Музикалното наследство на Асен Овчаров в българската популярна култура
Assen Ovcharov’s Musical Heritage in Popular Bulgarian Culture

Summary/Abstract: Often named “father” and “founder” of Bulgarian Jazz, Assen Ovcharov (1906 – 1972) is undoubtedly a key figure in Bulgarian culture. His diverse work as a jazz band leader, music arranger and pedagogue was instrumental in shaping popular music in Bulgaria over the course of the 1930s and the decades to follow. The article seeks to delineate Ovcharov’s creativity through an overview of the most important aspects of his professional activities. This features: 1) Articulating his essential role in establishing the first Bulgarian jazz band and the continuity between this orchestra and subsequent ensembles of this type; 2) Focusing on the musician’s arrangements which laid the foundation of jazz bands in Bulgaria; 3) Calling attention to some personal misfortunes in his biography resulting from the adverse sociopolitical climate surrounding Bulgarian jazz in the early 1950s; 4) Reflecting on Ovcharov’s pedagogical activity and its lasting effect on shaping various musical practices. Thus the text, being grounded in and referring to the musician’s creative work, relates to an even broader historical panorama of the processes within the Bulgarian popular music scene circa and after the Second World War.

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