In an exclusive interview for esctoday.com, Krassimir Avramov, who has been selected by the Bulgarian broadcaster to participate directly in the country's final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, speaks about his song, himself and the contest itself.

Krassimir Avramov is a true male soprano with an impressive 4-octave range who lives and works in the United States since 1999. Singer and soul legend, Lionel Ritchie, said about Krassimir: "When I first heard his voice I thought it was computer enhanced or something. But when I heard him live…man, it really blew me away. He is truly a rare talent." Krassimir took some time off his hectic schedule between Bulgarian and the States to discuss his life and plans and share with us his views on the recent changes in the contest.

You are the very first national final participant to be announced this year. What is it, you think, made BNT choose you as one of their wildcards for the Bulgarian final?

I believe that BNT chose to produce my song “Illusion” because they rely on the combination of the uniqueness of my voice and the originality of the music. They believe in my artistic stage presence to be powerful and entertaining.
The decision BNT (Bulgarian National Television) made to produce my song gives me the right to go straight to the final in Bulgaria on February 21st and to compete with the other finalists (This is in accordance to the rules for choice of a Bulgarian song in Eurovision 2009). It is a great honor to be chosen and a fantastic opportunity! I hope to win and represent Bulgaria in Moscow in May.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself, your music and your career in the States?

I started my career as a child-my mother was a well-known folk singer so I travelled with her around the country when she was touring. Since I was little I enjoyed performing and being on stage. My passion for the arts naturally led me to the Theatrical Academy “Krustyo Sarafov” in Sofia. After earning a degree in Pantomime I experimented with various theatrical and musical projects. One of the successful experiments resulted in the release of an album titled “Silent Voices” which became top 10 top ten in Bulgaria. What followed was a few big tours around the country and an invitation to perform at the main stage at The National Palace of Culture in Sofia with a symphony orchestra, choir and ballet dancers. The last show before I moved to the US was at an ancient Roman amphitheatre in the city of Plovdiv. I did another experiment and sang accompanied by machine guns-Kalashnikov, used like a musical instrument. I wanted to say “No” to aggression and promote world peace.

The desire in me to sing on the worlds big stages made me look for opportunities so I went to an Art Olympiad in Los Angeles where I decided to stay and try my luck as thousands of young talents. I wanted to immerse myself in the American culture, learn English and start all over. I made many friends from around the world which triggered my curiosity in world music. Soon I was invited to have my very first gig at the famous Cinegrill of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood (where the first Academy Awards used to take place (Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and Liza Minnelli used to perform there). Later I found my manager, my producer, great musicians. I took small roles in TV shows, filmed a few commercials and recorded a few soundtracks for movies. I did my first album in the US and called it “Popera” in order to create a category for myself and help other performers find a place in the music categorization.

In 2005 I was awarded with “Superstar of the Year” at the LA Music Awards (previous winners have been “No Doubt”, “Sugaray”, “Black Eyed Peas” etc.) and in 2006 my producer William Tabanou won for best producer for the same album. In 2006. I had the premiere of the album at the “Kodak Theatre” in Hollywood, for which we hired some of the best musicians in the world-the famous violinist Karen Briggs, the best stilt dancers, string orchestra and many other performers. The LA Times declared: ”Love it or hate it, Popera has arrived”. This year I returned to Bulgaria and made an offer to BNT to write a song for the Eurovision contest.

Your style could be easily described as unique. Do you feel there could be an audience in Europe for this style?

Popera is a fusion of classical and pop and Europeans have very strong traditions in creating and appreciating classical music. This style has been in the making for many years, it just didn’t have a name. Sarah Brightman, The Three Tenors, Il Divo are all Europeans and adored by wide audiences, This year one of the songs in my album called “Memories” was included in a compilation album “The Best Pop-Opera 2009-Volume II ” by the Turkish company Artist Music and is coming out at the end of November. Their “The Best Pop-Opera 2008/Volume-I “last year was No1 on the International charts in Turkey, which shows that this type of music has many fans. I also think that popera is a great way to introduce classical music to popular culture, young audiences and people that have no traditions in listening to classical music. I am sure that Europe is ready for this new music and popera will have a great success there.

What do you have in store for the Bulgarian final? Is the song ready? How would you describe it?

The song is ready. I will keep the details a surprise but what I can say is this: It combines different music genre interwoven with Bulgarian ethno elements. We invited the world famous kaval player and jazz musician Theodosii Spassov, the folk singer Yanka Rupkina (a soloist of the world renowned folk group Trio Bulgarka) and the American virtuoso violinist Karen Briggs. The drums were recorded by a soloist of the famous Bulgarian folk ensemble Philip Koutev. Each musician gave it all and charged the song with musical magic.

Regarding the recent changes introduced in the voting system of the contest do you feel that the new system, with the expert juries given more power, would benefit songs such as yours?

I think that having an expert jury is definitely a step in the right direction in order to avoid regional voting. At the same time there is still a possibility for the members of the jury to be subjective, manipulated and regionally voting. In my opinion such jury should be gathered in one place: in the venue of the finals, and not scattered in different countries. There should be a number of music criteria that the jury should have in mind when judging the participants and not just the show element of the performance. The weight of the expert jury’s score should be carefully calculated so that the vote of the audience is not disregarded.
Such changes would benefit a song like mine if the members of the jury are looking for something new, original and out of the box. This changes could result in bringing back some of the big music participants – Austria and Italy.

Have you been following the contest? Any favorite entries?

I knew of the Eurovision contest because of ABBA, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Toto Cotugno and Johnny Logan. I have been following the contest since 1990 – prior to that there was almost no information about it in our country. I was extremely happy when in 2004 Bulgaria joined this great music event for the first time. I also see that the stage presentation of the songs improved significantly every year.

I have enjoyed especially the songs written and promoted by Philip Kirkorov, Dima Bilan (Never Let You Go), Ani Lorak (Shady lady) and Koldun (Work Your Magic). I also enjoyed the performances of the Bulgarian Duo, Elitsa and Stoyan Yankoulov, Kalomira, Ruslana, and Elena Paparizou, Marija Serifovic and Sarbel. What I’ve noticed is that every year the presentation of the songs has become more sophisticated and entertaining. I found the performances of Lordi and Verka Serduchka impressive but let’s not forget that the music is more important than the show. After all the Eurovision is a singing contest.

Find out more about Krassimir here and here.

Krassimir Avramov's official website.