| When he was two, he would not fall asleep without a cassette playing rock music in the room, his first date (in kindergarten) was accompanied by Phil Collins, and he recorded his first album when he was 17. Daniel Ivanov, a first-year AUBG student from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and his lifetime passion for music are in the spotlight of “People and Hobbies” this week. How it all started “My parents told me that when I was a kid, I would start crying unless they played music in my room. My favorite album at that time was by Phil Collins, recorded on a cassette of course, and I used to listen to it endlessly. I think my parents brainwashed me with this music.” “I’ve been playing guitar since I can remember myself. The first time I played guitar was when I could not even realize what I was doing. It was at my mother’s house in a small town in Bulgaria where I saw a guitar for the first time - it was a 35-year old Bulgarian-made instrument. I simply started playing with the strings and for the first time was fascinated by the sounds. Ever since I was a kid, I preferred playing with musical instruments rather than with toys.” |
On Inspiration “It’s hard to define reasons for human behavior, but I assume I am somewhere in the middle between nature and nurture when it comes to explaining my passion for music. When I say nature I mean my grandmother, a professional violin player, and my grandfather, an amateur musician who played harmonica. When I say nurture, I mean the environment that shaped me. Ever since I was a child, music instruments were the best toys I could get. Also, I lived in Canada at some point in my life and had access to great Canadian music media. This is when I heard “Silverchair,” “Nirvana,” “Pearl Jam” for the first time. I got my first guitar when I was eight, and since then there was no turning back.” “I don’t really know how the whole inspiration system works, but I know that when you stop the thoughts that interfere with your creative process, and you block what I call “mumble jam” in your head, is the exact moment when your head is clear and you get connected to a boundless information data base. You start improvising, something comes up, you play with it and then connect it to your conscious thinking and create a song. At least, that is how it works in my case. But it’s a hard process, I cannot make myself sit down and write a song. It happens when I least expect it.” On Education “I never went to a musical school. First, I was self-taught, and then sought a professional teacher to help me learn all I wanted to know about music. It’s difficult to be alone when you really want to master something and be good at it. I took so many private lessons, that I can say I have unofficial musical education.” Music as occupation “I used to play in bands. But several years ago, my music teacher introduced me to new recording methods that require nothing more than a computer. It took me a year to learn the software, but in the end I got a complete album. It’s a solo album, I play and compose everything.” “Modern musical technology is so amazing that I would call it the instrument of the 21st century. It allows you to make much more than a simple demo. It is useful for any musician today. My album is in essence one year of heavy work and a lot of important lessons. I sold almost all of the 250 copies, mostly to my friends in Bulgaria (for 7 leva per copy), but also in the U.S.Germany. The money went to buy new equipment” 
Music at AUBG “AUBG might not be the best place for a musician, since it’s not a Conservatory, but it’s a good place for people who love music. There are people to share ideas with, people with similar views, and people I have great time jamming with. I think we will have a performance closer to the end of this semester. However, we are not a real band, we are more into jamming, having fun, and enjoying ourselves.”
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