The music of Theodosii Spassov has it’s own history, as well as geography, that are being written as we speak, far from the moment when traditional and visionary merge which most artists never reach in the course of their own life. Or rather „Influx“ than „Merge“, if we are to scale up by quoting one the recent yet key works of Theodosii that marked the serial inspiring line in his work: the electronic one. The music of Theodosii Spassov spans from the magic realism of the Ludogorie to Wolf’s Bay in the Antarctic, passing through the accordeon, Balkan horses, the Himalayas, the trumpet, Kotel, eight hour concerts at gypsy weddings, the bewitching Filipopolis, jazz (with Milco Leviev, Trilok Gurtu, „Oregon”, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Renaud Garcia Fonz, should we go on?), the great international jazz festivals and full houses, photography, „Riverdance”, theatre and film music, the Bricks of Gold, symphonic music... Of course, it is not necessary to follow that order, rather than grasp the full picture where time, space and imagination are not just different components of the whole, but the Trinity itself.
You wouldn’t believe but this March 2021 Theodosii Spassov turned 60... Which, of course, doesn’t mean he’s less active than ever. In this moment he is working on at least four new albums – one with the works he composed in the Antarctic (together with guitar player Christian Tzvyatkov), another one with songs where he himself sings (in a trio alongside Jivko Petrov on the kyeboard and Christo Yotzov on the drums), a third one with the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra (miniatures composed by Alexander Christov from Razgrad, building up on the legacy of Vladigerov in a way) and a fourth album in the field of new technologies and experiment (together with Ivan Shopov, but in a rather new direction, given their previous collaborations in Balkansky and Infusion). And these are only the things he mentions. There are probably many more. Oh, yes – Theodosii is one of the few Bulgarian artists from the last century or so whose work puts Bulgarian art on track with the World, sometimes even further, he plays the kaval. He plays as if no one before him ever played... And when he does, you feel with your body and soul the „Divine spark” and the „Devilry” as he calls the two powers. He is… „World’s Best Kaval Player”, even children know that.
Tsvetan Tsvetanov
“For me, Art means more and more to share. If you share your spiritual feast, you’re happy and not lonely. It is good to live together and to create together. It turns out that art, as complex as it may be, if it is to be made under a dictate (I’m not sure if this concerns politics), it remains temporary, local, narrow-minded… The music I wrote for films is also in a collaboration. To dwell in different subjects and retrieve its essence, which serves the common cause of the collective – the actors, the director, the dramaturge – of course, on behalf of the composer, this is a very sacred state. It is teamwork and the music that is being written for a film or a performance is collective, regardless if it seems that the composer wrote it himself alone – it is never so, because he serves the idea of the film, the performance. You never know where the key for your music will come from. And you need to be very sensitive, to read the script… Sometimes a long conversation with a member of the team can light the spark and inspire you to complete your work on the music for a certain film.“
– Theodosii Spassov for the Bulgarian National Radio (04.03.2021)