Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

"Vanilla" – a new old song of Vladimir Ampov-Grafa

Photo: youtube.com

A few days ago, Vladimir Ampov aka Grafa presented his song "Vanilla", with the special participation of famous Bulgarian violinist Vesko Eshkenazi, concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The music, lyrics and arrangement are by Grafa. The song has quite a long history actually as the singer wrote the melody when he was only 17 and the lyrics – 9 years later. And it was when he decided to work on a joint project with Vesko Eskenazi that this song came back to him.

The song is about romantic, unforgettable love and the sadness of separation:  "How to forget all the words spoken… all sunny mornings… How to forget all the past months, how to forget the breath of vanilla with a white face?", the song lyrics go.

Romance also flows from the video for the song filmed in the Netherlands. Vesko Eshkenazi has a special role in it. 

We "played" a lot until we achieved the desired end result in the violin solo. Grafa had interwoven the instrumental part in a magnificent way into this emotional song of his, and for me the challenge was to recreate it as the author imagined it - to make the listener feel, dream and be transported to a world full of the fragrance of vanilla. The expressive and technical means that I use here are quite different from the usual ones," the violinist shared on social networks. 

The song was first performed live on November 14 in Amsterdam, at a concert by Vladimir Ampov-Grafa.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Photo: Facebook/ Maria Mutafchieva - Mary

Mary Boys Band with a series of autumn concerts and a new song

Mary Boys Band have been preparing a series of concerts and presented a new song, called “Moeto momche” (My Boy). On Thursday, September 25, at the concert studio of Radio Varna at 7 p.m. Maria Mutafchieva and "her boy"..

published on 9/24/25 8:45 AM
Veselin Stoyanov (1902 – 1969)

Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: Composer Veselin Stoyanov's Rhapsody

More episodes from Radio Bulgaria's series presenting the Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: Petko Staynov's Thracian Dances Highlights of Bulgarian musical culture: Emil Dimitrov's..

published on 9/19/25 7:05 AM

''Every Year at the Same Time'' - a special concert by Beloslava

Beloslava will close the pages of summer and open the pages of the autumn-winter season with a special concert on September 18 at Kino Cabana in Sofia. Joining her on stage will be Jivko Petrov (piano), Dimitar Semov (drums), Dimitar Karamfilov..

published on 9/18/25 12:32 PM