He is not a musician, but music is his life. He says he invented playing air drums. He talks about albums, singles and artists as if this is the air he breathes - without unnecessary sentimental pathos, but with all the firmness and confidence in the assessment he makes for one or another song. He is DJ Marten Roberto or one of the most colorful characters in the Bulgarian National Radio.

For more than four years he has been part of the team of Radio Sofia program of the BNR. He says that for the first time in his long career as a music journalist, he feels being himself when he talks about music, art and sharing emotions. He says that one should never forget their history and where they came from and he remembers the little Martin Lepoev very well.

"Until my twelfth birthday, I was an athlete, but I've always been very excited about music. Maybe this hunger and emotion for art was instilled by my father, who is a great music fan. When I was 13, there came a time when I had to decide whether to continue playing sports or devoting myself to my education. And I decided that I did not want to be a tennis player, although I was very talented. Something in me then told me that I should continue to study. In my free time I started listening to a lot of music and that woke Marten up."

The change of his name took place in the French High School in Sofia. At that time he began to compile music weekly charts, diligently written in notebooks, which he still keeps. "What I liked then laid the foundations of what I am today." It also predetermined his big dream to become a radio host. "Ironically, this is the last thing that happened to me," Marten says with a smile. This happened after working in various clubs, a casting agency, music television channels and shows and playing a role in the film "Lora from Morning Till Evening" by Dimitar Kotsev-Shosho.

"I went through a difficult path, the so-called old school road that involved a lot of work. Four days after I left the army, I had the opportunity to help a DJ in a club in Sofia and I haven't stopped since then. The rest is history.”

In the days when he started working as a DJ, clubs were mostly playing live music and the personal meetings with the great musicians of this country gave him the opportunity to look at music in a different way – more emotional, a little more musical, and with a rational understanding why one likes something or not, he says.

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In 2015, together with Nikolay Danev, he released his first album - "Heartbeat", which also features musicians such as Beloslava, Ruth Koleva, Lubo Kirov. He says that there are world-class musicians in Bulgaria, also recognized by international labels. "In one of his vlogs in 2018, Will Smith used music from the Bulgarian band Dayo and Bozhidar Vassilev-TromBobby," Marten proudly says. It is the work of TromBobby and Simeon Zhelyazkov-C-Mo that the DJ defines as the biggest event on the music scene in Bulgaria in 2021.

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He defines "Hayes & Y" and "Innerglow" as brilliant Bulgarian bands and says the four albums of producer and musician Evgeni Enchev-Genata from "So Called Crew" released in the past 12 months are something unseen so far in this country. On the international stage, the event of the year for him was the band Silk Sonic.

The new year on the waves of Radio Sofia traditionally began with a two-hour disco set, prepared by DJ Marten Roberto. Speaking about 2022, he wished listeners to love and be loved, to be healthy and to smile more! Music is always a good start for this!

English: Alexander Markov