Kottarashky

Nikola Gruev was born on 4th September 1979 in Sofia, Bulgaria, in an artistic family. He studied architecture in his home city. After his graduation in 2003, Nikola started working in an architectural bureau. His experiments with digital music date back to his student years. Back then he was experimenting in his bedroom at home that was turned into a mini studio (Kottarashky is composing there till today). His specific style started getting shape a few years later, when he decided to integrate into his pieces samples from terrain recordings that he did during his trips throughout Bulgaria. That was how the piece “Opa Hey” was born. Nikola quit his job and concentrated almost all his energy on creating music, making his living as a freelance architect. After putting some of his tracks online in social networks, his compositions were noticed by Henry Ernst, founder of the Berlin based label Asphalt Tango Records. In a few months Nikola Gruev signed a contract with the company. On 13th November 2009 it released his debut album “Opa Hey” and Nikola acquired the artistic name Kottarashky.