Issue 32

WAR AND RUBBISH

DimanaT — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:18:22 +0000

WAR AND RUBBISH

by Minka Vazkresenska

DimanaT Sat, 05/30/2009 - 21:18

Pontius Pilate, who did perhaps the most famous hand washing in history 2,000 years ago, has had an unexpected follow-up in Sofia.

On an April night, as some seasonal rain was falling over the city, vehicles bearing "National Crisis Headquarters" signs were washing the streets. On the following night, these same streets were washed again, this time by vehicles that did not belong to those national crisis headquarters.

This happened in a city where, as a rule, the streets are washed only on the eve of important events such as a NATO summit or a visit by Vladimir Putin.

Although it may look like it, the April street washing was not the symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was the outcome of Sofia's rubbish war between Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Mayor Boyko Borisov.

You have probably observed that Sofia is very dirty even by Balkan standards. Well, Borisov noticed it only in the third year of his term, and decided to terminate the concession contract with the main cleaning company, Novera. "If necessary, I will put all the municipal administration on the job – they will carry out sacks of rubbish. I'll be at their head," Borisov said, "but we have to break with Gaytanski." Rumen Gaytanski, nicknamed "Wolf," is the owner of Novera.

But Novera dealt a pre-emptive blow. At the beginning of March the company stopped collecting waste because it said it had not received its January payment. Borisov said this was a lie. Novera responded by removing its dustbins from the streets. Perhaps Wolf wanted to see "Bate" Boyko carrying sacks full of rubbish.

Then the government stepped in. At the beginning of April Stanishev declared an emergency and established the above-mentioned headquarters. "Sofia has never been cleaner," announced Borisov from Moscow and accused the government of inventing crises and protecting the Wolf. "I don't care about wolves, rabbits, pumpkins or any other flora and fauna," Stanishev replied and added something that can't be denied. "Sofia is the dirtiest capital city in Europe." Then he in turn accused Borisov of trying to award the attractive concession to companies connected with the mayor.

And then Stanishev employed Novera in the crisis headquarters.

This is how the absurd situation came about, with companies hired by the municipality and the government competing to clean the city which, strangely, continues to look dirty. But Stanishev's and Borisov's hands are clean. Both of them have seen to the health and the future of the city. They are ready for the elections.

Issue 32

JOKE OF THE MONTH

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BUY PROPERTY IN BULGARIA SAFELY

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:08:38 +0000

BUY PROPERTY IN BULGARIA SAFELY

by Duncan Wallace and Miroslav Dimitrov

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 21:08

With a little common sense and a lot of luck you can own a dream house - if you keep your eyes very wide open

Buying real estate in Bulgaria can be a rewarding experience, and you can end up with a great house if you go about it sensibly. Unlike the UK Bulgaria doesn´t do buyer´s surveys. The Bulgarian way may be more laborious, but it usually works in the end.

Property laws used to change frequently but, since joining the EU, the Bulgarian system is beginning to conform with that of other member states.

You are obliged by Bulgarian law to have a notary deed, signed by everyone involved in the transaction, to legally own or build property.

If there are any burdens or claims on the property, the legality of the transaction can be challenged. Check with the local property registry and the local court that the seller is resident, or has his registered office in the area.

Undeveloped land may be either regulated, with a permit from the municipality, or non-regulated. Obtaining a construction permit can be an arduous task; utility companies should be informed, and the neighbours need to be notified and given the opportunity to object.

If you are buying land for development, you are often required to sign a legal management contract setting out your responsibilities for the upkeep of the internal roads, green spaces and other common areas. It may also state your duties in regard to holiday rentals, although rentals are usually handled by separate companies.

The only way non-EU nationals can buy land is through a registered Bulgarian company.

Until the end of 2011, unless they have a Bulgarian residency permit, EU citizens cannot acquire land for a second home, even if there is a second home already built on it. There is also a restriction until 2014 on the purchase of agricultural land and forests.

Make sure you buy through a locally registered company.

What to watch out for in preliminary contracts

The preliminary contract confirms the address, the relevant permissions and completion date. There should also be a valuation for tax purposes, and a receipt for taxes already paid.

Don´t sign without having seen the property first. You may have to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure your purchase, give you time to view it, and check if there are any problems with water, electricity, roads and the like. You retain the right to withdraw from the sale.

Surveys should be carried out by an independent expert. Bulgarian builders may be tempted to cut corners, especially now because of the economic crisis.

Never, ever, be pressurised into signing. If the seller can´t wait, just walk away. A Bulgarian language contract takes precedence over the English one, so a professional translation must be obtained and taken into account.

10 WAYS YOU CAN BE CHEATED

1. The property has already been sold.

2. It has an outstanding mortgage on it.

3. It is still under a rental agreement.

4. Someone has filed a claim in court that he is already the owner. For the above steps check the property register and ask for a certificate issued by the Register Agency.

5. There are claims on the property, usually over the land, that have not been resolved. Ask the municipality.

6. When the preliminary contract or the notary deed is signed by the owner´s representative, be careful that the power of attorney is not void.

7. The seller presents false documents. Get the originals and confirm their authenticity.

8. When the seller is a company, ask for the minutes of board or shareholder meetings to confirm the decision to sell is legal.

9. Newly-built property has not received planning permission. Ask the state agency that supervises construction supervision why.

10. It is still under construction. Check that the developer´s company is financially viable.

Duncan Wallace is an English solicitor based in Sofia. He has practised with central London solicitors and in the legal department of Grand Metropolitan PLC. He has also worked in Bahrain and in Athens with Zepos & Zepos, and was a consultant to the European Commission in Brussels and Luxembourg. He has lectured in Bulgaria at City University, where he was a member of faculty, and at the New Bulgarian, International and American universities. He holds Masters degrees in law from London University and Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Duncan Wallace
+359 894 207 805
www.duncanwallacesolicitors.co.uk

Miroslav Dimitrov is an advocate, a member of the Sofia Bar Association, practises law in Sofia and is an assistant professor of civil law at the University of National and World Economy, Sofia.

The authors may be contacted at 16, Lyuben Karavelov St, Sofia 1142. Tel. 02980 4675, 02 989 4357. Email. dcwallace@abv.bg, mityov@abv.bg.

Issue 32

GOOD TO KNOW

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misLEADING ADVICE No 6

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:41:31 +0000

misLEADING ADVICE No 6

by Hristo Kyosev; illustration by Gergana Shkodrova

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 20:41

For first-time visitors to Bulgaria*

4estit 24 May

An increasing number of Bulgarians are taking advantage of the Holiday of the Slavonic Alphabet, 24 May, to voice their opinion that the Roman should be substituted for the Cyrillic alphabet. They are easy to spot because of the marches organised by their schools and universities. If you share their ideas, especially if you have got lost due to the lack of signs with Roman characters on the streets or motorways, you are welcome to join them. It is a good idea to carry a slogan with the words Varvi, narode vazrodeni. They'll be overjoyed to see it.

***

Taxi Notes

Taxi drivers in Sofia are a friendly, smiling and hospitable bunch of people. They are always happy to change a 100 leva note – even if you are not a customer.

***

Oppa!

The most widely-used exclamation in the Bulgarian language is "Oppa!". It covers a variety of meanings according to the situation and context. On public transport, "Oppa" means "sorry" when you involuntarily step on someone's foot. The same connotation of asking for forgiveness can be implied by simply uttering "Oppa!" when caught inadvertently kissing or engaging in amorous activities with somebody else's wife or girlfriend. However in social settings, "Oppa" is the equivalent of "Cheers".

***

Show of Respect

Bulgarians stick tenaciously to the tradition of springing to their feet and standing to attention whenever footage of the current head of the state (the president) is being shown on TV. Despite being a foreigner, you are kindly advised to comply with this tradition. You can even improve on that and show goodwill by jumping to your feet whenever Bulgaria's prime minister or the minister of finance appears on the screen too..

***

Step on it

Bulgarian drivers are obliged by the Highway Code to step on the accelerator at the exact moment another car is trying to overtake them. The purpose of this regulation is to discourage reckless drivers who want to overtake everyone on the road. Stick to this regulation whenever driving in Bulgaria.

***

Three, Two, Ooone!

In the period around 24 May you will certainly notice some dressed-up young guys and girls hanging out of the windows of balloon-decorated cars, emitting cries of joy and occasionally counting down loudly from 12 to one. These are abiturienti, secondary school students who are beginning their last year of studies in May, a fact that makes them jump for joy and organise celebrations on which their parents readily spend several months' wages. Etiquette dictates that you congratulate all the abiturienti you see on their first school day.

***
Cooking Tips

Bulgarian cuisine abounds in strange peculiarities. Take radishes, for example –not the red tuber that is used in cooking, but the green leaves. Bulgarians cut them into thin strips, add some cold water and a couple of spoons of sugar, thus preparing the traditional cold soup marator.

*Please, exercise a modicum of common sense!

Issue 32

MISLEADING ADVICE

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BRING BACK THE BEEB TO BULGARIA

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:52:12 +0000

BRING BACK THE BEEB TO BULGARIA

by Stamen Manolov

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:52

An ongoin campaign to restore the BBC World Service on FM in Sofia may produce some results

Over 2,000 people*, both expats and Bulgarians, have joined the Facebook campaign to restart the BBC World Service broadcasts on FM in the Sofia area. Sofia is among the few European capital cities apart from Moscow where the BBC World Service is not available on FM.

The Bulgarian Electronic Media Council, the state watchdog in charge of granting and withdrawing broadcasting licences, justified its 2008 decision to switch off the BBC in Sofia by asserting that the BBC had broken the rules by not having any Bulgarian-language programmes, which the BBC had discontinued with the closure of its Bulgarian Section in 2005.

The BBC requested a change of its licensing conditions and challenged the penalty notices in court, but the Bulgarians were adamant: they were sticking to the letter of the law.

But where is the spirit of that law, the basis of which is the public interest, asked a group of over a dozen Bulgarian and expat intellectuals, former and current politicians and ordinary citizens of Sofia in a letter dated 13 April. The letter was sent to the BBC and the Bulgarian Electronic Media Council, as well as the prime and foreign ministers of both the UK and Bulgaria.

The signatories of that letter, which urged the government leaders to use their good offices to reverse the ban, include philosopher and media expert Georgi Lozanov, bestselling US writer Elizabeth Kostova, publicist Neri Terzieva, director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies Ivan Krastev, former Bulgarian ambassador to the United Nations Stefan Tafrov and former ambassador to the United States Stoyan Joulev.

The letter was initiated by banker Martin Zaimov, who is also the deputy head of the Sofia City Council, while the Facebook campaign was started and is being administered by Anthony Georgieff, the editor of Vagabond.

The signatories of this letter assert that the BBC is needed on FM in Bulgaria for three reasons. First, English language news and analysis are needed by the increasing number of expats coming for business or pleasure to Bulgaria, now an EU and NATO member.

Second, it is needed by many younger Bulgarians who find in the World Service programmes an invaluable – and completely free – means of improving their English language skills.

And third, and most importantly, with its editorial mix of objective news, balanced analyses and quality entertainment the BBC serves the public interest in this country much better than many domestic electronic and print media.

None of the Bulgarian officials addressed in this letter have responded by the time of going to press, but we have received an explanation from Richard Sambrook, the BBC Global News director. In his communication of 20 April Sambrook explains that the BBC is currently trying to identify re-broadcasting partners in Bulgaria, a method widely used for gaining FM carriage in Europe.

We have to wait and see whether the BBC will be able to overcome Bulgaria's bureaucratic and political hurdles, but in the meantime everyone interested can and should voice their support for bringing back the Beeb to Sofia on http://apps.facebook.com/causes/222474.

* Figure current at time of going to press, 24 April

Issue 32 Bulgarian media

VAGABOND FEATURES

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LOVE IT OR HATE IT

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:23:27 +0000

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

by Dimana Trankova; photography by Missirkov/Bogdanov, Svetozara Alexandrova, Vikenti Komitski

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:23

With their The Temptation of Chalga exhibition, modern Bulgarian artists have brought pop folk music to an unusual venue

If chalga and art were members of the same family, they would be distant cousins that don't get on well and hardly speak to each other. Significantly, relations became strained not when chalga first appeared but when it became a lucrative industry.

There is not a single pop or rock singer in Bulgaria who can rival the big chalga stars in terms of concert proceeds, CD sales, fees and advertising contracts. The tension surfaced officially in the 1990s, when Communist-era pop icon Vasil Naydenov led a doomed assault on pop folk.

Not all artists choose to adopt the stance of defenders of good taste. Instead, they explore chalga as a phenomenon, and make it the subject of their art. The Temptation of Chalga exhibition has brought together 12 of them under the same roof. You will find it on the second floor of Sofia City Art Gallery until 30 May. The curators are Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva and Vessela Nozharova, in partnership with Altera and the support of Sofia City Council.

The exhibition includes some of the first attempts to give artistic meaning to chalga, such as Georgi Tushev's oil painting Kulik Pulling a Bus, painted in 1996.

The well-known photographers Boris Missirkov and Georgi Bogdanov feature with their New Mythology series from 2001, where they photographed the pop folk stars of the day in surreal environments.

Metamoprhose 2

Some of the exhibits feature multimedia. Ergin Chavushoglu searches for parallels between chalga culture, on the one hand, and black music and street culture, on the other.

Adelina Popnedeleva combines a chalgo-theque with the sound of a Viennese waltz.

Konstantin Bozhanov offers a container with a provocative relic: a hair from the beard of the "prophet" of Bulgarian chalga, Azis.

Alla Georgieva had already explored chalga with her BG Souvenir project (see Vagabond No.30), but has now created another series, Bulgarian Scenery, especially for the exhibition.

The new faces on today's stage appear in works such as the two oil portraits of chalga stars Galena and Andrea by Svetozara Alexandrova. The exhibition also shows a chalga timeline, researched by Ventsislav Dimov.

"Chalga is the mass culture that has permeated all levels of society, so it is essential to study and evaluate it," curator Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva says. "Translated into the language of modern art, it appears as something much more important and multifaceted than even its fans suppose. Yet, this exhibition is not a chalga museum nor a monument to it. It captures that moment of weakness when you give in to the temptation to get to know it closely from a different viewpoint."

The navel of Europe

Issue 32

BULGARIA ART

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BUYERS' MARKET

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:20:49 +0000

BUYERS' MARKET

by Dimana Trankova; photography by BTA

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:20

Bulgaria's politicians have stopped rigging elections. Now they just buy the votes

From left, leaders of the Tripartite Coalition: Sergey Stanishev, BSP, Ahmed Dogan, DPS, and Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, NDSV

In less than a day, the village of Brest, near Pleven, achieved notoriety throughout Bulgaria. In March, shortly before a local by-election, the owner of a small shoe factory gathered a dozen of his workers and gave each 50 leva. The meeting was attended by a man who apparently should not have been there: the mayoral candidate from GERB, or Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria.

A few days later, the National Assembly increased the penalty for ballot-box corruption to six years imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 leva. Considering the events in Brest, however, this measure is unlikely to scare parties planning to secure themselves more votes at the European and National Assembly elections in June and July.

Bulgarians are used to scandals about vote buying, as there have been many at all the elections since 1990. The plan has always been more or less the same. Buy the votes of the poorest and most downtrodden sections of society, usually Gypsies.

But the price has changed. At the beginning of the meagre 1990s, the transaction involved bartering packets of flour or sugar or jam jar lids – precious commodities in a country where home-made preserves were not a luxury but a means of survival.

Gradually, the "gifts" became sausages, frozen chickens and kebapcheta.

The Roma in the Filipovtsi ghetto in Plovdiv were promised twice that they would not have to pay their electricity bills, in 1998 by the SDS, or Union of Democratic Forces, mayor and in 2005 by a member of the DPS, or Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

The local elections in 2007 brought about a change. Goods were superseded by cash as a means of payment.

Entrepreneur Nikola Malchev from Sandanski, one of the few convicted of vote buying, gave his workers between 30 and 50 leva to buy their votes for the Future for Sandanski coalition.

The owner of a pharmacy chain in Varna and mayoral candidate, Veselin Mareshki, promised pensioners and the chronically ill cheaper medicines if they voted for him.

To cap it all, Ahmed Dogan, leader of the DPS, told journalists the same year that "vote buying is a common European practice." What are these "European practice" elections like? Before entering the polling booth, the voter receives a mobile phone with a camera. He gets his money or kebapcheta only after proving with a photograph that he has cast a ballot for the "right candidate."

The Central Elections Committee banned the use of mobile phones in the cubicle, but this did not have much effect. For some time, parliament even flirted with the idea of using CCTVs to detect elections fraud, but gave it up to protect civil liberties. In 2008, a mistake revealed the extent of the contagion.

Shortly before a local by-election in Sandanski, the NDSV, or National Movement for Stability and Progress, MP Yani Yanev received a list of 495 voters living in the municipality with the note "Pay the bill!".

But Yanev was from Varna, not Sandanski. His party alerted the National Security Agency, or DANS, to check out another politician with a similar name, Yane Yanev. The result? There has been none. "Some of those interrogated by DANS admitted that they had sold their votes, but refused to testify in court," an NDSV MP told the media.

Today, Yane Yanev, who is the leader of the Order, Law and Justice party and in 2007 had been a supporter of Mareshki, is a regular visitor to DANS.

No, not because he is under official investigation. Making use of well-planned publicity stunts, he submits information about allegedly corrupt high-ranking politicians and police officers and hypothetical disseminators of radical Islam in Bulgaria.

Some opinion polls give him a good chance of securing a seat in the next election.

All this leads to the conclusion that, although it is already 20 years old, Bulgarian democracy is still a toddler. The European Commission has also noted this. One of the criticisms in its report published in the summer of 2008 concerned the low number of investigations and court rulings regarding vote rigging, despite the hundreds of irregularities flagged at the local elections in 2007.

Any bought vote now poses a danger. It may lead to "putting into effect article 7 of the accession treaty, which limits Bulgaria's right to take part in EU decision-making," said Yuliana Nikolova, chairwoman of the European Institute to Mediapool.

The good news is that there will be no more "election tourism," at least for the European parliament election. This has been widely practised by immigrants in Turkey who have dual citizenship. A day or two before the election, they would come to Bulgaria by the coachload and, after voting for the "right candidate" and visiting their relatives, return to Turkey.

Traditionally, the victorious candidate in the areas where this was a common practice was from the DPS.

This time, only Bulgarian citizens who have been resident in the country for the past three months have the right to vote in the European parliament elections.

Unfortunately, it is strongly suspected that the increased penalties for vote buying are just a sop to the European Commission. The events in Brest have helped to feed such speculation. The GERB candidate did win the first and the second round of the election in the village.

And where does the money that political parties spend on vote buying come from? From the European taxpayers' pockets.

Lyudmil Stoykov, who donated 50,000 leva to President Georgi Parvanov's election campaign, is the main character in a disturbing report from OLAF concerning the misuse of EU funding and money laundering. The report points out that there was a "political cover-up" for the businessman. Together with six other people, he now stands accused of money laundering in what is to be a mega trial. The case has not reached court yet, because his lawyers are constantly "on sick leave."

In 2006 Ahmed Dogan stated bluntly: "They are pulling the wool over your eyes with those donations. Look, all over the world, each political party has, so to say, a circle of companies. If you think that I have less capability than a banker, then you have no real idea of the influence of a politician." Then he went on to add that he already knew the companies from his circle that would acquire EU funding in 2008 and 2009.

Thumbs up?

Does the West believe in the increased penalties for vote buying in the Penal Code? Yes, at first glance. "We welcome the decision by the National Assembly to pass legislation increasing the penalties for vote buying. This action makes it clear that vote buying is a serious crime," said American Ambassador to Bulgaria Nancy McEldowney in a special statement. But, in her view, there are a lot more steps to be taken. "Passage of an even more robust legislative package would have further strengthened the elections process. We encourage all political parties to voluntarily implement the additional measures proposed by the Integrity Pact for Independent and Democratic Vote in Bulgaria, especially the provisions for enhanced transparency of political party financing. If adopted, these measures will boost confidence in the electoral system and serve the best interests of Bulgaria's citizens and democratic institutions."

Issue 32

BULGARIA POLITICS

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PROMS IN TIME OF CRISIS

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:18:17 +0000

PROMS IN TIME OF CRISIS

by Dimana Trankova; photography by BTA

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:18

Despite the clouds on the economic horizon this year, Bulgarians will still pull out all the stops to celebrate school graduation

Unocredit Bulbank predicts that Bulgaria will experience a recession in 2009 and 2010, and predictions of an economic crunch similar to that in Asia in 1997 are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Nevertheless, during the last 10 days of May you would scarcely believe that you are in the poorest EU country. The streets of towns large and small alike are chock-a-block with stretch limousines, Audis and BMWs. Half sticking out of their windows are teenagers clad in sumptuous suits and expensive jewellery, or gowns that make the Oscars look like a provincial schoolteachers' get-together.

From time to time, the young folk will stop their cars and, oblivious to the traffic jams they cause, dance in the street. Then you notice that the girls are teetering on such expensive high heels that even Carrie Bradshaw would think twice about buying them.

These are abiturienti, or alumni, who are celebrating their graduation from secondary school. Widely considered to be the "happiest day of their lives," it is a celebration that costs their parents at least 1,000 leva per head.

The money goes on a dress or a suit for the prom and a second dress or suit for the so-called "farewell gathering," when the graduates go to their school for the last time. Then there are drinks and food for the party given at home for friends and relatives, and the rent of an expensive limousine or a friend's luxury car.

Personal grooming comes next: a manicure, plus hair do and makeup, not to mention a solarium suntan and hair extensions.

Daughters are obviously more expensive than sons. Jewellery is a must-have, as well as two handbags, two pairs of shoes and new underwear. Also included are a meal out and the pocket money needed for the round of bars and discos till daybreak. Often, the celebration concludes with a short holiday at the Black Sea or the mountains or, a cheaper alternative, a trip to Turkey or Greece.

The illusion is perfect. For 10 days Bulgaria seems like a prosperous country inhabited by wealthy, happy party-goers whose only problem is an excessive obsession with elaborate gowns and Swarovski crystals.

In fact, the major part of this excess is funded by borrowed money. Even in the heady days of 2007 and 2008, when the economy seemed stable, most Bulgarians relied on loans to prepare for their children's graduation party. It was not a burden. It was simply more important to keep up with the Joneses. Where proms are concerned and mass taste dictates extravagance, few parents – and students – will want to lag behind.

Nobody seems to be perturbed by the image of a girl getting into a limousine outside a shabby block of flats in a rundown suburb, wearing a 1,000-leva dress, and having spent as much again on shoes, make-up, hairdressers and jewellery.

But the economic crisis is here and it can't but affect the abiturienti market. Banks do not give loans so easily now. In January 2009 consumer credit fell by 84 percent compared to January 2008. This is the reason why some enterprising young girls have begun buying clothes on the Internet, availing themselves of substantial discounts in the UK, for example. Fashions are much cheaper than the exorbitantly priced garments and shoes in expensive outlets in Bulgaria – and not as kitschy.

Meanwhile, graduates from previous years have apparently realised that all that remains of the "happiest day of their lives" is an expensive gown taking up room in the wardrobe because it will never be worn again. Websites are full of advertisements for "an exquisite dress in perfect condition, worn only once." A dress by a well-known Bulgarian designer bought for 2,000 leva last year is now worth only 1,000. Mass market models range from 150 to 500 leva.

Sumptuous graduate proms are destined to fall victim to the crisis – either this year or the next. In 1996-1997, when Bulgaria also experienced an economic crisis, many secondary school graduates, or at least those who had no connections, adopted a more practical approach.

Instead of buying a suit that they would not wear more than once, the boys went to the prom wearing a new pair of jeans. The girls bought clothes they could wear afterwards, too. Most of them enjoyed themselves – without spending the equivalent of three months of their parents' income overnight.

Issue 32

BULGARIA SOCIETY

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THE CHALGA WAY OF LIFE

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:16:01 +0000

THE CHALGA WAY OF LIFE

by Dimana Trankova

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:16

You can take the Bulgarian out of his pop folk environment, but you can't take the pop folk out of the Bulgarian

The elderly woman smiles at the blonde girl standing in the small park with her grandmother. "What's your name?" she asks. "Ivana," the child answers. "Oh, like the singer?" the old woman asks without a trace of irony in her voice. "Yes! I want to be like her when I grow up," the girl replies as proudly as any Italian teenager named Luciano would, when talking about the opera singing lessons he is taking. "She is very good. She sings in the children's choir," her proud grandmother boasts.

Ivana is one of the big names in the star-packed chalga firmament. Her repertoire includes such hits as

I'll drill you with a hundred bullets
If I catch you playing around
'Cause you say you're going hunting
But you are having sex instead.

Rumour has it that she was involved with Dimitar "Eyes" Zhelyazkov, a shady businessman from Nesebar, who confessed to drugs dealing in 2008 and is currently doing time in jail. However, Ivana is truly a star. She features in the gossip columns of newspapers and TV shows, earns a fortune singing in restaurants and at birthday parties, and has tens of thousands of staunch fans.

You may have already noticed this: not everybody in Bulgaria listens to chalga. Indeed, not even all taxi drivers do. But it has become something more than just a kind of music.

Just like the blues in America, it has become a way of life. It could be said that chalga, whose fans would rather call it "pop folk," has even silicone-breasted the tape ahead of the blues.

It has managed to become the standard for a whole nation. Its mark is evident in everything ranging from those Bulgarian women who dress sexily in miniature skirts and high heels, to the tolerance for those who go beyond the bounds of what is considered normal or moral behaviour, whether they are gangsters or corrupt politicians.

The chalga stereotype can also be seen in the widely held belief that a woman is successful only if she has married a very rich man and a man is successful only if he has become filthy rich, irrespective of how he acquired not only his first, but his other millions too.

A love of heavy gold jewellery, holidays in "VIP" hotels at the concrete-encased Black Sea coast, gaudy clothes with conspicuous Emporio Armani labels (probably made in China), provocative sexuality and transgression of rules: Bulgarians may have been predisposed to all these, but it is chalga that has made such behaviour seem normal.

Ironically, when it appeared in the first years of the democratic changes, chalga was the most democratic type of music. It was made by the people and for the people. In those days, the old pop singers, who had become famous under Communism, hardly ever appeared on stage. Young pop singers preferred vague lyrics, such as "I am only a lilac blossom, I am a lilac."

At the time of the mid-1990s' economic crisis, with the appearance of the first pyramid schemes and the vacuum left by the change from one political system to another, millions of Bulgarians felt the only ones who adequately voiced their terrible problems were the first chalga stars.

For example, Volodya Stoyanov's hit "Pyramids, Pharaohs" expressed the whole drama of those first years of the transition:

Pyramids, pharaohs and fools for millions,
A dog drags a bus; there is no trace left, hey!
The guy took the money, said 'Wait a sec,'
Then he took the plane, catch him if you can!
The guy took the money, said 'Wait a sec,'
Then took the plane, there's no coming back!

But chalga missed its chance of becoming a kind of protest music. Bulgarians have not had the opportunity to witness the appearance of their own vulgar, Eastern, nonconformist star.

In no time, instead, pop folk became connected to organised crime. From antagonists, the thugs quickly turned into protagonists. "Tiger, Tiger," a now iconic song by Popa, or the Priest, and Rado "Fir-Cone," is a good example. This is how it goes:

Oh tiger, tiger,
Do you have money?
If you have money,
Nice girls for you.
Oh tiger, tiger,
Don't you have money?
If you don't have money,
Old grandmas for you.

The women who hung around with such men lived in the manner indicated by Kali's song:

I'm a playful butterfly
And I fly from flower to flower.

Goldism 1 © Svetozara Alexandrova

There is nothing strange about this. In those days, only gangsters had money to splash out on concerts, tips and chalga singers' video clips. The link was two-way. Ivo Karamanski, the alleged godfather of organised crime in Bulgaria, recorded a pop folk album in 1997, for example.

However, the connections between gangsters and chalga remained mainly in the area of sex. Rumours linked Gloria, another Bulgarian chalga megastar, with Georgi Iliev, considered to be one of the bosses of the Bulgarian mafia. Singers Katie and Kali were also allegedly his lovers.

Big businessmen also had their fingers in the pie. Konstantin Dinev, owner of the Kosharite tavern, whose stage launched the careers of numerous chalga divas, fathered children with Emilia, Nelina and Anelia.

This mixture of rich people and beautiful singers soon became what is regarded as "high life" in Bulgaria. It quickly gained publicity and by the end of the 1990s, helped by the media, had become a trendsetter.

The appearance of the first specialised newspapers and magazines convinced the public that chalga could not be so bad if it was given media coverage. In turn, the Planeta cable TV channel, owned by the Dimitrovgrad-based Payner Studio, introduced chalga to every Bulgarian home with its 24-hour broadcasts.

Veselina, the first radio station to play only pop folk, soon had rivals on the air. Within a month or two, Radio Romantica, whose policy was to play only love songs, replaced the hits of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey with the ballads of Azis, Gloria and the rest.

Today, pop folk divas have put down strong roots in the media. Men's magazines are sure to increase their sales if they show them unclothed on their covers. Women's magazines, even those calling themselves "lifestyle," publish extensive articles about the love dramas and rivalries of those in the chalga world.

Pop folk stars are also guests on TV. Azis even hosts his own show on TV2, in competition with Slavi Trifonov, who is credited with popularising the pop folk style in the first place.

Chalga singers are always among the key participants in the VIP versions of Big Brother. Rayna and Konstantin took part in its first season, which Konstantin won, while the second featured Azis and Desi Slava.

The chalga participants in the third season are the Roma star, Sofi Marinova and Milko Kalaydzhiev. The jury of the Bulgarian Music Idol inevitably features a female chalga singer, while one of the invariable tasks for the contenders is to sing a pop folk hit.

The institutionalisation of pop folk has apparently reached its peak. Singer Sasho Roman, for example, was on the Bulgarian Socialist Party ballot for municipal councillor in Sofia at the local elections in 2007 and even sang at the electoral campaign concerts.

Chalga diva Esil Dyuran has drummed up support at similar concerts for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms more than once and in 2007 Ivana sang first for the prospective voters of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and then for those of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria.

Azis, who shocks many with his, at best, ambivalent sexuality, and Sofi Marinova "lent" their voices to the Socialists. There have been rumours recently that for the upcoming elections nobody will get to watch folk concerts for free because Brussels frowns on such campaigns.

Preslava, who is all the rage for chalga fans now, took over the stage at the New Year Concert in the centre of Sofia on 1 January 2009.

In other words, chalga is ubiquitous. This explains why those Bulgarians who like neither this type of music nor the way of life it promotes have begun referring to other things as chalga, too.

You may have heard the expression "chalga historian." It describes those authors of nationalistic books and TV programmes that provide disinformation under the guise of "revealing secrets about Bulgaria's past."

There is also "chalga folklore." This refers to music based on authentic folk tunes with a chalga superstructure and to the folk ensembles with their mega-productions in the style of Lord of the Dance, which have recently become popular.

Chalga has evolved somewhat in the past few years. Preslava, Desi Slava, Gloria and the rest have increasingly turned to sentimental ballads with such syrupy lyrics that even Céline Dion would think twice before singing them.

For the time being, nothing can oust chalga from the top of the music industry or from the people's hearts. Pop folk singers are the only artistes in Bulgaria who really make money from what they do. The style is affectionately referred to as "music for the soul."

This confused an English teacher who had come on an exchange programme from Birmingham. "What kind of music do you like?" she asked a student. "Music for the soul," the girl replied, having in mind Ivana. The teacher never did learn that her Bulgarian student was not actually a fan of soul music.

Chalga accompanies Bulgarians even when they are away from their country. They might have lived in the United States or Western Europe for years but continue to listen to pop folk music downloaded from the Internet. On tours abroad, chalga stars play to full houses. Expats say they listen to chalga for nostalgic reasons.

The funniest thing of all is that even after its 20-year domination of the music market and "high life," chalga continues to be regarded as a "sinful pleasure." You will often hear intelligent-looking young people say they "admit to listening to pop folk". Have you ever heard anyone using such a verb to describe their passion for the blues?

JOIE DE VIVRE À LA MODE BULGARE

So far there has not been a music genre that better expresses the aspirations of the Bulgarians than chalga. This explains why "Shopska Salad" by Rado "Fir-Cone" is still among the most popular all-time hits.

I love Shopska salad
And drinking icy mastika,
The sea waves caressing me
And blonde chicks all around.
I am a sly one, oh bro,
I've got piles of money.
I am waiting for the summer heat
To go to the seaside.

SOMETHING UNTYPICAL

Chalga is a well developed industry and, strange as it may seem at first glance, the lyrics and music may be written by professionals whose tastes are often quite different. For example, Mitko "Paynera" Dimitrov, who is the owner of the largest studio and production company, is a dedicated Deep Purple fan. Despite their apparently intellectual aura, chalga songs deal with only three basic topics: easy sex, easy money and a combination of the two. Masterpieces such as Ivana's "Something Untypical" manage to encapsulate the complete chalga philosophy. In just a few lines, the heroine encourages breaching the law – how many times? Count them yourself.

Take me to a local bar,
And order, then drink to me
And kick up a fight for me.
Let everybody curse us
And be green with envy at our kisses.
Drive like a demon through a red light,
Do something mad for me.
Something wild, untypical,
No matter what, if different.
Oh, let's go wild tonight,
I don't want us to be well-behaved,
Decent and constantly romantic.
Oh, let's go wild tonight.
Let's be different for a while,
Worldly-wise and even illogical.
Oh, let's go wild tonight.
Life's flying by, can't you see,
And there's no time, don't you realise?
Take me, let's go,
No matter where.

Issue 32

VAGABOND FEATURES

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BULGARIAN CHALGA MUSIC

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:14:46 +0000

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BULGARIAN CHALGA MUSIC

by Anthony Georgieff

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:14

To understand the chalga phenomenon you must look into the troubled context of Bulgarian music under Communism and immediately after

For 45 years the Communist state kept the lid very tight on every aspect of social life, including music. When Bulgaria was invaded by the Soviets in 1944, the local Communist apparatchiks were quick to denounce any Western influence Bulgaria had enjoyed, jazz being but one example, and to promote its own folklore, often imbued with nationalist or "New Life" undertones.

The result in those years were such gems as Mladata Traktoristka, or Young Girl Tractor Driver, and "folk" songs extolling the virtues of collectivised farming. The situation did change after Stalin's death, but to say that it improved would be an exaggeration.

Coca-Cola drinking Elvis Presley was considered evil, and Beatles songs, notably Back in the USSR, were banned. There were instances of young people getting sacked from their jobs or even being sent to labour camps for reportedly listening to Western radio stations broadcasting "decadent" music.

As late as the 1980s, the Communist Party's omniscience reached such ridiculous extremes as issuing decrees to order state-run radio stations to broadcast a certain percentage of Bulgarian songs, a certain percentage of Soviet songs, and allocate the remaining 20 percent to "songs of other nations."

Similar regulations were in force in restaurants, where bands played Soviet music as part of the evening's entertainment to demonstrate the "eternal friendship" between the Bulgarian and the Soviet peoples.

To the musicians of those times, the party straitjacket meant one thing: conform, or quit.

In the mid-1980s, however, things started to change. At that time, neighbouring Yugoslavia, considered a renegade Western state by the Bulgarian political establishment and looked up to by many Bulgarians as a democratic and prosperous paradise, started to promote its own version of chalga, which it referred to as turbo folk. Lepa Brena in those years was more popular than Slobodan Milosevic.

It was not only Yugoslavia, however. In Greece, sirtaki, a fusion of gaudy pop and traditional Greek rhythms and melodies, was becoming immensely popular. In Turkey, the progenitors of Tarkan were emerging.

Bulgarian state radio, of course, did not broadcast any of these, but millions of Bulgarians managed to listen to the new-wave music on pirated tapes.

The current form of Bulgarian chalga emerged in the wake of the 1989 collapse of Communism. At first, it was seen as a liberation by the masses, who suddenly realised there was no one to tell them not to listen to Serbian or Greek music.

Soon, the home-grown type of pop folk emerged, and before too long it would develop into a million-dollar entertainment industry.

Many intellectuals would cry out that it propagated nothing more than the new "culture" of corruption, easy money, indiscriminate sex, and mugs driving fast cars, but many "ordinary" people became so enthralled by the new freedom that they would embrace chalga as their alternative to officialdom.

In the past, music was didactic and prescriptive: it reflected some imaginary reality where love and virtue were the mainstays. In contrast, chalga mirrors real life, depicts real people with all their problems and desires, the argument ran.

If you want to explore Bulgarian chalga, which may easily become one of the highlights of your stay in Bulgaria, do go to a chalga disco and do ask your friends to translate the lyrics for you.

Issue 32

VAGABOND FEATURES

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FIRST-AID ROOM FOR WILD PATIENTS

DimanaT — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:12:16 +0000

FIRST-AID ROOM FOR WILD PATIENTS

text and photography by Nelly Tomova

DimanaT Fri, 05/01/2009 - 17:12

The Green Balkans emergency centre treats more than 600 animals a year

The operating table has been disinfected and polished to a shine before the next patient is laid upon it. Dr Sashka Vitanova and her assistant prepare medicine, syringes, and bandages. The assistant holds down the patient, as his claws and sharp beak might be dangerous.

The subject is an imperial eagle, admitted to Bulgaria's only emergency centre for wild animals, in the suburbs of Stara Zagora. It was brought to the clinic with 12 shotgun pellets in its body, although it is illegal to shoot these birds. Part of the soft tissue of a wing is stripped to the bone and the rest is crushed, so it has to be amputated.

The eagle retains its imperial bearing even though it can no longer fly. The staff of the emergency centre will continue to take care of it.

Founded by a few enthusiasts who used to treat birds in their own flats in the early 1990s, the Green Balkans Wildlife

Rehabilitation and Emergency Centre occupies an area of 1.5 acres of land and boasts more than 50 facilities, including a clinic, rehabilitation rooms, a quarantine room, and different sized aviaries. The centre evolved as part of the work of the environmental organisation Green Balkans.

Among its main aims are to treat and rehabilitate injured creatures, mostly birds, and return them to the wild. The centre has a breeding programme to reintroduce rare species into Bulgaria, as well as a policy to educate young people through its environmental work and campaigns.

"There is a lot of work and you must be constantly alert," says vet Sashka Vitanova, who started working here as a volunteer but is now a fulltime member of staff. Nearly 600 wild animals in need of medical care are admitted every year. They have been hit by cars, shot, or injured by electric power cables. Some are young birds that have fallen out of the nest.

When the animals are admitted they are tagged and given a medical file describing treatment, method of feeding and weight.

Birds are brought here from all over the country. Local volunteers, and regional environmental and water inspectors, help transport them to the centre, some even being delivered by regional bus services.

Sashka says "A number of intercity bus drivers already know us well and say things like, 'Here's another patient for you. What happened with the last one?" Sometimes people find a wounded animal and bring it to the centre themselves. Recently, a Sofianite found a wounded owl in the woods and brought it in for treatment. He drove back to Sofia laden with posters and leaflets promoting the centre's work.

Just like a real emergency room, Green Balkans is open for admissions 24 hours a day. The permanent staff is made up of veterinarians Sashka Vitanova and Christina Hristova, and one of its founders, Ivaylo Klisurov, is currently the manager. Dr Slavi Tsekov, who runs several veterinary clinics in Stara Zagora, helps out when there is a particularly complicated operation.

Besides fulltime staff, there are volunteers, many of them foreigners, who are here under the aegis of the European Commission.

Marin is a veteran among them and is studying in the 11th grade of the Veterinary Technical College. He came to the centre out of pure curiosity four years ago. Now he can't imagine what his life would be like without the wild patients and his work in the clinic. Most creatures stay here until they are well enough to be returned to the wild.

Between 30 and 40 percent recover and are reintroduced into their natural habitat. Among them are protected species such as eagles, vultures, falcons and pelicans. Some, however, are so traumatised that they would not survive in the wild, so the centre looks after them and uses them in the breeding programme.

A pink pelican called Gruyo has become a favourite with visitors and an emblem of the centre. Gruyo was brought here more than ten years ago with a shot wing that had to be amputated. Since then he has had a permanent home with a small lake, greenery and even a mate. The staff found his partner for him and she is called, naturally, Gruyovitsa, or "Gruyo's wife."

The bald vulture Pleshka – from pleshivka or "bald-headed" – has lived at the centre for over seven years. She arrived with a broken pelvic bone, which became shorter after the operation.

Vultures are large, heavy birds and can't take off unless they run. As the injuries made that impossible, the staff concluded that the risk of setting her free would be too great. "Three years ago she laid an egg," says Sashka. "She was alone at the time and we realised that she had reached maturity. We married her off two years ago."

But attempts to create offspring have so far been unsuccessful. The first time, the vulture couple failed to protect the egg and it broke. On the second attempt the embryo failed to develop because it was improperly incubated.

But Sashka is an optimist. "It is normal in nature for a young couple not to manage in the first one, two or even three years," she says. "But we are all keeping our fingers crossed to have a young vulture next year." Bald vultures are protected by Bulgarian law, and the centre hopes eventually to help increase the population through its reproduction programme.

The team has also set itself the difficult task of reintroducing ossifrages to Bulgaria. The bird is a symbol of Bulgarian environmentalism – its stylised silhouette remains on signs designating protected areas. The species, however, was virtually eradicated here in the 1970s, and the last ossifrage was found dead, with its legs cut off, in 1980.

But today aviaries have been prepared for two of these birds, donated by the ossifrage breeding programme in Heringsy, Austria. Although the couple has not yet reached maturity, the centre hopes they will produce offspring so that ossifrages will once again be part of Bulgaria's natural heritage.

"We aim to have as many people as possible come here and have access to these animals. We run as many campaigns as we can," says Sashka. In her opinion, public awareness-raising activities are important. Besides donations and financial contributions, members of the public can also join the centre's bird adoption programme – not to introduce dangerous wildlife into their homes, but simply to give financial support for individual creatures.

According to Sashka, there is growing interest in this initiative. There are already a number of adoptive parents, some of them children. Students from the Second Primary School in Stara Zagora have organised Christmas and 1 March bazaars for the fourth year in a row, selling home-made martenitsi.

Although everyone is delighted about adopting the birds, and often ask after their health, it is very important for the birds not to have too much human contact. "The more they get used to people, the more they deviate from their natural development pattern," says Sashka, adding that the best part of the centre's work is the moment when a bird is set free. It is an affirmation of all their efforts.

She says "The bird flies out of your hands in a flash, and after 15 seconds or so it may be lost in the sky and you may never see it again, but these few seconds are incredible…"

You can learn more about the centre at www.greenbalkans-wrbc.org.

Issue 32

VAGABOND FEATURES