There is no fan of country music in Bulgaria, who has not heard of the Lilly of the West band. Its founder is Lilly Drumeva. Furthermore, she is also a producer, radio host, songwriter and much more when it comes to music. A pleasant surprise for all music lovers is the decision of Lilly to collect her knowledge in a book.

In an interview with Radio Bulgaria she told us more about her book:

"The book is based on 50 scripts for my radio show. This year it celebrates its 10th anniversary. 2 years ago I accidentally discovered some old scripts in my computer. I decided to use them in order to write the book. I added a lot more topics and collected all my music knowledge and experience from the past 20 years in it. "

The book has a circulation of 1,000 copies but it has not been officially presented yet. This will happen during the second half of September. The 300-page book contains photos and 10 chapters covering a total of 50 topics. "It took me about a year and a half. I was working mostly during the night and weekends. I did not stop with my other professional commitments,” Lilly Drumeva says.

We asked her if she had a favorite chapter.

"Yes, I love the chapter about sad songs. They tell us a lot and we must respect the musicians who have revealed their souls and shared their grief with us. Another favorite chapter is "Off the charts songs." In an album there are 2 or 3 hit songs and the rest seem to just fill up the gaps. I pay attention to them and very often these songs are better than the hits. I focus on the whole work of an artist and the songs that remain off the charts need to be brought out."

Before writing the book Lilly Drumeva read a great number of music books, most of them coming from the U.S. Over time, after gathering much experience and knowledge the idea how the book should look emerged. Each chapter begins with an explanation concerning the specific radio show before the topic is presented in details. There are no doubts creating such an encyclopedia required much effort.

Lilly’s energy is inexhaustible because it stems from her passion for music. She has been interested in it since she was a child.

She used to sing in the Children’s Choir of the Bulgarian National Radio and learned a lot from the huge music collection of her father Christo Drumev. In 1996 she and mandolin player Rosen Hristov created "Lilly of the West." Over the years the members of the band changed, but they were mainly Bulgarians. The band often has concerts in Sofia. On the 29th of August, 2014 all country music lovers would be able to enjoy the concert of the band in the Borisova Garden in Sofia, starting 6 pm.

Lilly Drumeva says foreigners see Bulgarian music as something unique and exotic. Of course, folk songs are refracted through the prism of country and jazz music. The albums of "Lilly of the West" always contain 1or 2 Bulgarian songs.

The new book "In the Mood with Lilly - 50 Music Themes” pays attention to everything related to emotions and the nature of music. Providing detailed information about great musicians, the book could easily turn into a modern music encyclopedia.

English: Alexander Markov