site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian Rock Legend Kiril Marichkov Dies at 79

Bulgarian rock legend Kiril Marichkov passed Friday in the northwestern village of Selanovtsi where he was due to perform later the same day with The Foundation band. His passing was announced by the Mayor of Oryahovo Municipality, Rosen Dobrev. 

During a rehearsal for the Friday night concert Marichkov fell, the crew called an ambulance and the musician died in the ambulance.

The director of the Vratsa ambulance service, Dr Galina Leshtarska, told BTA that Marichkov died as the doctor was performing CPR. She said the ambulance arrived 7 minutes after the call.

She said the case will be investigated. 

One of Marichkov's most recent stints was with The Foundation at the closing event of the Apollonia Festival of the Arts in Sozopol. He said that concert was special to him because it was his first after an illness that kept him away from the stage for five months. At the end of the concert, Apollonia Director Margarita Dimitrova presented him an Apollonia statuette that is traditionally awarded to artists who have participated in the Festival during all its 40 years.

President Rumen Radev wrote in a Facebook post that "the Bulgarian stage lost a rock legend with an aristocratic soul". "He lived to his last breath with the songs and the love of the audiences, which will miss him dearly," said the head of State. He also wrote, "Shturtsite gave a modern sound to Bulgarian music which ushered the spirit of change in our society. He gave us hope that music made us better people. May he rest in peace!"

"One is never ready for the departure of such personalities. They are the bedrock of Bulgarian popular culture," caretaker Culture Minister Nayden Todorov commented on bTV. "I think that his passing will leave a hole that will take long to fill," the Minister said, remembering how he, like everybody in his generation, grew up with the music of Shturtsite.

Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev wrote on his Facebook page that strong souls who do not bend to anything do not disappear. The post reads: "Kiril Marichkov showed us what it means to stay true to yourself."

Who is Kiril Marichkov

He was born in Sofia on October 30, 1944. He played the piano, clarinet and guitar and bas guitar since a very young age. He studied engineering and said training as an engineer and not as a musician was the mistake of his life. In 1967, he was among the founders of The Shturtsite (The Crickets) which remained a hugely popular rock band for decades. They made music and performed for 30 years, put out 12 records and had countless tours. Marichkov also had two solo albums: Zodia Shturets (The Sign of the Cricket) and I want to say.

Marichkov also wrote film music: his is the music of 14 Bulgarian films. 

He was a co-founder of the only Bulgarian radio for rock music, Radio Tangra (later renamed Radio Gong).

After Shturtsite broke up, in 2013 Marichkov formed a band called Fondatsiata (The Foundation) with other famous Bulgarian rock musicians, with which he performed to his last day.