About Me
I was born in 1978 in a village near Ruse. Even as a child I was strongly drawn to art, since I saw it as a way to escape reality. In 1991, I had a role in the school play, “The Female Kingdom,†in which I was dressed in women’s clothing, to the audience’s great amusement. This early acting success caused my literature teacher to send me to the theater track at the humanities high school in Gabrovo, where I met wise people who saved me many years of aimless soul-searching. I took part in every performance of my high school theater, published poetry in the local periodical, sang in the choir, listened to lots of jazz, and started playing kaval. This was my most Romantic period by far.I continued to study literature at Sofia University, but my desire to perform for the public did not die away; thus, in 1998 I founded an ethno-music group. This project grew out of a group for traditional folklore at Sofia Univerosty that included Shinji Iwasaki, Yordan Stoyanov and me. In 2000 vocalist Lilyana Dvoryanova joined the band. In 2001 we recorded an album.The project's title, “Attempt at Remembrance,†expresses the idea of returning to a bygone world. My first book of poetry, “Farewell, Nineteenth Century†also appeared during that year and won the national “Southern Spring†award for a debut book.In 2003, I did my mandatory army service in the village of Shtruklevo in Northern Bulgaria. I was a regular guardsman, and no one suspected that as I did my sentry duty, circling a cistern armed to the teeth, that the idea was taking shape in my head for my second book, Bdin. I finished my military duty in 2003, and by 2004 Bdin was born on paper and aroused great interest among literary critics.During this period I began to play music with Petur Chuhov; later Angela Rodel and Emanuil A. Vidinski joined us, and Gologan was born. Musically, I have evolved from jazz to ethno, finally coming into my own in rock. I’m not sure to what degree the Bulgarian army can be held responsible for this development. In 2005, the album “Attempt at Remembrance†came out on the Stigmati label.My poetry has appeared in various publications, including “The Literary Newspaper,†as well as in the newspapers “Now†and “Capital,†among others. Since the beginning of 2005 I have been a doctoral student in the department of “Contemporary Bulgarian Literature†at the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. My doctoral dissertation focuses on the concept of “the native†in Bulgarian literature during the 1920s. At the present time I take part with Gologan in various musical-literary performances, concerts and readings. What more can I say? You can learn more about me at:http://liteos.de/ivan_hristov
