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grid-full-bleed grid-no-gap SplScreenContentHearMa-fNigKG daohZh"><div class="GridItem-buujkM eHLzLy grid--em"><div class="SplScreenContentHearTleBlock-sCMXE jActCi"><div data-ttid="ContentHearRubric"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX dZhWBL bric SplScreenContentHearRubric-cLHEJQ ildzkT"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/culture/persons-of-tert"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Persons of Intert</span></a></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SplScreenContentHearHed-lcUSuI iUEiRd NbxED dfelga">The Extravagant Exuberance of Ivo Dimchev</h1><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SplScreenContentHearDek-emptdL iUEiRd wOnsu dJrDEb">The queer performance artist has improbably bee one of Bulgaria’s most famo sger-songwrers.</div><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl SplScreenContentHearByle-kvEhqE ejWxsm"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH bwbwth byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn lOLCm byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG uhfVi byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL brYZgj byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/dimer-kenarov">Dimer Kenarov</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2021-07-23T15:16:10-04:00" class="SplScreenContentHearPublishDate-bMGEVk gvRvVr">July 23, 2021</time><div class="SocialInsWrapper-hKMEXV ffgPVr social-ins social-ins--standard SplScreenContentHearSocialShare-gSVclr kUKgnn"><ul data-ttid="socialInslist" class="SocialInsList-cHVTIA ivmblD social-ins__list"><li class="SocialInsListItem-mbhR hHoUCw social-ins__list-em social-ins__list-em--facebook social-ins__list-em--standard thner"><a aria-label="Share on Facebook" class="external-lk 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23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z" fill="black"></path><path class="in-bookmark-stroke" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z" fill="black"></path></svg></div></a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM eHLzLy grid--em"><div class="SplScreenContentHearLeadWrapper-jYfGAC kBeEbL"><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset" class="SplScreenContentHearLeBlock-nUOA cwQiEB"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset SplScreenContentHearLe-bGywFh gyNssY"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SplScreenContentHearLe-bGywFh gyNssY rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Mician Ivo Dimchev sips a drk om a straw ont of a microphone." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 SplScreenContentHearGrid-kFpOdh fLkIyA"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn SplScreenContentHearCaptn-iOfEOv ckLUKG"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Durg the ronavis panmic, Ivo Dimchev embarked on a seri of small-sle shows private hom.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photographs by Mihaela Aroyo for The New Yorker</span></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save 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xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP imbgVA"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG lmuXQm"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">In April, 2020, about a month to Bulgaria’s first full <a href=">ronavis</a> lockdown, when all rtrants and theatr and mic venu were shut, the performance artist and mician Ivo Dimchev posted a msage on his Facebook profile announcg that he would perform private shows upon requt at apartments and ho around Sofia and beyond. “I don’t want to sg onle,” he wrote. “I want to sg people’s hom . . . I mean their livg rooms . . . They s on their sofas . . . I s a chair three meters away wh my MIDI keyboard upon my kne. Of urse, we’re all wearg masks. I arrive, I don’t touch anythg, I s down, I sg for 30-40 mut, and I leave.” The price of a home ncert was buyg an Ivo Dimchev T-shirt.</p><p class="paywall">In the past few years, Dimchev, an openly queer artist a relatively nservative and patriarchal untry, has improbably bee one of Bulgaria’s most famo sger-songwrers. As a performer, he slis effortlsly between mascule and feme mos; his vol range is equally protean, movg om a low barone to a soprano embellished wh therem-like vibratos. His fans pare him to Freddie Mercury, Kate Bh, and Annie Lennox, but his clost parallel may be the English-born sger <a href=">Anohni</a>, formerly of the band Antony and the Johnsons. Dimchev’s songs, like Anohni’s, often tend toward drama and emotnal tensy, riflg through the dark menagerie of the heart. Dimchev is a first-rate lyricist, profound even when pla, and at home both English and Bulgarian; he also lik to rporate bs of other languag. Wh time, his repertoire has bee wildly eclectic, mixg genr high and low, drawg as much on Billie Holiday and Na Simone as on ntemporary dance and pop—not to mentn opera, baret, lullabi, folklore, Schlager mic, and <em>chalga</em>, a popular Balkan hybrid that mix oriental <em>maqams</em> and dis beats and is often dismissed as trashy. The mpy, alternately exuberant and melancholy songs have e to fe Dimchev’s fame. His biggt h, “Bansa,” extols Bulgaria’s most popular phyllo pastry. In the <a href=">vio</a>, which has been viewed nearly a ln tim on YouTube—Bulgaria’s total populatn is unr seven ln—Dimchev and the hip-hop artist 100 Kila, who featur on the song, wear bizarre articl of clothg ma out of raw dough.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa RaHuL body ArticlePageBodyGridContaer-jrMoA-d xjuw body__grid-ntaer" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn pLUZ llout--has-top-borr" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Mician Ivo Dimchev ss ont of synthizer." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Dimchev is a first-rate lyricist, and over time his song repertoire has bee wildly eclectic.</span></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">When Dimchev posted his Facebook msage about private performanc, he hadn’t thought the ncept fully through—like most of his artistic cisns, was spontaneo and tuive. He reasoned that people would get together small groups to celebrate birthdays and special ocsns wh or whout him, and, though he had asked for mask-wearg his ial msage, he left up to his hosts to terme what epimlogil measur they would follow. He knew that there was risk volved; a iend msaged him on Facebook llg the ncerts irrponsible. But there has been ltle the way of public outcry. Dimchev got tted for the ronavis on several ocsns. He thought of the performanc as a kd of public service, or sential work, helpg people overe their lonels and prsn.</p><p class="paywall">One ncert quickly turned to ten, and ten to a hundred. Dimchev brought a viographer along and began postg footage om people’s kchens and livg rooms, their basements and attics, by wash bass and washg mach. (The director Krista Nikolova hop to turn the vios to a feature documentary.) He played suburban mansns, downtown hipster lairs, n-down apartments on the outskirts of Sofia. He has ma a special pot of visg the hom of Roma, a poor and margalized mory Bulgaria, even payg them for his ncerts stead of chargg them. A bswoman Sofia specially rented a fancy apartment the cy’s send-tallt buildg for a performance, and had forty light-fted dron wre out “Bansa” and “Ivo Dimchev” the sky.</p><p class="paywall">Dimchev found that playg at people’s ho shifted the whole dynamic of performance: he was still the star of the show, but he was also a gut, and he need to ply wh the l of his hosts. People would smoke and eat and dance and cry and kiss; kids ran around, dogs barked, ts jumped on furnure. The performer, ually spotl and solary on a stage, was rced to human-size; the spectators, ually huddled visibly their seats, crystallized to dividual fac. “When I sg my songs kchens, surround by plat and forks and sks and dishwashers, this third, new dimensn opens up,” Dimchev told me, grng. “The objects of mundane, everyday life are mixed wh the artificialy and perfectn of art. This has plexy and pth and bety that a normal ncert, even if ’s Carnegie Hall, n never achieve.” Over the summer, he toured R.V. parks and mpg s on the Black Sea ast, and lnched a spoff project, sgg for passengers his r. To supplement his e, he also began to wre and rerd short birthday songs upon requt, postg them on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Bulgaria ially ped the worst of the <em class="small">COVID</em>-19 panmic, but, the late fall of 2020, briefly had one of the hight ath rat the European Unn. Around that time, Dimchev stopped performg, and shot the mic vio for “Bansa.” Shortly afterward, he tted posive for the ronavis; he spects that he was fected on set. He veloped double pnmonia and locked himself at home for two weeks. After a ltle more time had passed, he was ready to sg aga.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In January, I asked Dimchev to play a ncert my apartment, for my fortieth birthday. For ne months, I had kept a fairly strict quarante, rarely seeg iends. On the few ocsns that I had ventured out, generally hadn’t gone well. In September, while reportg on a large anti-ernment prott Sofia, I was arrted and beaten by police officers, kicked the face and head, and left handcuffed on the pavement for hours. The ensug legal proceedgs and media attentn pleted what ltle energy I had left. My girliend and I had jt broken up; I began spirallg to a prsn and toward the bottom of somethg that rembled a midlife crisis. I thought live mic would help. I wanted to ve everyone I knew, but cid that, wh the proper preutns, I uld safely be joed by three close iends.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa RaHuL body ArticlePageBodyGridContaer-jrMoA-d xjuw body__grid-ntaer" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn pLUZ llout--has-top-borr" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Ivo Dimchev" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">“When I sg my songs kchens, surround by plat and forks and sks and dishwashers, this third, new dimensn opens up,” Dimchev said.</span></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Dimchev arrived a worn-out nim jacket, checkered sweatpants, and a sequed “NY” p. His assistant followed closely behd, rryg an amplifier and a microphone on a stand. “I’m thkg of a mellow, atic ncert tonight,” Dimchev told me. He snned the surroundgs for a suable stage, and his ey brightened when he spotted the maroon uch my livg room, set agast a background of floral wallpaper. Then, turng to his assistant, he asked, “Should I put on the blond or the red wig?”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Dimchev has a small mtache on a round, open face, and his appearance somehow lls to md both Johnny Depp and Super Mar. Dotted l, like the stch on a rag doll, are tattooed down the center of his shaved head and cht, and on the sis of his neck. There is somethg almost marte-like his souciant manner—until he performs, sprgg to life and offerg ristance to the world.</p><p class="paywall">He sat down on my uch, wh his keyboard across his lap, and began to play “<a href=">Overrated</a>,” a simple, melancholy number wrten English, about two lovers on the oppose sis of a wall—somethg like the story of Pyram and Thisbe, wh a twist. “I’ll build a wall between your heart and me ’e ’s over, ’s overrated, this love,” he sang. It’s one of my favor; I was transported. Dimchev performed for about forty mut, and by the end I was a ball of tears and lghter. I hadn’t felt that lighthearted or joyo sce the panmic began. On Dimchev’s way out, I offered him some <em>bansa</em>, which my mother had specially prepared for the ocsn. He told me that he was on a diet, but gladly accepted. “It’s one of the bt <em>bansas</em> I’ve tasted,” he said, munchg. I took as a very high pliment.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In March, after I’d gotten my first shot of <em class="small">COVID</em>-19 vacce, I vised Dimchev at his private club and rerdg stud, a former snack bar Banishora, a workg-class neighbourhood northwt Sofia. The eclectic terr was keepg wh his omnivoro athetic: a psychelic patterned uch, a Persian g, artificial plants, a pair of antlers ftooned wh a curly wig. At one end of the stud stood a fully stocked bar; at the other was a whe upright piano surround by lights and microphon, ont of plh red curtas and damask wallpaper. It looked like the set of a David Lynch movie. As Dimchev and I spoke, his assistant at the time, a neteen-year-old named David, tattooed Dimchev’s right lf wh stars.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Dimchev scrib art as a space which he n “create my own story to be ee.” Growg up gay Sofia, he was abed by his homophobic classmat; a group of metalheads once locked him up a room and beat him sensels. He found fort mic. An extroverted child, he would sg to his iends, and often brg them to tears. In 1989, the year that Bulgaria’s Communist regime llapsed, Dimchev, then thirteen, enrolled a youth drama club led by the director Nikolai Geiev, a disciple of the avant-gar theatre practner Jerzy Grotowski. Geiev troduced Dimchev to a different, more radil kd of theatre, ee of acutrements and focsed on an actor’s voice and physil prence, and on unsettlg the borr between the stage and the dience. In his twenti, Dimchev enrolled the Natnal Amy for Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia, but the stutn’s Stanislavskian approach felt rtrictive, and he left six months later. Two years after that, he was puttg on his own show at the Natnal Theatre. Still, he found Bulgaria’s art scene parochial and nservative, and went to seek his fortune on more smopolan stag.</p><p class="paywall">Durg the next and a half, he created some thirty-five productns, tablishg himself on the avant-gar theatre and dance scene, and appearg at ftivals Vienna, Amsterdam, New York, Los Angel, and ci around the world. In one of his most acclaimed productns, “Lili Hanl (Blood, Poetry, and Mic om the Whe Whore’s Boudoir),” he plays an agg androgyno diva, who spends much of the show mostly naked, tryg sperately to reveal her past glor self. At the end, she draws out a vial of her own blood and sells to the hight bidr the dience. “Dimchev unrstands ‘performance’ the largt possible terms,” a cric <a href=">reviewg</a> the show the <em>Fancial Tim</em> wrote. “It nsists of whatever you do to feel alive.” In another show, “The P-Project,” Dimchev ss at a piano drag and asks spectators to e on stage and perform everythg om dancg to kissg to simulatg sex—and pays them, sh, on the spot. “I-Cure,” which he performed New York, 2014, featur fellat, imag of fec, and songs about healg energi. “Animalistic one moment, lite the next, he mh darkns and lightns wh verbal and physil xtery,” Gia Kourlas, at the <em>Tim</em>, <a href=">clared</a>.</p><p class="paywall">Dimchev is sometim scribed as a provotr, but he don’t see himself that way. “For me, my provotn is a nsequence of my cursy to vtigate thgs beyond my personal fort zone,” he has said. He don’t like to be pigeonholed, and that impulse ultimately led him away om the performance-art scene, a cultural work largely fund by foundatns and arts mistri, which had e to feel fortable and predictable. Cosmopolanism uld, s own way, be provcial, he cid. “I’d perform for fifty people or even fifteen, but would still get my three thoand ros,” he told me. “There was somethg wrong wh this.” Even those Bulgarians who have lately ved Dimchev to sg at their hom are mostly unaware of his performance-art reer.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa RaHuL body ArticlePageBodyGridContaer-jrMoA-d xjuw body__grid-ntaer" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn pLUZ llout--has-top-borr" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Ivo Dimchev wearg a headdrs performs wh his keyboard." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Dimchev found that playg at people’s ho shifted the whole dynamic of performance: he was still the star of the show, but he was also a gut.</span></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Sgg had almost always been part of his shows, but he had nsired an ornament of sorts, and had never taken serly. But then the form’s nventnaly and nstrats began to appeal to him: ristance requir somethg to rist. He released his first solo stud album, “Sculptur,” 2018. Some of s songs me om his art performanc. Freed om that ntext, they found a new dience: the album was a h. He toured Europe and North and South Ameri; at the buzzy Hotel Café, Hollywood, he won over some atten om the mic dtry. Dimchev moved briefly to London, where he was ved to take part “X-Factor,” the petn show created by the producer <a href=">Simon Cowell</a>. When his time me, Dimchev <a href=">walked jntily onstage</a>, wearg a pk, unbuttoned shirt and brown nim cutoffs, as well as a small blond wig and temporary tattoos of cross on his neck and nippl. He brought wh him a siarly drsed dance troupe. Half of the dience hated his performance, and booed, but the other half loved him. Cowell was imprsed, as was another judge, the pop star Robbie Williams. “I don’t thk people unrstand entertament a lot of the time,” Williams said. “I uldn’t take my ey off you.” (Dimchev ma to the third round, but ultimately proved a b unnventnal for the mercial vibe of the show.)</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="4xifu"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">He returned to Sofia December, 2019. Like the rtrats of mil performance, Bulgaria’s limatns, which had once spurred Dimchev to leave, now seemed to him a wele challenge. “The more limed the environment is, the more spiratnal ’s for me,” he said. “Where I feel bound, I make the space wir for myself.” Four months later, the panmic arrived, and Dimchev got the chance to fd out whether this was as te as he thought.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Some of Dimchev’s iends have told him that, after an illtr reer abroad, he is now basg his talent by rerdg birthday greetgs and sgg about <em>bansa</em> random kchens Sofia. But Dimchev thks that those iends never really unrstood his basic philosophy. “The level of the artist is termed by his abily to ncel out and make meangls ncepts like size, quanty, and wealth,” he wrote on his Facebook profile, rponse to an acerbic ment om a classil pianist. From one perspective, his home ncerts might be regard as an extend performance-art project, perhaps his most amb. Dimchev’s ty ncerts have, ironilly, secured him a wir and more diverse dience than he’s ever had. Everywhere he’s gone, he has enuntered surprisgly ltle homophobia, he said, even though he has been ank, terviews, about his sexualy and his H.I.V.-posive stat.</p><p class="paywall">After our meetg at his stud, Dimchev ved me to acpany him to a home ncert Luyl, a neighborhood wt Sofia. I got to the back seat of his RAV4, among a stack of songbooks, which he had recently put together so that people uld sg along. It was already dark, past sh hour, and we cised fortably along the cy’s badly l boulevards. Then we got lost, spe the G.P.S. on Dimchev’s iPhone. Lyul, which was built the late Communist era, is Sofia’s largt rintial neighborhood, a sprawlg labyrth of prefab apartment blocks, many of them nearly intil. There was a lot of msagg back and forth wh Dimchev’s host for the eveng. When we fally reached our statn, the guts were eagerly awag his performance. It was a smallish group, cludg two young kids, all ftively drsed. The host was celebratg his thirty-sixth birthday. The table the livg room was a rnupia of che and sliced meats and tapas. There was no <em>bansa</em>. Dimchev was offered a drk, and opted for u juice, sce he would be drivg. In well-worn jeans, a Snoopy T-shirt, and a baseball p, he set up his amp and his laptop ont of bluish, leaf-patterned curtas, and lnched to his first song, “Corona Shoo Shoo.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The dience was shy at first, though more people got up to dance as the eveng progrsed. One of the kids brought out a lorful unirn balloon, which Dimchev took up as a prop. David, his assistant, filmed everythg. There were fewer masks than I would have liked to see, and I hung back om the others. But I uld sense that the mic meant for them what had for me: was keepg the darkns at bay.</p><p class="paywall">As Dimchev was fishg his last song, “Vodka,” the door of the apartment utly opened and a teen-age girl wh glass stood on the thrhold. She was the downstairs neighbor and had heard the mic. “Is Ivo Dimchev havg a home ncert here? Is really him?” she asked. Then she saw him, and she beamed.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa RaHuL body ArticlePageBodyGridContaer-jrMoA-d xjuw body__grid-ntaer" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn pLUZ llout--has-top-borr" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Mician Ivo Dimchev tak a selfie wh fans." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">After a larger show at a performance venue Sofia, June, 2021, Ivo Dimchev posed for selfi wh fans.</span></div></figure></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS jyGBoi"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body article__body--grid-margs"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv jfHKjr"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG bGJnrW ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy fzwwkW article-body__footer"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/dimer-kenarov">Dimer Kenarov</a> is a eelance journalist based Sofia, Bulgaria. 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rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Rearchers have studied how much of our personaly is set om childhood, but what you’re like isn’t who you are.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joshua Rothman</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em 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