Meet: Yuri Anachkov
It's time again for "Faces of the City" and this week we bring you another talented man from the city of Kyustendil.. On this visit, we pull the curtains and the lights fall on a bass cosmonaut who is known to us all as Yuri, DJ Brigx, one of the members of the Bass Committee,
He has participated in some of our most loved music festivals such as Broken Balkanz, Bass Sea Festival and many more popular music adventures in different cities of the country.
He is a member of OSM CLAN, a graffiti organization of super talented people. Founder of Rollback Recordings - a music label based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
He is part of the film and television teams in Bulgaria, where he performs one of the most important functions contributing to the extra pleasure they bring -the sound.
The next guest on "Maat's House Inside You" is very special.
He gladly accepted Maat's invitation to participate in the "Faces of the City" series and is absolutely worthy of "You Can Do Anything!" too, because he really can.
An all-round person with a calm mind and a clear vision of the world and its workings.
A man who doesn't give up on his friends, family and dreams.
Meet Yuri Anachkov.
Yuri Anachkov is a native of Kyustendil. He spent the first 7 years of his life there, then moved with his family and started studying in Sofia. Despite the encounter with the big city, Yuri does not stop using every free moment to be in Kyustendil and create memories there to this day.
As a person who is not from Kyustendil but loves it, I have asked myself many times:
"What is it like to spend part of your life in this magical city?"
Yuri: Anything related to Kyustendil makes me smile. I remember how we used to gather a huge group of kids on the street. Our games were endless, and we mostly played a lot of football.
My house in Kyustendil is very close to the forest and accordingly we spent a lot of time there as well. We used to make houses, go around and collect materials to build them. We were free and happy.
I remember we spent a lot of time in the computer rooms at one time.
We played the games that were popular at the time, and the balance we created between the fun outside and the fun indoors was perfect.
I spent maybe 10 years of my life skating. There was a period where I would get up every day and the first and only thing on my mind at the time was to go out skating with Dankata and some other friends. We shot a lot of videos all day, and our dream was to make a great video with tricks. I was listening to music at the time, but I hadn't started to get into making it more, I hadn't gotten that deep into its waters.
I was just a fan who listened to a lot of music.
Maat: When did you become interested in music?
Yuri: I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade, in school, when my uncle gave me a cassette recorder that I recorded and re-recorded cassettes on. I made different mixtapes, at that time music was played on cassettes, then on CDs and then I recorded my voice on the cassettes,and my brother's voice while he was saying something to me. Like all kids of the 90's I couldn't wait to hear the song I liked a lot on the radio, waiting for it to be played again so I could catch it again and then record it.
Maat: What does music bring you? How do you understand it and how do you feel when you create it?
Yuri: Everything in my life so far has come naturally to me. However, music has certainly occupied the biggest part of my life, and it's the thing I've paid the most attention to out of all the things I've done.
I think everyone feels it differently. When I'm making music or working on a project there comes a point where suddenly it all starts to click for you. You start from a beat or a melody, you just feel it, you imagine it in the project as a sound is and it's just the right thing. You step into the action and see how good it really sounds and everything comes naturally.
It's in those moments that you feel like nothing can stop you.
Maat: How did your history with graffiti - the eternal art - begin?
Yuri: Ever since I was a kid, I've loved drawing and my brother and I spent a lot of time drawing different characters that we made up that resembled the ones from Mortal Combat. After a while at school, a friend told me he got some spray paint, and suggested we paint. We called ourselves by the name of "DOC CREW." We were leaving our mark all over the place. Years later I met a lot of other talented types and together we created a graffiti crew in Sofia. We still work with them on different projects and we never stop painting.
Matt: You've worked with a great team on one of the most interesting shows, Survivor. How does it feel to be so far away from home in Cambodia, meeting a different culture and people?
Yuri: My experience there was great! I loved the experience I gained there, everything is like being on another planet - so new and unfamiliar. If anyone ever gets the opportunity to be able to visit this place - I highly recommend it.
At the time of filming there, which was a bit I can't say I saw much, but I definitely felt the people there. They were different from us being in Europe. Everywhere around you is teeming with life.-in the water, in the sand around you, everywhere you can see interesting new species of animals and plants.
For the time we spent there, we mostly ate pineapple, dragon fruit, watermelon, rice, chicken, and sometimes fish.
Maat: What were the biggest challenges for you while filming there?
Yuri: I remember getting to the beach we were filming on was extreme.
Every morning at 6:00am we would gather at the pier, get in small boats and head to the location. We all know that when you travel in water, it is not the same every day. We happened to be traveling in rougher waters and once our "driver" decided to turn the other way for the reason that he had some other business to attend to and at that point it was both comical and disturbing because we were a few people in the boat in the ocean and we didn't know what was going on. Our editor got worried and started calling on the station "rescue action" saying "People, we are in the ocean with two Chinese and we don't know where we are going" . He had panicked and in addition it was already dark outside, but we went home anyway and had a great laugh.
In our interview, Yuri told us about his journey in music and his meetings with various artists, with whom he has subsequently worked on various projects.
One of them is the Skre4 Group, where he is behind the scratches -sounds within the DJ culture, where scratches are the highest skills of a DJ.
Then No More Many More,/which are a collection of members of Group Skrech and other groups that Yuri has worked with in various projects.
He shared that he has worked on creating various musical bombs before and now with the 5 'oclock guys and many other MC ta.
The moment Yuri was starting to work more with 5 'oclock, he decided it was time to create a YouTube channel and so Rollback Recordings was born.
Maat: What else do you want to achieve? What do you dream of, Yuri?
Yuri: I dream of what is real- family and children. I believe that everything that is defined as success is around every corner and if you are lucky enough to see it, it will be enough for you. I hope to keep doing what I'm doing and keep evolving. To have something to look forward to or at least have enough inspiration and fill my time with positive things.
Most of all, I want everyone around me to be healthy and very happy, just like me.
Sometimes it's not all up to you and that's why the decisions you make are very important.
Maat: You are an extraordinary talent.
I think there are people who like you a lot and see your special connection to music. Have you ever thought about making your own album?
Yuri: Oh yes! I think about it very often. I imagine different versions of what it would sound like. It's a serious thing, and I'd certainly like to leave some kind of mark. There are only good things to come. :)
Maat: What would you wish on
people who feel music in a special way?
Yuri: That they are alive and well and keep doing what they are doing. Every thing, especially yours, finds you. And you can't challenge it or enhance it, if you enjoy making music, nothing can stop you.