On August 13, music fans in Bulgaria mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lea Ivanova - one of the first female jazz performers in Bulgaria. She was born in 1923 in Dupnitsa but grew up in Tsarigrad (Istanbul), where her singing talent manifested itself in the children's choir of the Bulgarian Exarchate. She arrived in Sofia in the 1940s, when she joined various jazz and swing formations.
Repressed by the communist regime because of the so called "decadent Western music" she performed, the singer was more appreciated abroad, where she managed to perform actively in the 1960s - in Romania, Hungary, then Yugoslavia and East Germany, and later - in the USA, Canada, South America, etc.
With her charismatic personality and captivating stage presence, Lea Ivanova remains one of the biggest legends of Bulgarian music.
Bulgarians in the United States have founded an organization in support of Bulgarian classical music in the USA and around the world , BTA reports. The founders and co-chairs of “Bulgarian Classical Concerts – Los Angeles” are violinist Blagomira..
Published and translated by Kostadin Atanasov Photos: Martin Koenig, archive, archive BNR
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