Dear lovers and fans of the Bulgarian folk music, there have always been and will be talented musicians who create own original ideas in folk songs and instrumentals and share them with contemporaries. These pieces of music has been sung or played from other musicians and have become popular among Bulgarian people. Such is the case of this album called “NEXT STEP”. The incredible folk singer Vanya Valkova wrote the lyrics and music of the songs included in the album. She brought together the phenomenal musicians: Peyo Peev – rebec-player; Peter Ralchev – accordionist; Bozhidar Smilyanov, Nedko Bogdanov and Velizar Tzonev – also accordionists. All of them take part as performers and orchestrators of this production. This is a modern musical determination, created with refined taste and deep knowledge of the tradition and up-to-date music tendencies. Vanya Valkova is born July 10, 1978 in Dobrich, Bulgaria. A singer since the age of four and a rebec-player since the age of ten. She graduated The National School of Folk Arts named Philip Kutev in 1997 as a rebec-player and a singer. 2001 is the year of her graduation of The Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv. Vanya Valkova took place and won different competitions, such as: “With the songs of Valkana Stoyanova” and “With the songs of Ivan Georgiev”. First place in the rebec-players competition in Galabovo. 2005 is the year the talented singer issued her first album named “Ivano Mari”. She recorded fourteen songs as an author at the Bulgarian National Radio. Took part in three musical albums of the “Kanarite” legendary orchestra. Recorded a lot of tracks with “Lira” orchestra from Dobrich and “Young Thracians” from Rakovski. She was invited in 2008 to record with other musicians from “Modern Balkan Jazz Orchestra” in Holland. Dear friends of the Bulgarian musical art, wish You very pleasant moments with the second album of Vanya Valkova named “Next Step”.

Theodosii Spasov