Interview with guitarist Nicolai Nick Tanev. An interview by email in writing.

Dear readers, get to know more about our US/EU Jazz – Blues Festivals and the activities of our US/EU Jazz – Blues Association in the capitals of Europe, we will soon publish program for 2024, enjoy in the July – August – Brussels, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Sofia, new addreses this year, also in Amsterdam, Budapest.

JB: – First, let’s start out with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music. How exactly did your adventure take off? When did you realize that this was a passion you could make a living out of?

Nikolai Nick Tanev: – I grew up in Bulgaria, now EU. At the age of sixteen a stupid thought that girls will like me more if I played the guitar came to my mind and here I am forty five years later still trying to find out if it’s true and still playing the guitar. ( laughs).

OUR US/EU Jazz and Blues Festivals 2024

One day I saw Blue Al playing the blues harp at a street corner in Sofia. I saw also seniors that probably hardly knew what the blues was throwing money in the guitar case and then I realized I had to record with this guy.The rest is history. As long as you have pants on your arse, roof over your head and food on the table you don’t have to worry about your art.

JB: – How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound?

I am also a classical guitarist, so I started using nylon string guitar and lately also resonator guitars to make my sound stand from the crowd. It’s not only about instruments, it’s also your way of playing that matters so I’m trying to introduce the subtlety of classical interpretation in the blues (Sofia Blues).

OUR US/EU Jazz and Blues Festivals 2023

JB: – What routine practices or exercises have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical proficiency, in terms of both rhythm and harmony?

I’m still doing some technical exercises from the Abel Carlevaro’s Technique Books but the most important thing is to be physically and mentally relaxed and let the energy flow freely from you to the audience.

JB: – Have you changed through the years? Any charges or overall evolution? And if so why?

In fact I had a musical “degradation” from the bossa nova that we used to record with pianist Groovy Rus at the time to the blues. ( laughs). Seriously speaking, the blues is not an easy music, not because of the form, but because of the content. I never stopped being a classical and bossa nova guitarist but the blues is what I like most.

There could be talk or advertising about your CD

JB: – Can you share any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions over the years?

Sorry, can’t share anything interesting nor funny.

JB: – Only an untalented, as if a musician could give him a blank answer, are you really a musician or a street person?

JB: – In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?

If I could do a rough comparison, it’s pretty much like the relation between harmony and melody. The intellect provides the frame ( much like harmony) and the soul is the essence, pretty much like melody. You must have a strong foundation, but at the end of the day the musical message is what really matters.

JB: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?

Being still a wedding and party guitarist, I’m accustomed to take requests, it’s part of the trade. On the other hand while writing my own music I don’t care about other people’s feelings. If you do only what’s pleasing to others you won’t be able to do anything great. I doubt if Beethoven thought about the audience when he composed his symphonies.

JB: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of standard tunes are half a century old?

Well, we should explain to them that music is not old and modern, it’s good and not so good.I’m still listening to Bach and Mozart and I don’t care if they are a couple of centuries old as long as they move me.

JB: – John Coltrane once said that music was his spirit. How do you perceive the spirit and the meaning of life?

Music is one of the most spiritual occupations of man. We can feel the spirit through music but the meaning of life is a mystery, probably that’s His will.

JB: – If you could change one single thing in the musical world and that would become reality, what would that be?

I would ban the streaming services because of the poor payment they provide. ( laughs). Of course that’s impossible.

OUR US/EU Jazz and Blues Association 2023

JB: – Whom do you find yourself listening to these days?

I’m listening to the great masters of all styles of the past. Not much interested in new music, I’m becoming more and more like Miles Davis – he once said he was listening only to his own music.

JB: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine: where and why would you really want to go?

Charlie Parker said it better than me: Now is the Time. I would leave the time machine in the parking lot of today.

JB: – Do You like our questions? So far, it’s been me asking you questions, now may I have a question from yourself…

Your questions are pretty normal. What should I do to join the Jazz and Blues Association?

JB: – You must have intelligence and a biography, which unfortunately you do not have, you must answer our letters positively, we did not expect much from you, we return ten times more.

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Interview by  Elléa Beauchêne