounds, Vasilka Damyanova was accepted into the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Song Ensemble. At that time the conductor was Krassimir Kurkciyski, whose many-voices song-masterpieces were included in the albums of the series of the Swiss producer Marcel Celier - ˮMystery of Bulgarian Voicesˮ. Later, the name of the album was also given to the female folk choir, which in 1990 won the prestigious ˮGrammy Awardˮ.

Many are the precious memories of Vasilka Damyanovaʼs rich singing biography. She shared some of them with Radio Bulgaria:

ˮI have been singing since I was a little girl. My father played the trumpet very well, and so did his brothers. They rehearsed at home and that gave me the opportunity to develop and expand my repertoire and knowledge. I had the chance to get into the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Song Ensemble. I am grateful for the support we were getting from our radio colleagues. They gave us wings - to record and to search for good songs, to work harder...

When I joined the ensemble - the conductor of the choir was Krassimir Kyurkchiyski, and conductor of the orchestra was Kosta Kolev. Kyurkchiyski knew how to inspire us, we achieved everything with ease. His works are a magnitude in folklore. He was an incredible person.

We did not spare ourselves, so success came pretty soon. The Grammy Award. It was a great achievement for me. We have performed in the most prestigious music venues in the world. I used to be especially inspired when we sang in cathedrals. The acoustics are incredible. People used to listen to us with humility, but at the end they wouldn't let us go until we sang 2-3 encores."

With her beautiful alto voice, Vasilka Damyanova also left a mark with more than 40 recordings of her solo singing that revived forgotten songs from her native land. The remarkable thing is that these same songs are now sung by young folklore devotees. For no small period of time the singer participated in the trio ˮZornitsaˮ(Morning Star), together with Kalinka Zgurova and Ruska Nedyalkova.

ˮWe formed the ˮZornitsaˮ trio in 1974, recalls Vasilka Damyanova. - The composer Stefan Kanev wrote ˮMariyka is Sitting for Meˮ especially for the trio. With this song we performed magnificently at the Review of the Professional Ensembles in Blagoevgrad. We won a prize and this stimulated us to continue working. We became famous, especially after our concerts in America. As for last years, just recently Daniel Spasov and Milen Ivanov invited me to sing in the new formation ˮVoices of Traditionˮ. I am glad that these young people respect the older performers. The contact with the younger generation is very nice, it delights the soul. Joy or worry, singing is our salvation.

In just a few days, a big Christian holiday is coming up, that is also dear to me - because when I was born, it was on Easter.

I wish everyone a happy holiday and may Easter bring us health, health and more health!" 

English version: Elizabeth Radkova