ROCK & ROLL FROM THE DARK SIDE OF THE EARTH: Rock & Roll Behind The Iron Curtain

When we think about the dark side of the earth, we naturally recall that great album by Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side of the Moon”, but this book is about those dark forces of the communist dictatorship which deprived the people in so many countries of the opportunity to at least try to live in freedom. Not only did this deprive them of the right to express their art and opposite views of the celestial bodies, but of thousands of other things as well.
Vesselin Todorov is the well-known founder and front-man of one of Bulgaria’s legendary rock bands, “Factor”. “Rock ‘n’ Roll From the Dark Side of the World” not only tells his story, but the story of the man, the story of the band, and the story of a nation, whose voice is preserved in it's articulate and distinctive individuality, despite the cultural and political vacuum in communist Bulgaria. This book also thoughtfully refers to the fate of all people from post-communist Europe, both then and now. In it's own way, it is a love story.
It will make you laugh and cry, but most of all, it will shake you with its heartbreaking honesty and never ending optimism. The book resembles a family album, collecting the memories of musicians, poets, writers and actors. Some are funny, some scary, but all are genuine. They paint a picture of Bulgaria that few of us have seen. They disclose facts that have never been published before. This book reveals for the first time the absurdities by which the communist parties of the East used to torment musician and artists, which shockingly continues in some post-communist governments today.
From censure to commissions revising lyrics and music, so as to prevent any offences addressed to Lenin, Stalin, the mother of Engels or Marx, to facing the threat of imprisonment, or internment, or merely getting killed by the self-made stage equipment we were forced to make for the effects required of rock ‘n roll. There was the ridiculously low payment for copyrights and live performance, $ 12 per concert, with the lack of any technical equipment and instruments required.
Rock ‘n’ Roll From the Dark Side of the World” follows the steps of these artists who formed the secret society of Bulgaria’s cultural elite, but who were also known as enemies of the state. Take a peep through the Curtain! You will learn the shocking survival tricks they were forced to use. You will see Europe in a way you have never seen it before.
We are convinced that while Vesselin Todorov’s book will make you laugh and cry, it will also cause you to reconcile with the hardships and heartache that he and his musician and artist friends endured in order to make life in Bulgaria, and around the world, a more honest and dignified place to be. At the end of the day, music and artistry speaks a kind of truth that is universal to all of us. It serves as our mirror, reflecting our lives back to us, to remember and recognize the good and the bad, and help us to carry forward with hopefulness and optimism. Vesselin Todorov's greatest hope is that by sharing this story, that life will continue to become more honest and dignified, and that artists everywhere will never again be denied their right to sing their song.