THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL BIG BAND

Bulgarian National Radio Big Band

50 Years of the Bulg. National Radio Big Band

Led by former Don Ellis piano player and Bulgrian national Milcho Leviev

Before the Big Band was created original Bulgarian music was unheard of, I mean popular and dance music. Even the songs bands would sing in restaurants were performed in the original language, without translation. When the Big Band was set up, the BNR Popular and Dance Music department channeled its efforts towards creating its repertoire.”

That is how Villy Kazasyan, conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band  from 1963 until 1996 begins his story. The most prestigious and longest surviving jazz orchestra in this country came into being in 1960 in an almost completely foreign language musical environment. The very fact of its birth provoked the creative imagination of Bulgarian composers who started creating popular and dance music especially for its repertoire. In its first years, a string of conductors succeeded one another – Jules Levi, Dimitar Ganev, Georgi Ganev, Emil Georgiev and Milcho Leviev.

A real watershed in the history of the BNR Big Band is the period when its conductor was Villy Kazasyan. Before taking over he was Big Band pianist and witnessed all processes that accompanied its first steps. The recording of his voice from the BNR Golden Fund audio archives we are offering you was made in 1998 but takes us back to the beginning. A prominent composer and music arranger, author of pop and jazz pieces, film soundtracks and music for children, the Maestro offers us a keen insight into the development of Bulgarian popular music, and more specifically the music of the BNR Big Band in its infant years.

“That was how the first Bulgarian instrumental pieces in this genre were born. Still, there was a tradition back then in composing what was known as serious music. Many composers tried their hand at writing big band music – some succeeded, others not so much. It was more difficult when it came to songs, but things soon changed. Probably because they came from a classical music background, many composers were apt to compose really complex pieces. And sometimes there would be misunderstandings in the way they were performed – some could not get through to the audience. Perhaps there were people who thought it was beneath their dignity to write things that were simple. To my mind, it is the simple things that are often most difficult to accomplish. There was also a trend to write folklore-style music and the results were rarely any good.”

Notwithstanding the “growing pains” the beginning had been laid and the processes were going ahead. The orchestra was quickly turning into a national institution.

After Villy Kazasyan, the baton was passed over to Yanko Miladinov and these past few years – to Anthony Donchev. In its 54-year long history the orchestra has made thousands of recordings for the BNR. It has taken part in all pop and jazz forums in the country and festivals abroad and has toured extensively. For dozens of years it was the principal orchestra accompanying performers from Bulgaria and abroad at the legendary pop song contest, the Golden Orpheus. Renowned singers of several generations took the first steps in their career with the BNR Big Band – Lilly Ivanova, Yordanka Hristova, Bogdana Karadocheva, Vassil Naidenov and many more. So much more can be said about the band’s instrumentalists, composers and arrangers because to this day its appeal to musicians of different generations has never waned.