Riton () is a Bulgarian pop duo from
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, consisting of Katya Mihaylova and Zdravko Jelyaskov, active since 1977. They have released 11 studio albums, 1 live record, and 4 compilations.
History
Riton was founded in 1977 by Katya Mihaylova () and Zdravko Jelyaskov (), one year after they met at the
National Academy of Music in Sofia.
Mihaylova sings and plays
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, while Jelyaskov sings. Originally called Studio 2, the duo had been performing in
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...
s and at resorts since 1976.
After returning from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
in 1978, the two got married.
Studio 2 were noticed by musician and composer
Toncho Rusev in 1976, who in turn introduced them to composer
Ivan Kutikov, with whom they recorded their first song, in 1980.
In 1981, with the help of Kutikov, the duo, by this point calling themselves Riton, released their debut studio album, ''Embrace Me'' (). Their second album, simply titled ''Duet Riton'' (), came out in 1984. By 1997, the duo had released three further studio albums as well as two hits collections. That year, they celebrated their 20th anniversary as performers and won the Grand Prix at the
Golden Orpheus song festival, with their song "Fire and Smoke" ().
They followed this with the album ''Pain of Love'' () in 1998.
In 2015, Riton took part in the
seventh season of the reality television game show ''
VIP Brother''.
As of , the duo has released five further studio albums, a live record, and two additional compilations, as well as numerous singles.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Embrace Me'' (1981)
* ''Duet Riton'' (1984)
* ''Love-Match'' (1986)
* ''Going at Random'' (1987)
* ''Dzhalma'' (1994)
* ''Pain of Love'' (1998)
* ''Buy Our Hearts'' (2000)
* ''All Night'' (2001)
* ''The Way to Your Heart'' (2015)
* ''In the Rhythm Latino'' (2017)
* ''Something Is Happening'' (2024)
Live albums
* ''Riton Live'' (2004)
Compilations
* ''The Hits'' (1993)
* ''The Best'' (1996)
* ''Two Stars – Golden Collection'' (2007)
* ''Golden Riton'' (2017)
References
External links
* {{official website, riton.net
Bulgarian pop music groups
Musical groups from Sofia
Musical groups established in 1977
1977 establishments in Bulgaria