Diko Iliev

Diko Iliev is a Bulgarian composer, musician, and conductor. He was born in 1898 in Karlukovo. After graduating from the fourth grade in his native village, in 1911 he joined the wind orchestra of the 16th Infantry Regiment in Orhanie as a student musician. Together with the regiment, he participated in the Balkan Wars and the First World War. In 1917, on the Dobrudja front, he wrote his first author's choro - "Iskarsko choro".

In the period 1919-1920, he was an orchestra player at the Military School in Sofia, and subsequently worked in the orchestra of the Thirty-sixth Infantry Regiment of Kozloduy (1931-1958). The conductor of the orchestra, Alexander Weiner, contributed to his creative development. In this period, Diko Iliev composed some of his most popular folk songs and marches. In 1948, after successfully passing the exam, he became the conductor of the orchestra until his retirement. After that, he led the brass band at the community center in Oryahovo and created many brass bands in the districts of Vratsa and Montana.

Diko Iliev arranged folk music for wind orchestras and created dozens of his own melodies of Choro dances, the most famous of which are "Danube Choro", "Aleksandriyka", "Dobrudzhan Choro", "May Flowers", and several diferent Bulgarian folklore dances. His main merit is that he turned the choro into a genre for brass bands. He is also the author of about 20 marches, polkas, waltzes, etc.

His creative contribution is recognized by the International Festival of Wind Orchestras "Diko Iliev", which have been held in Montana since 1988.

In 2011, he was posthumously awarded the highest distinction of the Municipality of Montana - Honorary Badge, and 3 years later - with the title "Honorary Citizen of the Municipality of Lukovit".