Ivo Papasov

A towering figure of the contemporary Bulgarian wedding music movement, clarinetist Ivo Papasov earned international success on the strength of his influential jazz-folk style. Born in 1952 of Turkish Rom (Gypsy) ancestry, in 1974 he founded the group Trakiya, quickly emerging as the unrivaled king of wedding music ("Stambolovo"), the most popular Bulgarian style; Papasov's distinctive sound — an improvisational, energetic aesthetic heavily influenced by diverse sources including traditional folk, film scores and cartoon music — found its most fervent following among younger listeners, the attraction undoubtedly the music's similarities to the kinetic spirit of Western rock. Papasov's success did not come without a price, however, and in 1982 he was imprisoned on charges of spreading anti-Communist propaganda; after three weeks of incarceration he was scheduled to be sent to a labor camp, finally earning a last-minute reprieve. In Bulgaria's new democratic society of the '90s, his music thrived, with long-awaited official recordings seeing the light of day not only at home, but also in the U.S.