2019 has definitely been a good year for Bulgarian pop music – with many of the best loved stars releasing new hits and new performers emerging.

The last month of the year saw the release of the single “Onlooker”, the title track from Vladimir Ampov-Grafa’s album of the same name. To begin with the song was for voice and piano, but thanks to Rumen Boyadjiev who orchestrated it, it was recorded together with the Sofia Soloists chamber ensemble.

Grafa is to present his biggest hits, and songs from the new album, at Bulgarian Army stadium on 10 June, 2020.

“To be able to sing at a stadium to an audience of tens of thousands will be a combination of shared musical emotion, a sense of freedom and energy combined. The audience at my concerts is the biggest catalyst and incentive for success. A few days ago I went and took a walk on the pitch of Bulgarian Army stadium – it is a beautiful place in the heart of Borisova Gradina Park, with greenery all around. And I immediately imagined what it would be like on the night of the concert.”

“I couldn’t do it” by Pavell & Venci Venc’, featuring Lubo Kirov is a song from the hip-hop duo’s second album “Upgrade”. The song came into being one spring night when Pavell & Venci Venc’ got together in a house in the Balkan mountain. After a brief period of reflection the two agreed that the lyrical quality of Lubo Kirov’s voice was best suited to an emotional song such as “I couldn’t do it”. So they called him up after midnight to invite him to join them for the project, played him a demo version, and two days later Lubo was there to record one of the most successful Bulgarian pop songs for 2019.

The new single by Pavell & Venci Venc’ “Address”, featuring the singer ALMA is in much the same vein. Though the three performers have known one another a long time this is the first time they have worked together.

“We recorded the piece at an emotional time for all three of us when each one of us was on the verge of something new. The song is like a breath of fresh air to us, and working with ALMA was so easy, so enjoyable that at the end of the day we were kidding around, asking ourselves whether we shouldn’t become a trio,”  Pavell & Venci Venc’ say.

And to the strongest musical debut for the year – ALMA. Her first two singles “Perfect” and “Don’t know” made it to the top of the music charts and stayed there a record time. But they also made their mark internationally. MTV, VH1, Spotify, Apple Music, the media in Poland, Russia, Romania and Turkey all supported the 16-year old singer and helped her to her phenomenal success. Singer-songwriter ALMA works with producer from Romania Monoir. Her song “Out of control”, once again recorded at Thrace Music studios in Constanța, is the third song born of the singer’s creative collaboration with the Romanian producer.

In October Mihaela Fileva released a video to her song “Lost in paradise”. The video, directed by Boyko Shtonov, was shot on the beautiful Greek island of Lemnos. For the music and the lyrics the singer worked with Pavel Nikolov (AKA Pavell), and the song was included in her second album “New page”. Earlier this year Mihaela Fileva demonstrated the versatility of her talent in the title track of the album “Latino senorita” which became a summer hit. Mihaela Fileva went on her first solo tour in the autumn with concerts in Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Turnovo and Varna.

Maria Ilieva, the singer with thirty No.1 singles and a host of music awards, went on tour with concerts in Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas and Sofia. The tour – Everything – the best of Maria Ilieva – presented, in a new light, her greatest hits like “Moon dream”, “Stolen love”, “Nothing” etc.

The singer recently recorded her first song in Spanish. “Fuego” (Fire) was the work of a Romanian crew who got in touch with Maria Ilieva with the suggestion that she record the song which quickly became one of the most played songs of the year.