Concert: Lilly of the West

I (Ellis) first read about Bulgarian singer Lilly Drumeva in a recent issue of Vagabond Magazine, and when I learned she sang American folk and country music, I wrote her an email. Awhile later we received an invitation to a concert of Lilly of the West staged at the Bulgarian National Radio studio and we were pleased to attend.

The performance was recorded for the Bulgarian Golden Radio Fund and was accompanied by an announcer giving the history of bluegrass and country music. The introductions were in Bulgarian, but with every other word being a mention of singers like Elvis Presley and Hank Williams, we understood everything.

Lilly sang a mixture of country, folk, bluegrass and original compositions, and with one exception, all of the songs were in English. She performed songs of Shania Twain, Patsy Cline ("Walkin' After Midnight"), and Sheryl Crowe. Lilly was accompanied by her very talented band consisting of Yasen Vasilev on guitar, Ivan Penchev on fiddle, and Svoboda Bozduganova on upright bass. Guest performers included Rayko Pepelanov on guitar, Michail Shihskov on Dorbo and piano, and Rumen Boyadjiev on drums.

We enjoyed every minute of the performance. On the last song of the show, each member of the band had a solo on "My Window Faces the South". For an encore, Lilly sang "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen.

After the show, we were invited to a glass of wine and we had a chance to meet Lilly (and get autographed copies of her CDs). We are looking forward to the upcoming release of the band's new CD, "Lovin' You" and also to attending more performances of Lilly of the West in the coming months.



The above picture shows Lilly Drumeva, Svoboda Bozduganova on upright bass and Rumen Boyadjiev on drums and is taken from Lilly Drumeva's website.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The “Pogacha”

Image
Pogacha is a traditional, round bread which is used in many Bulgarian ceremonies and celebrations. This was also the name for the celebration that we were invited to by one of my colleagues, Luca, and his wife Iva, in honor of the birth of their son, Nicola. Although the customs surrounding the birth of a baby had their origins many centuries ago, and most of them have not survived, there are still some customs which have made it to modern times and are generally followed by all women after giving birth. When a baby is born, the baby is not taken out of the house for a period of 40 days. During this time, only close family members are allowed to visit and to see the baby. In ancient times, this was due to the fact that a woman was considered “unclean” and as a result, she and her baby were at great risk from evil spirits. Today, it is more of a feeling of protecting the baby from germs and keeping him safe. At the end of the 40 days, there is a celebration, which only the women family
Read more

Top 15 Favorite Bulgarian Places

Image
At a distance of one month, it's sometimes hard to believe that we spent two wonderful years living in Bulgaria. We look back with fond memories at the many places we visited, the many people we met, and the many things we learned about Bulgaria, its culture and history. This started as a Top Ten list, but there were too many places to list, so it became a Top 15 list, and still, some of the colorful destinations we visited are not included. The list is presented in alphabetical order. Balchik . On the Black Sea coast, this town was the summer home of Queen Marie of Romania . We enjoyed walking around the botanical gardens, seeing the old style houses and the simple palace that captured the heart of the Romanian queen. Belogradchik . Belogradchik is a town in northwestern Bulgaria and also the name of a fortress and nature reserve of bizarrely shaped sandstone, limestone and other rock formations. The Belogradchik Rocks were Bulgaria's candidate in the campaign for N
Read more

The Chinese Market

Image
On Sunday we went with our friends Sima and Shlomo to the northern neighborhoods of Sofia to an outdoor shopping bazaar known as the Chinese Market. Stokov Bazaar, or Ilientsi, is a huge area of stalls selling everything from kitchen appliances, toys, clothing, and car parts, and at very cheap prices. Many of the shopkeepers were indeed Chinese, and it was interesting to see so many Orientals in one place, speaking Bulgarian. We managed to buy a few things we needed but it was hard to fully enjoy the experience as it was freezing cold. Either the cold, or the after-Christmas mood kept the crowds away, because we heard that the bazaar attracts many Sofia shoppers.
Read more