In the search for our roots and what defines us, we delved into the world of Bulgarian-Canadian artists on the country’s East Coast and were treated to some dazzling displays of creativity.No matter how young we were when our parents brought us to Canada, we’ve always felt an indescribable bond with the country of our birth. It’s a feeling that transcends all politics – a bit like the magic of Santa Claus, yet it isn’t make-believe.Our journey began with the wondrous pink hue of the ocean waves as they appear in the Google Earth satellite pictures of the Newfoundland coast. Fascinated by the prospect of filming the
first sunrise over the continent
we drove out to Canada’s easternmost point, Cape Spear, to set up our camera at six in the morning in the frozen dew. With its character-building climate, this windswept island known as “The Rock” is a picturesque port of call surrounded by the pounding surf of the North Atlantic.To our great surprise, there were two Bulgarian-owned gourmet restaurants,
Bianca's
Restaurant and
The Vault
Restaurant & Champagne Bar,
right on Water Street in the provincial capital of St. John’s. So our impression of the local cuisine was quite positive. While we were there, we shot the dramatic sculptures of
Luben Boykov
and the rainbow-flooded artwork of
Elena Popova.
We also did our best to capture the powerful energy of Ellie Yonova’s photography and the surrealism of Stanimir Stoilov’s paintings.
In Montreal, we watched
Maria Kefirova
create a new modern dance choreography; covered an original absurdist play staged by the innovative theatrical duo of
Ira and
Constantin Sokolov; admired the lyrical purity of
Ognian Zekoff's's
artwork; and attended a performance by the Balgari folk
dance group.
Another main theme of this episode is the energy and complexity of gypsy music – a genre that’s all the rage these days. We introduce you to two gypsy-influenced Montreal bands, one modern,
Kaba Horo
and the other traditional,
Soleil Tzigane.
To give you a visual experience of gypsy culture, we provide some excerpts from the travel diary that director
Stefan Ivanov’s
filmed for his documentary The Road Ahead. We also invite you to explore two short films by our contributors, the wonderful
Maria Kefirova and
the talented animator
Velislav
Kazakov.In addition, you can watch the energetic and ever-entertaining actor/director
Petar Batakliev
in the role of womanizing fashion photographer Ivan Todorov on the hit TV series
Diva. By the way, we got to the bottom of our Google Earth mystery: the pink ocean waves were caused by the reflection of the early-morning Newfoundland sky!Rossita Dove Rédactrice en chef/Editor-in-Chief
