July Morning

This is the view from Avren this morning, showing the sun rising over a field of sunflowers which will soon explode into a vista of yellow hopefulness. Today is a special day that is peculiarly celebrated in Bulgaria. Thousands of young people gather on the evening of 30th June along the many beautiful beaches of the Black Sea, enjoying live music and partying until the sun rises. While a feature of the coast, living inland is no barrier to celebrating this day.

The origins date back to Varna in 1980 when young people started to protest against the iron grip of communism and looked towards Western culture and the freedoms it offered. A counter-culture arose spontaneously, yearning for a new beginning. In some ways it shares a soul with the summer solstice celebrations held, for example, at Stonehenge on Salisbury plain in the UK. Over the years it has been established as a tradition and now there are many organised festivals and events. The anthem is of course July Morning by Uriah Heep, played as the sun rises above the horizon…

There I was on a July morning
I was looking for love
With the strength of a new day dawning
And the beautiful sun

And at the sound of the first bird singing
I was leaving for home
With the storm and the night behind me
And a road of my own

Sadly, I am merely a commentator here, the days of beach partying are behind me. I remember the sense of having a road of my own when I hitch-hiked across Europe all those years ago (see posts under the Big Trip category for a deep dive). I did not know of July Morning then, but I awoke to July 1st 1973 on the beach at Matala in Crete. It is safe to say I had been partying then.

It is also a while since I have been to an open air concert, not counting the Varna International Jazz Festival I attended last year in the courtyard of the Archeological Museum.

Prior to this event (about which I am still working on a poem, so look out for that, with memorable lines such as “frantic piano fingers“, “lost in the embrace with his contrabass” and “saxophone and trumpet in perfect harmony, smooth as honey on your breakfast toast“), I think the last concert was Pulp in Hyde Park, with a great set also by Grace Jones. I don’t have any poems about that.

Anyway, it just remains for me to wish you a happy July Morning.