Nora Nova

Nora Nova (real name Ahinora Kumanova) (born 1928) is a Bulgarian-born singer. She was the first Bulgarian to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, although she then represented West Germany.

Her father was an official of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria and she reports that she was raised a monarchist.^[1] After the regime change in the end of World War II, some of her relatives were sent to the Belene concentration camp or sentenced to death by the People's Court.^[1] In 1959, Ahinora left Communist Bulgaria by contracting a marriage in name only with a German.

After she came to West Germany in 1960, she won a singing contest called "Die große Chance" ("The Great Chance") organized by Electrola, a German recording company. After scoring a number of hits in the German and Swiss charts, in 1964 she was chosen to represent West Germany at the Copenhagen Eurovision Song Contest finals.^[2] Her song, Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne, reportedly has the longest name in Eurovision Song Contest history. With it she had another record — nul points for West Germany, and hence 13th, last place.^[3]

Kumanova returned to Bulgaria after the 1989 democratic changes. She opened a fashion boutique shop in Sofia. In 2001, she became one of the founders of the NDSV political party led by the former Bulgarian tsar Simeon Sakskoburggotski. She has explained that action with her monarchist convictions (which she states were the reason for her to leave Bulgaria during Communist rule) and with her belief in the personal integrity of tsar Simeon, whom she refers to as "the tsar" and describes as "pure" and an "icon" with unique aura.^[1]

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