Moris Aladjem


composer, arranger, performer

Морис Аладжем

18.08.1932 - 21.11.2004Sofia – Bulgaria

Moris Aladjem graduated from the Engineer Construction Institute in Sofia in 1956. He played the violin as a child. As a student, he was first violinist of the orchestra of the First Male High School in Sofia. At that epoch he made his first compositions: Overture “The Lost Summer”, Concerto for violin and string quartet. In 1951 he started appearing as a saxophone player. He worked as a saxophonist and arranger consecutively at the Youth Jazz Ensemble (1953-56), the Saloon Orchestra of Sasho Nikolov-Sladura, the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio (1960-72) and the Balkanton Orchestra (1962-72). He was artistic director of the Pop Music Department at the Bulgarian Armed Forces Construction Troops (GUSV) (1974-76). He also worked at the Bulgarian Pop Music Department at the Music State Agency (1980-86).

His work as a composer and arranger of pop music, theatre music, children’s songs or instrumental pieces won him recognition as one of the leading Bulgarian pop song composers during the 1960s and 1970s. His first orchestral piece Dreams was composed in 1960. The next year he composed his first song “Telephone in Love”. His songs were performed by the most prominent Bulgarian singers and were several times prize-winning. He was prizewinner at The Golden Orpheus Festival, receiving the Grand Prix for complete work in 1995. He also received various awards at the Spring Radio Competition, the Melody of the Year TV Competition, etc. His songs were published in Germany, Cuba, the UK and Spain. In 1978, together with Alexander Vladigerov, he made the orchestration of Alexis Weissenberg’s musical “The Fugue”, staged in 1979 in Paris and published by the French company Pathe Marconi (1980).

In 1987 the Bulgarian recording company Balkanton published the album “Young Singers Sing Songs by Moris Aladjem”. He has an album with children’s songs (1981) and notices on children’s and popular songs (1981, 1989).

Creativity

Selected list of awarded songs at the festivals:

Castlebar (Eire):

Flower of Hope (silver medal, 1973).

The Golden Orpheus:

Song For The Three Wishes (third prize, 1970).

Spring Radio Competition:

Flower of Hope (first prize, 1990);
Give Me Fire (first prize, 1990);
Madly In Love (first prize, 1992).

Melody of the Year:

Love Forever (Melody of the Year 1984).

Selected list of other songs:

Your Hands;
Yantra;
Sorrow for Youth;
Love;
Sunny Woman;
Is Love a Boat;
Come Around To See Us;
Love Is Not a Sin.