site.btaMusician Marina Velikova Records Sounds of Antarctica

Marina Velikova, a musician and music editor at the Bulgarian National Radio, is recording the sounds of Antarctica. In a BTA interview, she shared that the idea for her project was born after she listened to an interview with the head of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, Prof. Christo Pimpirev, in which he said that the most astonishing sound of Antarctica for him was "the crash of falling ice blocks in the crystal-clear silence of the ocean". Velikova found inspiration in these words and decided to record the sounds of this distant place, with Prof. Pimpirev embracing and supporting the idea. Velikova believes that the mission and the dedicated work of everyone who goes to work in Antarctica are important for humanity’s future.

This is Velikova’s second consecutive expedition to Antarctica. The Sounds of Antarctica was her main project during the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. It turned out to be more time-consuming and challenging than expected, she says. Currently, Velikova is working on completing it with the experience she has gained and with improved sound recording quality. The project will be divided into two parts – one being a pure soundscape composed of recorded sounds, and the other featuring original musical compositions intertwined with the sounds of Antarctica. Velikova shared that this season, after leaving her recording equipment in the field for 24 hours, she successfully captured the sounds of glacier calving.

In the current polar expedition, besides completing her previous work, she is returning to Antarctica with three additional projects. Two of them are Antarctic People and The Maritime Antarctics – photographic exhibitions aimed at visualizing the work of scientists and the crew of the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii. Velikova explained that she wants to showcase what they do, under what conditions they work, and how unique and different their working environment is. Alongside this, she is broadcasting interviews for the Bulgarian National Radio. According to her, it is important to present the scientists to the broader public, allowing them to share their projects – what their purpose is, what research they conduct, what they study, and the benefits of their work. She also wants to highlight what happens in Antarctica and why these people return year after year to work in such challenging conditions.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) departed from Varna on its third Antarctic expedition on November 7, 2024, and arrived at Livingston Island on December 28. The St Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island opened for the new polar season on November 23, 2024.

BTA has a national press club on the vessel and at the Bulgarian Antarctic base. This is the third year in a row that BTA has sent a correspondent to Antarctica. This year's correspondent is Milena Ostrovska, who arrived at the base on January 17. Her reports are available for free in English at the Bulgaria-Antarctica Log on BTA's website and can be used for free by all media with attribution to BTA.