The Chocolate Nightingales and the Chocolate Family - this is how the Shokoladche (Chocolate Bar) Children's Vocal Group from the western Danube town of Lom are known. Vocal pedagogue Rositsa Krasteva has selected a sweet name for her talented singers. With love and care she has been working with the choir for eight years now and recognition is already a fact. The vocal group and its soloists have been awarded on several occasions and their latest prize they won in Italy, last month.

"A few days ago we were back from Maiori”, Rositsa Krasteva says. “We were nominated to represent Bulgaria after we had won the Grand Prix of Abanico, an international festival for Spanish songs last March. Every trip and every concert provides an extra incentive to kids to improve their skills. At the Eurokids competition in Maiori our singer, seven-year old Sofia-Ellen Parvanov, received a gold medal. The Chocolate Bar soloists won three special prizes too. They are Anna Vasileva, Ralitsa Todorova and Teodora Todorova. Teodora was invited to take part in the Shining Star competition in Antalia, Turkey that will be held this autumn. The vocal group won the bronze in Italy. We joined the competition in several categories - stylized folklore, pop, rock and jazz singing. We sang in five languages. We had great time and the children are very happy.”

The first six months of 2015 have added to the Chocolate Bar Vocal Group record successful appearances and medals from the Bulgarian competitions Way to Glory, Orpheus Gift, Colorful Tonometer and Rising Stars. The vocal group was the winner in the international competition of the children's internet television I Can I Know. Both the audience and the professional jury voted for the young singers from Lom. With Rositsa Krasteva we go back to the beginnings of Chocolate Bar.

"It was in 2008. It was the time my dream came true. At first the vocal group had 14 singers. I invited the Metropolitan of Vidin Dometian who water-blessed the group and we started work. Now we have 28 singers. They are divided into several groups. They spend a year in the preparatory group and then proceed into Milk Chocolate Bar. The concert group is staffed with the best singers of Chocolate Land. The children there are aged from 9 to 13. They are in love with music but they are well aware that fun should go hand in hand with hard work. Talent is a relative notion; it is a seed planted in soil, and then comes hard work to build skills. On the other hand, emotions from singing on stage are very strong. I am happy that the Chocolate Bars appreciate what we do together; that we work in understanding; speak the same language. This is a private vocal group. I am managing the whole process, including creative work and organization of various appearances. We have support from the Municipality of Lom and from private sponsors. Our repertoire is large. The singers love the challenge of singing in foreign languages, and their favorite is Italian. A few years ago we presented several songs in Albanian at the Golden Apples festival in Kyustendil. Albanian composer Adem Ymeri was chairman of the jury and we sang his works. We had a joint concert with Simfonietta Orchestra in Vidin in October 2014. With it we celebrated the centenary of the Children's Operetta in the town of Lom. We performed Birthday, a symphonic tale for soloists, choir and orchestra composed especially for us by Margarita Margaritova. I wish the best of health to the Chocolate Bars and their families and hope we will go on working so well in the future.”

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio file contains the following songs performed by Shokoladche (Chocolate Bar) Vocal Group

1. Rain

2. Potpouri-1

3. Potpouri-2