The Bulgarian actor, singer, song-writer and frontman of the Usual Suspects band Stafan Valdobrev is extremely active and busy person, or at least he was such before March 13. Like all Bulgarian artists who contact with the audience live on the stage, he also had to cancel his performances during the state of emergency. However, the situation has its positive sides as well, Stafan Valdobrev told Radio Bulgaria:

"I am working, but I am also benefitting from the opportunity to take it easier. We have been singing the song "Po-poleka" (Take it easier) for three years, but we never had the chance to take it easy. That is why I am happy that I slowed down and I am relaxing now at home. I am working on the final version, as well as on the cover of the "Songbook" where I tell interesting and sometimes funny stories about my songs, songs of Wickeda band and about Bulgarian singer Lili Ivanova (there is a special chapter about her), etc. If everything goes well, it will be stocked in the bookshops by the middle of May."

Several days ago, I held my first online concert without an audience and I strongly hope this will not happen to me ever again- the renowned Bulgarian musician further said.

"I hope this will be my last online concert! In the beginning, I felt very strange – you are singing in front of cameras placed on tripods. Perhaps, the fact that I am an actor helped me a lot, because in the film industry sometimes you partner with the camera and imagine it is a human being. Moreover, in the past four years I was wathcing carefully the faces of the people during the multiple concerts we held across Bulgaria and I can surely say that I remembered most of them. This also helped me a lot. That evening I merely imagined these people staying in front of me. We made a very nice and friendly connection with our audience which helped me a lot during the online concert. I had the feeling that all these people were around.

If I have to describe the current situation with one of my songs, this song would definitely be "Take is Easier" – both as title and content. Humanity has reached a limit it cannot go beyond- a limit of consumtpion, greed and superhuman pace. We made it to a point where nature itself started to cleanse our senses, thoughts, aspirations, souls and desires. Back on March 13 or 14 I wrote a message to the children asking them to explain to their parents that this is somtething normal, that we should want less to have more. We lived like there was no tomorrow- we wanted to eat, drink and feel everything. At the end of the day, we should leave somtehing to our children as well. I think that we will start living a more normal life after the current nightmare."

As for the "Songbook", Stefan Valdobrev voiced hopes that it would help him stay in touch with his friends and fans and keep the beautiful emotion born of the live contacts and the concerts.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photos: BGNES and Facebook/Stefan Valdobrev