AUBG and Country Music




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  • 2014-03-30 16:08:31
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The Bulgarian Bluegrass and country musician Lilly Drumeva and her band Lilly of the West took over the ABF Sports hall on March 26, 2013 with the rhythms of country music, swing, blues and jazz. Born in Bulgaria, Drumeva’s career started 20 years ago when she was studying at Vienna  University of Economics and Business in Austria. A friend of hers took her to the concert of Emmy Lou Harris. “When I saw this beautiful lady playing guitar, I decided that this was the music I would like to play myself,” she explained. What attracts her to country music is the melody, lyrics and values of the style. “It is a very honest music, very true,” Drumeva said. “It is about love, it is about nature, and all the good family values.” [caption id="attachment_20061" align="alignleft" width="720" caption="Lily of the West"][/caption] She and her band have been performing in Nashville, Tennessee (the capital of country music), Moscow, Russia, and all around Europe. In Bulgaria, they have concerts every two months. At their performance in AUBG, they played and sang song from their last, seventh album, as well as some of their older tunes. Students, faculty and other fans from Blagoevgrad heard various country, jazz, swing and blues songs. Lilly of the West’s concert was organized by the Department of History and Civilizations and the Department of Arts, Languages and Literature. Pierangelo Castagneto, a history professor, said that the concert is part of a bigger project to promote the American Studies program launched in 2013 at AUBG. “We want to give different perspectives of what American studies are,” the professor explained. “Out idea is to organize events of different nature.” His plans are not only to organize lectures and presentations but to bring to the university more painters, musicians and dancers, who would better promote American culture.