Her voice is unique and unforgettable, her songs enchant both young and old, and her performances of the last 2 years have become a dream feast of the soul for their many thousands of audiences. "The sorceress from Pirina" - that's how the folk singer Nikolina Chakardakova is known. She loves to sing since she was little. Her talent did not go unnoticed and at the age of 16 she started singing in the "Nevrokop Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances" in Gotse Delchev under the direction of Zapryu Ikonomov. In 1995, the album "Wait for my brother Vancho" was released. In 2000, the play "Love and Sorrow from Macedonia" appeared. The following year, Nikolina Chakardakova once again fills Hall 1 of the NDK, where she presents her new performance "Desolate Youth". In 2002, the show "Bulgarian Wedding" appeared with even greater force. In December 2013, Hall 1 of the NDK once again "sheltered" the performances of Chakardakova and her team of dancers and musicians for three consecutive evenings. Before Christmas The "Sorceress from Pirina" brought the crowded "Arena Armeets" hall to its feet during her big concert en titled "Let's preserve the Bulgarian". Over 10,000 people from all over the country sang and cheered the singer.
It's no secret that since 2009 she has been battling serious illnesses, one of which is kidney cancer. This is what the beloved singer shared about her he alth and life especially for My Clinic.
Mrs. Chakardakova, how is your he alth, do you manage to rest more in view of the serious illnesses that have befallen you in recent years?
- After all the troubles that went through my head, I can definitely say that I was born under a lucky star.
I want to feel useful and needed every minute as much as I can. If you don't do anything for yourself and for people, your life goes by just like that, in existence. This is my ideology and way of thinking. I try to be useful to people through my concerts and music. Apart from giving joy and making people happy with what you do, there is nothing else in our profession.
Everything bad is behind you, right?
- For now, thank God, everything is behind me. Bad, when it comes, it never asks you and we are never ready for it because we think it won't happen to us. The other thing I realized with every cell of mine is that he alth is not a given, we have to take care of our body. Everything is largely up to us. We should appreciate and be happy when we are he althy because it is the most important thing in our life. In an instant, everything can turn upside down, all plans fail. When something like cancer happens to you, you realize how many things you've fought for you don't need. I would like to tell people that if we consume less, we will certainly be he althier. A person can live with less, the important thing is to look at life positively, be calm and take care of yourself.
Have you learned to value your he alth?
- I learned to live this way. I evaluated my he alth after the kidney cancer that hit me in 2009, thank God it didn't give me too much consequences. They removed my kidney, the operation was very difficult, but the other organ took over the function of the missing one.
Then I experienced
bursting of an ulcer I didn't know about
She made peritonitis so bad! Then my life was on the line, they operated on me urgently, they waited for 3 days to see if I would survive. Then I experienced a pulmonary embolism. These are all difficult diagnoses, it all comes from the fact that somewhere back in time I again missed something, again I was in a hurry… But I drew my conclusions and now there are times when I feel that I am again entering the old channel I was in, and I tell myself that there is nothing more important than myself, being alive and he althy. I say to myself: Stop, you need a break.
How do you rest?
- My rest is not about sleeping and lying down. I rest and relax making tapestry frames. This is a craft I learned some time ago. I want to teach women who are willing to embroider tapestries. This is how I rest.
I'm looking for the thing I'm missing right now, the spiritual food that nourishes and heals me, and I'm getting it. If I give myself more physical rest, I get sicker. I like to sow something in the village, I mow the meadow myself - this is how I rest. I am very happy with my life. In truth, sometimes I am afraid to say that now I live fully and beautifully, I like to live, I like my life! I tell myself that my bad in this life is over, now only the good is ahead. Everyone has some bad moments in their life.
Do you follow a diet?
- I've been trying lately. I limit myself in calories, more on salads, which is very difficult to achieve. I also try to limit the amount of food I eat. Unconsciously, we take in about 1 kg with each meal, but to feel good, we need no more than 300 grams. I try to follow this principle.
I love good food, rich tables,
the beautifully arranged tables, that's my other hobby. I don't follow diets because I don't like to put myself in frameworks and restrictions. I try to maintain a balance between food and exercise. I dance when we have rehearsals and concerts, it gives me pleasure.
Doctors you are grateful to, will you list them?
- I will be happy to do so. I will start with Dr. Dimcho Vasilev, the urologist who performed my kidney surgery at the VMA. Dr. Ganev - the anesthesiologist on whom I relied a lot, because it was important for me not to damage my vocal cords. I especially want to thank Associate Professor Ivan Vasilevski, I didn't know him, but he urgently operated on me at the Academy of Medical Sciences for peritonitis. She didn't even know who I was, but she said I needed to be operated on right away. He lives in this hospital, it was Easter and he was in the clinic. On the third day, he found out who I was and said that he didn't have time to go to concerts, but he saw that I was very famous. M.y. I invited all my doctors to the concert and Assoc. Vasilevski said: "God, it's good that we cured you! What would this nation do without you.”
I also want to thank Prof. Mladenov from KARIL at the Academy of Medical Sciences, when I was in a serious condition with pulmonary embolism. Around the clock there were many doctors over me who were ready to give me first aid if a thrombus went to the brain or to the heart. I want to thank Dr. Simonova from the VMA and everyone - from the orderly to the professors. The sanitary workers we pass sometimes and they are underpaid, there is a moment when they are the angels for you and they help you get up, wash yourself…
I appreciate the medical profession and the fact that they stayed in Bulgaria to treat us. They were born to take care of us patients. Deep bow to these people!
What did the he alth problems you went through teach you?
- A strong spirit helps a lot to recover. These problems taught me to enjoy life. There are people who don't feel like living, I don't understand them. There is nothing easy in life. I want to grab life and take it where I want, not for it to take me where it decided. So it is - to be happy and look for the beautiful things in life, to have a sense of sufficiency and that makes you happy. If you can also give to others, that's even better. That makes me the happiest. I also learned that sometimes we need to put on the brakes, take care of ourselves, go for a check-up so we can enjoy our children. I'm looking forward to becoming a grandmother.
What new projects are you currently working on?
- After the success of the concert in the "Arena Armeets" hall from m. we are planning to have a concert there again this December 11th. I would like to make it a tradition, to have songs, people, and above all to have everything addressed to the audience - to have it be the second main character. So the preparation is going on.
Life and he alth, if we succeed, this year we will also tour our compatriots in Italy, Spain and Portugal. I haven't been outside Bulgaria for almost 8 years, I preferred to be here. They also deserve to have a nice Bulgarian holiday for them on the spot, which involves a lot of organization. At the same time, in "Folklore-TV" we will produce more new clips, it is an open media for the good Bulgarian performers, many sections will enter again. Creatively, I've always said that I need one more life to fulfill my plans.
