Pasha Hristova
Encyclopedia
Parashkeva Hristova Stefanova , known artistically as Pasha Hristova (July 16, 1946 - December 21, 1971) was a Bulgaria
n singer, best known for performing one of Bulgaria's most popular songs "Една българска роза" ("A Bulgarian Rose"). Some of the other songs she was famous for are "Повей, ветре" ("Blow, Oh Wind"), "Този дивен свят" ("This Wondrous World", a take on Czesław Niemen's "Dziwny jest ten świat
") and "Янтра" ("Yantra
"). Her brief but meteoric career took off in the late 1960s. In the short time between 1967 and 1971, she won a number of prestigious awards at Bulgarian and international music festivals. She died young in a plane crash in 1971, pregnant with her second child.
lessons. While most people at the time called her Pepi (the usual diminutive for the names Petranka, Petya, Penka and the like), her grandmother, who was a great admirer of Pasha Angelina
(a famous Soviet Stakhanovite
of the Stalin era), gave her the nickname Pasha. Pasha was traumatized by her grandmother's death. They were very close and shared a bed. One morning she simply woke up in her grandmother's cold, stiff embrace.
In subsequent teenage years, she would quarrel with her father and would occasionally spend a few days at her mother's home after an argument. Acquaintances described her as a very shy and modest girl. Having completed her secondary education, she started work as a draftswoman at the Balkancar electrocar
factory. She married an engineer named Vasil Ivanov and they had a son Milen together. They drifted apart however and eventually separated (without an official divorce), after which Pasha took custody of the child.
At that same time, Pasha auditioned for The Stage Singers School for the Bulgarian National Radio. She was accepted for her remarkable voice and despite a strong lisp
that was subsequently treated surgically. With the help of her teacher, she found work as a soloist (after being denied a position in the Sofia Orchestra) in the Labour Corps
Ensemble. Her first great success was at the 1967 Sochi
festival in the Soviet Union
, where she won first prize and a gold medal. In 1968 she was accepted into the Sofia Orchestra, and she worked with them for the rest of her career. The then-conductor and leader of the band, Nikolay "Bebo" Kuyumdzhiev, was soon replaced by Nikolay "Fucho" Arabadzhiev, with whom Pasha collaborated productively. He was a conductor, composer, pianist and clarinetist. They fell deeply in love and basically lived in a common law marriage until their deaths. She would spend the following years touring Bulgaria and various other countries, primarily in what was then the Soviet bloc. In 1970 she won third prize at the Golden Stag Festival
in Braşov
, Romania
, first prize for the song "Яворова пролет" ("Yavor Spring", yavor being a word for the sycamore tree and also a Bulgarian male name) (music by Svetozar Rusinov) in the radio competition "Spring", and at the all-Bulgarian Golden Orpheus Festival, the Grand Prize was awarded to "Повей, ветре" and first prize to "Една българска роза" (music by Dimitar Valchev), both performed by Pasha Hristova. In 1971, her performance of "Този дивен свят" (A Bulgarian adaptation of "Dziwny jest ten świat
") won first prize at the Sopot International Song Festival
in Poland. Finally, her song "Бяла песен" ("White Song") won the Bulgarian "Melody of the year" television contest in 1972, shortly after her death.
where she would have toured with the Sofia Orchestra and other colleagues, including well-known stage singers Mariya Neykova, Boris Gudjunov and folk music singer Yanka Rupkina. As the plane was taking off, it rapidly lost altitude, hit the ground headfirst, broke in half and its front exploded and went up in flames. Pasha and Nikolay Arabadzhiev were in the front seats and died almost immediately (all in all 30 people were killed, including the entire crew). When Pasha died, she was carrying her second child, from Arabadzhiev. After being identified, Pasha was buried at Central Sofia Cemetery, in the catholic parcel.
Little if any documentation of the details behind the cause of the crash has been released. The investigation into the matter was quickly placed under wraps. What is certain is that the plane in question had just come out of an extensive overhaul that took months to finish. An irresponsible technical error was made during the overhaul: the cables for the ailerons were incorrectly connected (left cable to right aileron and vice-versa). Thus, when the pilots tried to straighten the plane, they ended up tilting it further, resulting in a crash at an extremely low altitude during take-off. According to an official report (made public only in 2001, and thanks to the efforts of a journalist from the Bulgarian newspaper "24 hours"), lack of expertise was said to be the culprit - the procedure was carried out by technicians lacking practical experience and using two separate design plans.
According to Ani Nemova, there were attacks on her father Todor Yanakiev, the co-pilot originally assigned to that flight. She states that there were a total of three IL-18 planes that were sabotaged as a scare tactic to prevent Yanakiev from speaking to Todor Zhivkov about smuggling operations on freighters to Russia - one in Zürich, one in Beli Iskar, and one in Sofia. On all three occasions Todor Yanakiev was taken off the plane at the last minute. He was warned, however, that the next time that would happen, he would not be saved.
Actor Vasil Draganov believes that there was a hit out on his grandfather of the same name, who was the actual co-pilot on the fateful flight. The older Draganov is said to have had inside information on weapons being smuggled to third-world countries. Singer Boris Gudzhunov, a colleague of Pasha, has also said in subsequent interviews that according to his knowledge, the co-pilot was a target.
Another colleague and perhaps best friend of Pasha, singer-songwriter Mariya Neikova, barely made it out alive. In panic, she quickly made a dash for safety, tearing one of her calves badly (which had gotten pierced by a metal rod in the crash), fled and jumped from a great height (around 10 meters). She survived but was severely injured. She had fractured her ribs and some of her vertebrae, and had over 40 stitches done on her legs. It was her birthday. For many years after the disaster, she did not celebrate her birthday, feeling guilt for having survived only because of switching seats with Pasha. In addition to this, Maria's husband was also among the ones who died in the crash.
s or chanson
s, many others are jazz
and contemporary rock and roll
, and she has even recorded some Bulgarian folk songs. As was common among Bulgarian singers at the time, a large part of her repertoire consisted of translations or broad adaptations of foreign originals.
Her singing voice had a full and rich quality to the timbre. She was capable of alternating between the powerful and dramatic ("a voice that sweeps everything away") and the gentle and lyrical.
One of her colleagues, singer Mimi Ivanova, has commented that despite being a shy and delicate person in everyday life, Pasha was "a volcano on stage".
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n singer, best known for performing one of Bulgaria's most popular songs "Една българска роза" ("A Bulgarian Rose"). Some of the other songs she was famous for are "Повей, ветре" ("Blow, Oh Wind"), "Този дивен свят" ("This Wondrous World", a take on Czesław Niemen's "Dziwny jest ten świat
Dziwny jest ten swiat
Dziwny jest ten świat - First Czesław Niemen's solo album released in 1967. At 20 December 1968, as first album in communist Poland, "Dziwny jest ten świat" was awarded with Golden record ....
") and "Янтра" ("Yantra
Yantra River
The Yantra is a river in northern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the Danube. It is 285 km long and has a watershed of 7,862 km²....
"). Her brief but meteoric career took off in the late 1960s. In the short time between 1967 and 1971, she won a number of prestigious awards at Bulgarian and international music festivals. She died young in a plane crash in 1971, pregnant with her second child.
Life and career
Pasha was born in Sofia in the residential district of Knyajevo to mother Lyubka and father Hristo. When she was five, her parents divorced. Her father got remarried to a woman named Tsvetana and received custody of Pasha, while her brother Ventsi remained with his mother. Pasha's second brother Krasimir is the child of her father's second marriage. Both Pasha and Krasimir were raised to call both mothers their own. They called them "mother Tsetska" and "mother Lyubka". Lyubka worked at the kindergarten they attended so both children were cared after by her there and by Tsetska at home. The children were also raised by their grandmother Parashkeva on their father's side. They called her "old mother". Pasha had a very close relationship with "old mother" (whom she was named after), who brought her up and enrolled her in violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
lessons. While most people at the time called her Pepi (the usual diminutive for the names Petranka, Petya, Penka and the like), her grandmother, who was a great admirer of Pasha Angelina
Pasha Angelina
Praskovia Nikitichna Angelina , popularly known as Pasha Angelina , was a celebrated Soviet udarnik and Stakhanovite at the time of the first Five Year Plans...
(a famous Soviet Stakhanovite
Stakhanovite
In Soviet history and iconography, a Stakhanovite follows the example of Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, employing hard work or Taylorist efficiencies to over-achieve on the job.- History :...
of the Stalin era), gave her the nickname Pasha. Pasha was traumatized by her grandmother's death. They were very close and shared a bed. One morning she simply woke up in her grandmother's cold, stiff embrace.
In subsequent teenage years, she would quarrel with her father and would occasionally spend a few days at her mother's home after an argument. Acquaintances described her as a very shy and modest girl. Having completed her secondary education, she started work as a draftswoman at the Balkancar electrocar
Electrocar
Electrocar, Electrocart is an electric vehicle, typically a small cart with an electrical driving gear and a storage battery.In the United Kingdom, similar small electric vehicles were known as electric drays....
factory. She married an engineer named Vasil Ivanov and they had a son Milen together. They drifted apart however and eventually separated (without an official divorce), after which Pasha took custody of the child.
At that same time, Pasha auditioned for The Stage Singers School for the Bulgarian National Radio. She was accepted for her remarkable voice and despite a strong lisp
Lisp
A lisp is a speech impediment, historically also known as sigmatism. Stereotypically, people with a lisp are unable to pronounce sibilants , and replace them with interdentals , though there are actually several kinds of lisp...
that was subsequently treated surgically. With the help of her teacher, she found work as a soloist (after being denied a position in the Sofia Orchestra) in the Labour Corps
Labour corps
Labour Corps may be:*A forerunner of the British Royal Pioneer Corps*Solomon Islands Labour Corps, a Second World War organisation in the British Solomon Islands*Chinese Labour Corps, a British corps in the First World War...
Ensemble. Her first great success was at the 1967 Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
festival in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where she won first prize and a gold medal. In 1968 she was accepted into the Sofia Orchestra, and she worked with them for the rest of her career. The then-conductor and leader of the band, Nikolay "Bebo" Kuyumdzhiev, was soon replaced by Nikolay "Fucho" Arabadzhiev, with whom Pasha collaborated productively. He was a conductor, composer, pianist and clarinetist. They fell deeply in love and basically lived in a common law marriage until their deaths. She would spend the following years touring Bulgaria and various other countries, primarily in what was then the Soviet bloc. In 1970 she won third prize at the Golden Stag Festival
Golden Stag Festival
The Golden Stag Festival is an annual international music festival held in Braşov, Romania. The main organiser is Televiziunea Română, Romania's state-run television network. The festival has two main components: an international contest and guest performances by both Romanian and foreign stars...
in Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, first prize for the song "Яворова пролет" ("Yavor Spring", yavor being a word for the sycamore tree and also a Bulgarian male name) (music by Svetozar Rusinov) in the radio competition "Spring", and at the all-Bulgarian Golden Orpheus Festival, the Grand Prize was awarded to "Повей, ветре" and first prize to "Една българска роза" (music by Dimitar Valchev), both performed by Pasha Hristova. In 1971, her performance of "Този дивен свят" (A Bulgarian adaptation of "Dziwny jest ten świat
Dziwny jest ten swiat
Dziwny jest ten świat - First Czesław Niemen's solo album released in 1967. At 20 December 1968, as first album in communist Poland, "Dziwny jest ten świat" was awarded with Golden record ....
") won first prize at the Sopot International Song Festival
Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival is an international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It was the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest annual song contest in Europe...
in Poland. Finally, her song "Бяла песен" ("White Song") won the Bulgarian "Melody of the year" television contest in 1972, shortly after her death.
Death
In 1971, she was due for a flight to AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
where she would have toured with the Sofia Orchestra and other colleagues, including well-known stage singers Mariya Neykova, Boris Gudjunov and folk music singer Yanka Rupkina. As the plane was taking off, it rapidly lost altitude, hit the ground headfirst, broke in half and its front exploded and went up in flames. Pasha and Nikolay Arabadzhiev were in the front seats and died almost immediately (all in all 30 people were killed, including the entire crew). When Pasha died, she was carrying her second child, from Arabadzhiev. After being identified, Pasha was buried at Central Sofia Cemetery, in the catholic parcel.
Little if any documentation of the details behind the cause of the crash has been released. The investigation into the matter was quickly placed under wraps. What is certain is that the plane in question had just come out of an extensive overhaul that took months to finish. An irresponsible technical error was made during the overhaul: the cables for the ailerons were incorrectly connected (left cable to right aileron and vice-versa). Thus, when the pilots tried to straighten the plane, they ended up tilting it further, resulting in a crash at an extremely low altitude during take-off. According to an official report (made public only in 2001, and thanks to the efforts of a journalist from the Bulgarian newspaper "24 hours"), lack of expertise was said to be the culprit - the procedure was carried out by technicians lacking practical experience and using two separate design plans.
According to Ani Nemova, there were attacks on her father Todor Yanakiev, the co-pilot originally assigned to that flight. She states that there were a total of three IL-18 planes that were sabotaged as a scare tactic to prevent Yanakiev from speaking to Todor Zhivkov about smuggling operations on freighters to Russia - one in Zürich, one in Beli Iskar, and one in Sofia. On all three occasions Todor Yanakiev was taken off the plane at the last minute. He was warned, however, that the next time that would happen, he would not be saved.
Actor Vasil Draganov believes that there was a hit out on his grandfather of the same name, who was the actual co-pilot on the fateful flight. The older Draganov is said to have had inside information on weapons being smuggled to third-world countries. Singer Boris Gudzhunov, a colleague of Pasha, has also said in subsequent interviews that according to his knowledge, the co-pilot was a target.
Another colleague and perhaps best friend of Pasha, singer-songwriter Mariya Neikova, barely made it out alive. In panic, she quickly made a dash for safety, tearing one of her calves badly (which had gotten pierced by a metal rod in the crash), fled and jumped from a great height (around 10 meters). She survived but was severely injured. She had fractured her ribs and some of her vertebrae, and had over 40 stitches done on her legs. It was her birthday. For many years after the disaster, she did not celebrate her birthday, feeling guilt for having survived only because of switching seats with Pasha. In addition to this, Maria's husband was also among the ones who died in the crash.
Musical style and voice
Pasha Hristova had a very versatile voice and worked in different genres. Some of her songs can be described as balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s or chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
s, many others are jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and contemporary rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, and she has even recorded some Bulgarian folk songs. As was common among Bulgarian singers at the time, a large part of her repertoire consisted of translations or broad adaptations of foreign originals.
Her singing voice had a full and rich quality to the timbre. She was capable of alternating between the powerful and dramatic ("a voice that sweeps everything away") and the gentle and lyrical.
One of her colleagues, singer Mimi Ivanova, has commented that despite being a shy and delicate person in everyday life, Pasha was "a volcano on stage".
Singles and EPs
- 1969: "Аз, ти и розите" (You, Me and the Roses) (original unspecified, Bulgarian lyrics by Milcho Spasov) / "Щастливи заедно" (Happy Together) (a Bulgarian adaptation of The TurtlesThe TurtlesThe Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
' 1967 song Happy TogetherHappy Together (song)"Happy Together" is a 1967 song from The Turtles' album of the same name. Released in February 1967, the song knocked The Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of the #1 slot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's only chart-topper. "Happy Together" reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in...
) - 1970: "Нека този миг да спре" (May This Moment Stop) (a Bulgarian adaptation of Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
's 1968 song "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", Bulgarian lyrics by Milcho Spasov). Featuring also "Цигани" (Gypsies) (Bulgarian lyrics by Bogomil Gudev), "Знай" (Know) (Bulgarian lyrics by Pasha Hristova) and "Остани" (Stay) (music by Nikolay Arabadzhiev, lyrics by Dimitar Vasilev) - 1971: "Този дивен свят" (This Wondrous World) (music and original lyrics by Czesław Niemen, Bulgarian lyrics by Bogomil Gudev) / "Когато си отидеш" (When You Go) (Bulgarian lyrics by Bogomil Gudev)
Track listing
- "Edna balgarska roza" (A Bulgarian Rose) (music by Dimitar Valchev, lyrics by Nayden Valchev)
- "Ostani" (Stay) (music by Nikolay Arabadzhiev, lyrics by Dimitar Vasilev)
- "Edna godina lyubov" (A Year of Love) (a Bulgarian-language version of Italian singer MinaMina (singer)Anna Maria Quaini, Grand Officer , known as Mina, is an Italian pop singer. She was a staple of Italian television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an...
's Un anno d'amore) - "Tozi diven svyat" (This Wonderful World) (music and original lyrics by Czesław Niemen, Bulgarian lyrics by Bogomil Gudev)
- "Popaten vyatar" (Sailing with the Wind) (music by Genko Genkov, lyrics by Milcho Spasov)
- "Znay" (I Want You To Know) (original unspecified, Bulgarian lyrics by Pasha Hristova)
- "Shtastlivi zaedno" (Happy Together) (a Bulgarian-language version of The TurtlesThe TurtlesThe Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
' 1967 song Happy TogetherHappy Together (song)"Happy Together" is a 1967 song from The Turtles' album of the same name. Released in February 1967, the song knocked The Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of the #1 slot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's only chart-topper. "Happy Together" reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in...
) - "Povei, vetre" (Blow, oh Wind) (music by Yosif Tsankov, lyrics by Dimitar Vasilev)
- "Spri, vreme" (Stop, Time) (music by Alexander Yosifov, lyrics by Anna Georgieva)
- "Kogato imash" (When You Have) (original unspecified, Bulgarian lyrics by Bogomil Gudev)
- "Cyala nosht" (The Whole Night) (original unspecified, Bulgarian lyrics by Dimitar Kerelezov)
- "Byala pesen" (A White Song) (music by Dimitar Valchev, lyrics by Petar Karaangov)
- "Neka tozi mig da spre" (Let This Moment Stop) (a Bulgarian language version of Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
's 1968 song "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", Bulgarian lyrics by Milcho Spasov). - "Az, ti i rozite" (You, Me and the Roses) (original unspecified, Bulgarian lyrics by Milcho Spasov)
Sources
- Музикални следи (документална поредица): Паша Христова. ТВ България. (2006) (in Bulgarian)
- 60 червени рози за Паша. В. Стандарт, 16 Юли 2006 (in Bulgarian)
- Pasha Hristova bio (in Bulgarian)