Maria and Peyo Filipovi

Peyo is known as the mailman from the talk show You have mail but the trumpet remains his great passion. He worked as a musician abroad for a long time and played with many Bulgarian bands like KGB and Atlas. He introduced his wife Maria for the first time exclusively for our magazine because she would rather stay away from the media attention. The couple came across one another by chance and later it turned out they were both studying at the Music Academy “Pancho Vladigerov”. They have two lovely children and the parents themselves are the perfect match for one another. Charming, smiling and ready to share about their love.

How did you meet?
P: In a café but it turned out we were both studying at the Conservatory and we both were at the classical department – me with trumpet and she with violoncello. I couldn’t say how often we attended our classes but we’ve never met until then. We started living together in the first or the second month since we made our acquaintance. Everything happened very fast - the first child then the other…

How old are they?
M: Victoria is seven years old and Christian is six.

What is love for you?
P: Love can’t be described in one sentence or two but it’s something that makes you a better person. And it could be a love not just to another person but to many other things. Like our love to music – it’s something we’ve been feeling even before we met so we share many kinds of love. We love each other, we love our children, we love music and it also turned out we have many things in common.

In your opinion, which is the better option – when two people have many things in common or does the opposites attract rule apply?
P: Maybe the opposites do attract but without going to extremes.
M: Diversity is a good thing.
P: We have our personal differences in spite of the fact we’re born under the same sign, within few days, and we know the most typical features for our sign. The common interests are also important and there have to be some different features. The opposites are interesting for a while but this doesn’t last forever.

Who dominates in your relationship?
P: She does.
M: Yeah right.
P: There’s no complete domination, sometimes one gets over, sometimes the other. As they say – it depends on the debatable ground.

Do you celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day?
P: Every time we can.
M: We try to celebrate it.
P: Although it doesn’t really matter will it be precisely Saint Valentine’s Day or some other day whichever we decided to celebrate, after all it’s not an official holiday in Bulgaria.
M: Otherwise it’s nice holiday.
P: Yes, involved with many pleasant emotions. The trouble is that for few years now I play at different events and during the holidays I’m usually at a gig. But every time we can, we leave the children with their grandmothers for a couple of days and make some time for ourselves.

What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for each other?
P: We try to surprise the other with a present or to go somewhere nice.
M: We enjoy better the small gestures.
P: I couldn’t really tell what was the most romantic, and besides I might offend the other person.
M: That’s ok, go ahead.
P: I can’t rate them, really.

What kind of gifts are you usually making?
M: The best gift is always a surprise.
P: Perfumes, jewelry, clothes – standard things. I haven’t give her yet that cactus that blossoms once in every 100 years. I once read about a man that waited for his lady at the airport and gave her a blossomed cactus that blossoms once in a 100 years, which was very romantic thing to do.

How do you manage to keep the thrill between for you so many years?
P: I’m quite busy lately, I opened a piano bar which takes a lot of my time. It’s named Camino and I deprive myself of my spare time to organize it. We can’t spend much time together at home the last few months but when we could we use every opportunity to be together.

Where do you like to spend your holidays – at the seaside or in the mountains?
P: I think we haven’t been together in the mountains, excluding Velingrad which is my hometown. Anyhow we go to the seaside at summer. In fact in the first four years of our marriage I was playing at cruises so I was at sea for 6 – 7 months.
M: At least now the distance is smaller and we see each other more often.
P: Yes, there is some kind of progress.

Peyo, how did you become a mailman at You have mail?
P: By chance, I think I was having luck. I was traveling a lot abroad and at that time there were few TV shows that Maria and I used to watch. So one day she convinced me to join in one of them. I sent them a short message and they chose me. The show was Russian Roulette, I got to the final and didn’t win but I liked the experience anyway. In an year or two a team member of the show called me to participate in a new game show they were making – The Exam. That accidentally concurred to my return in Bulgaria so I went. Then I started a conversation with the team members of the show and I shared my wish to be engaged in a TV show. They called me in two years and invited me to a casting for You have mail. I showed up, they liked me and I became a TV mailman.

Maria, how do you take his appearances?
M: With a good feeling, I’m glad for him.

What do want your children to learn from you?
P: That’s quite complicated but in general – to be good people and we’ll see which course will each one of them take. They’re still too young for us to push them at one direction or another. We want them to appreciate kindness. We believe that people will treat you the way you treat them.

Since you’re both musicians, are they also drawn to music?
P: Our daughter wanted to be in a piano class. And having a piano at home, she sits and plays. We see she likes doing this.
M: It’s her own wish and sometimes she even plays longer than needed.
P: She also sings in the school’s chorus. Being musicians we could estimate her potentialities and we think she has a potential. She’s practicing gymnastics for few years now. Obviously that’s a competitive age and she’s very enthusiastic.
M: By no means we don’t want to force her to do anything.
P: In few years when she must be helped in her decision should she continue with that or no, we’ll make a decision but it will be based on her wishes. The boys are naughtier and so far the little one is only interested in games.