Sasho the Sweetheart

There are many stories about Sasho the Sweetheart.

Some of them are true, some are little white lies for us to remember him by. One thing we know for sure – Sasho was truly a sweetheart.

Sasho the Sweetheart was born Aleksandar Nikolov on September 15, 1917.

He was a famous musician, poet, painter and spoke five foreign languages. Music was his greatest passion, though, and this passion led him to graduate from the Music Academy in Prague and later on play in the famous restaurant “Bulgaria”. Some of his contemporaries say that he had something of a Viking presence, hot Macedonian blood and Slavic pride in him, hence the dreamy looks he received from the ladies. Sasho was also very witty and talkative and had a joyful disposition and loved to tell jokes, that’s how the nickname the Sweetheart came to be.

And even though people from Plovdiv loved Sasho, politician weren’t so happy about him and his jokes and music.

Even nowadays we can hear some of the anecdotes he loved to tell. One day Sasho was approached by a foreigner who asked him where the burnt down circus was. Sasho pointed at the Socialist party headquarters and said: “This is the circus and all the circus freaks are in there.” This joke cost him an year in jail. Still, he didn’t change. A few months after he got out he was playing at a party at the restaurant “Bulgaria” and when the party was over the head of the Socialist party rushed the musicians to leave. To that comment Sasho replayed “We’ll go in a minute, but when will you leave.” The very next day a decree was issued that Sasho is sent in a labour camp under the pretext that the Jazz music he was playing is bad and dangerous. There was no trial and no need for a verdict when it came to socialist law back then.

No one knows what happened after that.

The official statement says that Sasho died from “angina”, which in that time was the word for torture. Some rumours say that he somehow escaped and was recruited as a spy for Western Europe. Others don’t believe that a patriot and a fighter like Sasho could simply turn his back on everything and leave because he’s scared.
Nonetheless today Sasho the Sweetheart is considered one of the most important people in Plovdiv when it comes to representing the spirit of our beautiful city. His monument near the Roman theatre reminds us every day of all the smart and talented people who lost their lives for not being quiet and convenient.

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