Nona Yotova

Nona Yotova is an actress, singer, poetess, composer of music and a TV presenter. She is among the first in Bulgaria to start composing and performing ethno music, which is now already very modern. Her first album with arrangements by Ivan Lechev was produced in 1993 and ever since it has outlined her original, distinctive and unique style, the roots of which lie in the history and mythology of the Bulgarian land. Unlike those, who are satisfied only with using folklore motives and are considered to be ethno performers only because they are singing folk songs with a new arrangement, Nona has penetrated a lot deeper in the so called ethno mystic and it is from there that she derives the motives and the inspiration to write her music. This is also due to the fact that she has inherited her talent from several generations of musicians. It is not mere chance that the archaeological TV show she is the presenter of on Channel 1 of the Bulgarian National Television is called “Terra Incognita”. When the musicologist Rose Mary Statelova plays Nona’s songs to her students, one of them says that most probably this is the way the wood-nymphs sing. The a cappella version of the song “I’ll be begging you”, which has been in the Bulgarian National Radio’s fund since 1993 is even considered by some people to be a folk song, which is in itself the greatest recognition for a composer and performer. Nona’s song “Macedonian Flamenco” has been included in the music textbooks since 2006. Some of the best Bulgarian musicians like Ivan Lechev, Dani Milev, Mihail Shishkov, Kalin Velyov, Mihail Yosifov, Valchan Valchanov and from time to time Teodosy Spasov as a special guest perform in “Nona Band”. And finally what is Nona’s style? It could be called ethno jazz, New Age and probably the easiest way to name it is World Music.