A New Generation Forever The (Bulgarian) revolution goes on
Photographs: Neli Nedeva-Voeva Words and translation: Asya Draganova
The 1980s: A time I will never be able to remember, yet, at the same time, will always remain incapable of forgetting, as it keeps capturing my imagination. I believe this might be true for a whole generation of Bulgarians: us, the “flowers from the ending of the 80s” to cite Vasil Gurov’s lyrics from new wave band Revu. We grew and blossomed in the difficult transitional era that followed the communist regime. The decade which ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, to many, 38
has an aura of authentic rebellion and struggle for social change; it has become, in the context of Bulgaria, inextricably linked with the emergence of prominent, distinct local subcultural scenes. Sights and sounds contribute to the character of place. On a warm summer night, as you walk on the beach somewhere on the western coast of the Black Sea, or through the parks of Sofia or any other Bulgarian city, you are guaranteed to come across many free-spirited
young (and maybe not-soyoung) people with guitars, goblet drums, and unapologetically loud singing voices. Many, in these situations of spontaneous expression, perform contemporary “classics” by bands and artists like Nova Generatsia (New Generation), Revu, Klas, Kontrol, Vasko the Patch, Milena Slavova, and others, who emerged in the 1980s with their sounds and lyrics, incongruous to the cultural politics of the then-totalitarian Bulgarian state. Not only have many of these artists continued to create music, they have also
participated in the construction of cultural and aesthetic continuities, influencing the formulation and consolidation of diverse contemporary Bulgarian music scenes within the broader constellation of rock genres. Imagination can be provoked and nurtured in all sorts of ways. The sounds and words of Bulgarian subcultural scenes of the 1980s are rich with the metaphorical illustrations of alienation from the repressive realities of Eastern Bloc Bulgaria, and with the outlines of a new, culturally different, and rebellious generation. This generation had an avid thirst for change. The photographs of those key artists, bands, fans, and communities, are indicative of the formulation of a coherent, distinctive phenomenon in Bulgarian popular music and history. Neli Nedeva-Voeva, is a photographer who – from the perspective of an insider – captured on film key moments of Bulgaria’s youth revolution. Her photographs record the visual aesthetic of 1980s subcultural scenes, their artistic expressions and everyday practices of protest through music, poetry and style. Despite being mostly in black and white, Neli’s photos show clearly the contrast between a colourful 1980s Bulgarian youth and their grey surroundings. These surroundings were incompatible with the
energy of creative enthusiasm and talent – impulses which emerged despite of, or because of and in opposition to, the contexts of repression. The photographs in this essay are a collective portrait of an era that produced “a new generation, forever” which has “questions to ask, to a whole nation, forever”, in the words of legendary figure Dimitar Voev (1965 - 1992), a poet and lyricist who fronted bands including Kale and Nova Generatsia. During the processes of “perestroika” and “glasnost”, the years in the second half of the 1980s were marked by reform and opening-up. In addition, youth cultures were finally being acknowledged in academic research and popular publications (controlled by the organs of the state) across the Eastern Bloc. In Bulgaria, the terminology and interpretations around the notion of youth “informals” – neformali – developed. While in research and media there was a strategic focus on the harmless, leisure nature of expression through youth music and style, it was indeed those “informals” that became the core of the re-emerging, liberated Bulgarian consciousness, moving towards an active and critical engagement with processes of change. In 1987, the first Bulgarian rock festival took place in Sofia’s largest park, Borisova Gradina, then called “Park of Liberation”. One of the
bands performing was Kale, which included drummer Kiril Manchev and two bass guitar players and singers Dimitar Voev and Vasil Gurov. Manchev recalls: “When we appeared on stage, all other musicians started wondering – what will those guys play with two bass guitars, will it be jazz rock or something… I was repeating to myself: “Wait until we show you what we can do.” As we got on stage – “one, two, three, four” and our song “Chicho” (“Uncle”) began. I had come up with this cool beat and after the 5th or 6th bar the audience was very much into it. But the greatest surprise was the second song, when we were taken off the stage. Dimitar started singing the song “Epitaph”: “don’t give me your hand to hold, it is covered in pimples, you look like a grey building, that’s how deformed you are…” We heard some voices shout: “What is he singing?! turn down his microphone!” A minute later we were forced off the stage. And what else could I ask for? This was the greatest reward! I felt like a member of the Beatles, taken off the stage! For months I felt like I had wings. Yes, this was one of the greatest success stories of the time.” Kiril Manchev; Featured in exhibition interpretation by Dorothea Monova, The Revolution Goes On 2017 39
Around the same time as the first Bulgarian rock festival, Dimitar Voev and his friend Georgi Marinov worked on an amateur film together. At the time in Bulgaria, there was a mass campaign celebrating 70 years since the Bolshevik coup in Russia, which was referred to as the Great October Socialist Revolution. The capital Sofia was “decorated” all over with slogans such as “People and Party are One”, “Forward to the Bright Future” and many others. One of the propagandist slogans read: “The Revolution Goes On”. Subverting the meaning invested in this phrase, Voev and Marinov incorporated it into the subcultural discourse of resistance to the politics of the state. Petar Milanov, a journalist who became involved with the musical scenes of protest at the time, recalls the film and the significance of 1987: “The film featured everyday scenes from the city, parodies, absurd performances such as an erotic kiss between Voev and a rain gutter, rehearsals of bands and… the striking slogan placed all over building facades and street lights “The Revolution Goes On”. The film also featured scenes from the first rock festival in Bulgaria, ground-breaking for Bulgarian rock and underground scenes, both for artists and fans. Young people openly demonstrated they did not accept the official culture and music 40
imposed by the dictatorship. The year 1987 is key for the clash of generations between totalitarianism and democratic change. So, indeed, Mite (Voev) and the Gesh (Marinov) invested a great deal of sarcasm and irony in the title of their film. Thirty years on, we also named a festival and an exhibition The Revolution Goes On. Yet, remember that the revolution goes on not where we are told it should; but where we believe it should be. In the minds, hearts, and souls of young people, and in their songs. In their hopes and dreams for a better life to be lived with dignity.”
The revolution goes on, against the contemporary incarnations of injustice and repression: the meanings formulated through its early sounds, images, and words, remain relevant and inspiring.
“ ...the revolution goes on not where we are told it should; but where we believe it should be. In the minds, hearts, and souls of young people.”
Petar Milanov, Director of the Foundation Dimitar Voev-Nova Generatsia (in conversation with Asya Draganova, January 2018)
Top Image: The audience: a moment from the first rock music festival in Bulgaria, Sofia Indeed, the revolution goes 1987. The festival was organised on. Thirty years after the first by the Club for Aesthetic EduBulgarian rock festival and cation at Sofia University and, Voev and Marinov’s more precisely, by its president at the time the student Maya subversive film experiment, Svetoslav Draganov and Ste- Stamenova, the founder of band Subdibula, Ventsislav Drefan Kutsarov, using many of nikov, and other students who Neli Nedeva-Voeva’s images, released the updated at the time were also involved with the creation of the first documentary The Revolution Bulgarian rock club.
Goes On 2017. Photographs by Neli have featured in many other film, book, archival, and exhibition projects. The visuals have allowed the 1980s subcultural scenes to become an important aspect of this alternative Bulgarian popular music heritage and a broader historic memory. More importantly, they present not only memory, but also a future.
Bottom Image: The band Trotil (which translates as TNT) rehearsing in an unlikely environment with a logo in the background, promoting the XIII Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party, whose rule could not be questioned at the time.
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Above: Kiril Manchev, Vasil Gurov and Christian Kostov pictured around the time when Kale evolved into two new bands, Nova Generatsia and Revu. The picture was taken at Vasil’s birthday in 1988 at a friend’s semi-abandoned house in the outskirts of Sofia. Below: Rehearsal of the newly-formed Nova Generatsia. They are being carefully “watched” by singer Rositsa Kirilova, pictured on the poster on the wall behind them. This could be read as ironic, highlighting the contrast between the “official” popular music (Estrada) nurtured by the state, and the organically emerging rock music-derived subcultural scenes.
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above: A rehearsal or a guerrilla performance? Despite staying reasonably underground, in their basement by the major boulevard “Stamboliyski”, punk band Kontrol – not concerned with sound proofing - seem to have attracted considerable audience interest. The year is 1985, and according to Vlado Popchev from the band, the song they were about to play when the picture was taken is called “Born in Bulgaria” (what would Bruce Springsteen say?) which was later recorded in the same basement. Below: Hard rock band Trotil performing at the first Bulgarian rock festival, Sofia 1987. Others with similar styles of performance were at the festival, including Ahat, Atlas, Era, Apocalypse etc. Boundaries between fans and artists were minimal, and many fans got onto the stage of the Summer Theatre to head bang and dance to the music.
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Above: Mission impossible in the small town of Ugarchin in 1988. Nova Generatsia performing at a work party of mechanical engineers. While the state restricted musicians who did not comply with “official” Bulgarian popular music from recording, the Komsomol (the state’s official youth organisation) devised all sorts of inappropriate tours where musicians played in front of perplexed and bewildered audiences who had come along to have a traditional feast, rather than an evening of experimental music and lyrics. Below: A new formation of musicians – Oblatsi (Clouds) – got together to perform at the festival Rock Under the Stars in 1988 in the seaside town of Primorsko. The first night ended with a clash between militia and festival audiences; on the second night, the festival was discontinued as the electricity was switched off during Oblatsi’s performance of the song “Nai-dobroto” (“The best”).
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Singer/songwriter Milena Slavova in action in a typical performance situation from the 1980s. “Fed up with walking on ropes”, as she sings in her song “Haha”, she prefers to climb on a chair instead. Milena performed with the band Revu in the late 80s; in the 90s she began developing her solo career, which is ongoing. Denis Rizov from the band Ahat describes her: “Milena Slavova is an alien. She is out of the ordinary. One night, at 4:30 am, we were staying in the same hotel room, and she got up, turned the light on, and under the background noise of my “heavy metal”-style rude swearing, she wrote four verses and a chorus for a song which she still sings today… all of that happened at once, with no changes made later, not even a comma or anything crossed out.”
Nova Generatsia looking “happy” on the Bulgarian National TV (the only TV at the time) show ‘A Lesson in Everything’, which aimed to attract young audiences. One of Nova Generatsia’s songs, “A Patriotic Song” with lyrics by Dimitar Voev, describes the alienation of young people in the 1980s and problematise this TV appearance: “We are an ill product of our times and your labour; 45 urbanely-structured our empty fates, with our trousers lowered and our heads down. In shame.”
Above: Hard rock band Ahat following the conventions of the style when performing at Universiada Hall, 1987. Denis Rizov on the left, and Zvezdomir Keremidchiev – Zvezdi on the right. Their song “A Tree”, with lyrics by Bozhidar Glavev, alludes to the relationship between Bulgarian subcultural scenes and environment-related activism: “Every person is a strange tree, with branches-hands stretched to the future and roots-memories stretching far behind, so who will understand my language oF leaves? As they will cut me down anyway.” Right: Front of stage: Ivan Nestorov The Ameba and, in the background, Lubo Malkovski from the band Era, performing the song “Bureaucracy” in Universiada Hall in Sofia, 1988. The opening lines of the song are:
ABOVE:Sharing is caring: Vasil Gurov and Kiril Manchev sharing a light in Primorsko, at the festival “Rock Under the Stars”, May 1988. In their cult song “Flowers from the ending of the 80s”, Revu’s vocalist, Milena Slavova, sang Vasil Gurov’s lyrics: “… Wings strapped in squares, wither, one by one. Below:Control vs. Kontrol: A member of the The meaning of light, militia at the front of the picture is will die with the first feather lost. complemented with a DiY poster celebrating Thanks for all the flowers!” punk band Kontrol, at a concert organised by the music magazine Rhythm held in the small town of Troyan in October 1989.
“Folded in the corner, in slumber, you mourn the time that’s lost. In waiting rooms, on stairs, and floors, you expect for bodiless mirages.”
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The emergence of digital photography is a new challenge for Neli Nedeva-Voeva as it has become a key method for communication and self-expression. Over the last few years, Neli has photographed actively with her mobile phone, allowing her to capture images instinctively, free from her previous worries about saving up to buy film. Photography has evolved from a profession into a leisure activity, a return to the carelessness and freedom and the amateur photographer. The world and our everyday lives are, according to Neli, full of beauty, humour, and the absurd which, once caught with the camera, can be shared, and re-lived endlessly. Neli, in her new VJ projects, has created strong bridges between her infatuation with cinema and music and photography. She dreams of a camera, which can be controlled with one’s own eyes, in a way that allows us to capture every moment we find worthy. Asya Draganova met Neli in 2013, during the most prominent “summer of discontent" and protest against corruption and politically-engaged oligarchy in Bulgaria’s recent history through their mutual friend, the journalist and cultural intermediary Petar Milanov. A friendship was established quickly and 48
cemented through musical performances, participation in photo exhibitions, and various newcreative initiatives. The relationship with Neli, an insider of the pre/post-1989 subcultural scenes, became significant for Asya’s research and publications, dedicated to Bulgarian popular music. Asya now holds a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies. She works as a researcher and lecturer at the School of Media, Birmingham City University.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Dorothea Monova for allowing us to access materials she had developed for Neli Nedeva-Voeva’s recent exhibition Revolution Goes On 2017. This has been essential for providing informative captions for each photograph and grasping some of the spirit of the 1980s Bulgarian subcultural scenes. We would like to thank Petar Milanov, Director of the Foundation Dimitar Voev-Nova Generatsia, for all his remarkable efforts in celebrating Bulgarian subcultural and popular music heritage and providing young musicians with artistic opportunities to perform and gain confidence. Links Draganov, S. (director) (2017) The Revolution Goes On 2017; Available at: https://www.bnt.bg/bg/a/1987-revolyutsiyata-prodlzhava-17052017
Riffs
Experimental writing on popular music
Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music is an emerging and exciting postgraduate journal based at and funded by the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) at Birmingham City University. Riffs provides a platform for the publication of experimental pieces on popular music and was launched in February 2017. The contributions are made available through the journal website (www.riffsjournal.org) and a limited edition printed run. Riffs has a strong DIY and experimental ethos. We aim to push the boundaries of academic research, communication, and publishing in the area of popular music research. The next step for the editorial board at Riffs is to develop a creative and experimental space for not only publishing finished pieces, but also offering an online forum for thinking through the ways in which we analyse, understand, and communicate. As one of the largest centres for popular music research, Birmingham City University offers a wealth of global networks and potential readership. Our editorial team and wider researcher community expand our reach further, with active participation in a range of international research networks to include IASPM, MeCCSA, the Punk Scholars Network, and the Jazz Research Network. Through these connections, we aim to develop an international and active readership of postgraduate researchers and academics at all stages of their career.
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