Bulgaria is the only country in Europe that this year has brought together musicians from the Old Continent, offering an inspiring atmosphere so that they can create songs for the upcoming next year's edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in a friendly environment and through teamwork.

Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast welcomed about 30 artists from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Monaco, Great Britain and Bulgaria, who are participating in a music camp. The executive producer of the song contest, Siеtse Bakker, also expressed his support for the event on social networks.

Vasil Ivanov, head of the Eurovision communication team for Bulgaria, explains how the camp operates:

 "Every day the artists work with different authors of music, lyrics and producers to create new songs for the competition, and more. Many of the musicians are preparing albums, including the Bulgarian representative Victoria. The working process is intense. We work from early in the morning until late in the evening. ”

Due to the pandemic, this year’s edition of the song contest was postponed - for the first time in its 64-year history. This is the reason for introducing the rule that all participants should submit new songs recorded after September 1 this year, due to the fact that the compositions with which they applied for this year's edition are already considered unsuitable. And initial forecasts showed opportunities for great success for Victoria's song "Tears Getting Sober":"Victoria is the host of the music camp, which was organized around her”, says one of the main organizers Genoveva Hristova from"Ligna Studio". “She has grown as a performer since November, after she was announced as the Bulgarian representative and we brought Bulgaria back to Eurovision, which is very important for our country. Because this is one of the few competitions in which Bulgaria is really among the best and the results of the last five years are proof of that”.

The music camp will continue until August 26 and it is expected that at least part of the song which will represent Bulgaria at the competition will be written there:

"It is possible that here, in Burgas and Primorsko, the songs for the competition of other countries will come to life, but at the moment I will not reveal which ones. In one of Victoria's sessions with Cesar Sampson from Austria, who finished third at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, he gave her advice on how to get into the top three. Together with one of the prominent music producers in Sweden, who is of Bulgarian origin, we opened the windows, listened and recorded the sea waves ... Undoubtedly, the artists are inspired by the seasideambience”.

A similar music camp took place in 2017 in Stockholm. Its leitmotif was to promote women songwriters.

What cause, apart from the musical one, does the Bulgarian team have?

"It is Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, as we want to show two beautiful places, such as Burgas and Primorsko. But the participation in Eurovision is a cause in itself”, says Vasil Ivanov. “We want to demonstrate that Bulgaria can be a creative place where big names from the music industry come and pave the way for such events.”

The team of Eurovision - Bulgaria also does not rule out the organization of more music camps in this country until the end of the year.

Holding such an event during a pandemic is described by some as "madness", says Genoveva Hristova, but for her "crazy people drive progress in the world", and "music unites people and is a form of salvation in these difficult times".

Photos: Black Sea Eurovision Songwriting Camp

English Rossitsa Petcova