The only functional folk band in Bulgaria, which many folklore stars had performed with, is the so called Konushevski Orkestar (i.e. The Band from the Konush village), led by Nikola Iliev. They are rehearsing in a tiny room under an 8-floor residential building at the P D Petkov Street in Plovdiv. The wood-paneled room had been hosting the oldest functioning folklore band in the country. The Konush Band has had more than 3000 concerts all over Bulgaria and abroad, had won several prizes at the National Outplaying of Folklore Bands, and has recorded 10 albums of Bulgarian folklore music. They have also:won the First Prize and a 30-minute broadcast on the Radio Helsinki; won the First Prize at the Folk Music festival in France;made 400 records at the Bulgarian National Radio, as well as numerous TV performances;won the 1994 Prize for Exceptional Contribution to folk music development.
The artistic underground room belongs to the founder and leader of the band ? the clarinet player Nikola Iliev. 40 years ago he decided to found his own folk band, and decided to call it after the name of his native village ? the village of Konush. All the members of the band have higher education (Bachelor?s and Master?s Degrees) in Music. Their repertoire includes predominantly songs from the Thracian region, but they also perform hit songs from all the folklore regions. In order to create a song, they work hard and diligent. The band?s singer Tanya Dosseva explains: ?The creation of, say, 10 songs takes about a year of playing and composing.?
The rest of the band members are as follows:Blago Minchev ? accordion player, who has spent longest with the band ? 26 yearsGeorgi Gogov ? saxophone player, has been playing for 11 years with the bandMecho Nikhailov ? percussions, has been playing for 8 years with the band
It is a mystery how exactly Nikola Iliev?s Thracian rhythms LP albums have occurred in the USA, but he was invited overseas to teach clarinet players in the town of Mendesino, California. Among the 33 musicians from all over the world, whom he taught to for a month, were 4 professors of music. Nikola Iliev has also spent a week in New York, where he taught Bulgarian folklore to students of Balkan Studies. The Konush Band prepares an anniversary LP for their 40th anniversary, which will be some time in the spring. ?What makes our work worth while is when we hear a young person saying ?You helped me love the folklore music? ? that truly makes us proud?, the members of the band say unanimously.