Not long ago Armin Jan Hoffmann found the link between Vienna and Sofia and received his first impressions from musicians working in Austria. He was fascinated by the warmth of Bulgarians and how easy-going they are, able to make friends with strangers. To this day Armin continues to make new friends in Bulgaria and says that these people have never let him down. For him coming to thi9s country is like traveling back in time. Back to the time when people used to enjoy warm relations and did not see music as a machine for money and marketing.

“The most important for me here is that I can still work the way I used to do it some 15-20 years ago in Vienna when music was not so commercial and people focused more on emotion and creativity. I am a singer and producer and I see how art has been turning into industry these days. Many years ago, having a good song depended solely on the ideas and inspiration of the author. Things were done more slowly. Now, because of high technology, musicians live in constant stress and competition. Here in Bulgaria it is like I'm back in the ‘good old days’. Friends ask me why I chose to live in country more backward than mine. I realize that this is true, but I wonder if every aspect of progress has actually made people feel better and have better conditions for expressing creativity. I have relatives in Ireland and I have also lived there. There is variety in this world. People's priorities in Austria are not the same as those of the Irish. When I came to Bulgaria for the first time, I saw that people here are happy and live the way the Irish used to live some time ago. This made me feel nostalgia and I chose to stay in Bulgaria. It was not difficult, because music has no nationality or borders. There are musicians and audience everywhere. Among the Bulgarians there are more professional musicians in comparison to Austria and they can actually earn their living with music. In Austria, England, Germany, and Ireland this is more difficult. A great number of musicians there, with the exception of popular ones, work in offices, supermarkets and even as drivers in order to have normal incomes. They are not calm and they have no time for creativity. My close friend Ventzi Blagoev from the Big Band of the BNR once organized a master class in Austria and we worked together. This was my first direct contact with Bulgarians and I saw they are very nice people. In Northern Europe I've heard people saying that in the Balkans laws are not respected but this is not true. In Bulgaria people respect the laws but are also sensitive and show compassion.”

Armin Jan Hoffman has recently recorded his first song in Bulgarian. The song is called "Fishermen from San Juan" and is a Bulgarian version of the popular hit in Germany that marked the beginning of his creative career in the 90s. The song brought him popularity among audiences in southern Germany, Spain and Austria. Armin is currently working on the translation of other popular German songs to the delight of his Bulgarian fans.

English: Alexander Markov