Ivan Varimezov was born and raised in a small town in eastern Bulgaria. As a young child he began to play the most important traditional folk instrument of the country, the bagpipe, called the gaida. It consists of a melody pipe, a drone pipe, and a blow pipe, all tied into a goatskin bag. Varimezov was a gaida soloist in Bulgaria‰’s most prestigious professional folk ensemble and participated in many international tours before being invited to come to the US. In addition to performing, he also teaches at UCLA.