Nora Nova

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

Ahinora was born in Bulgaria in 1938 [[1]]. Her father was an official of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. After the end of World War II some of her relatives were sent to the Belene concentration camp or sentenced to death by the so called People's court [2]. Ahinora managed to escape from Communist Bulgaria by marrying a German.

After she came to West Germany in 1960, she won a singing contest called "Die große 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 [[3]]. Her song was Man Gewohnt Sich So Schnell An Das Schone, reportedly having the longest name in Eurovision Song Contest history. Unfortunately, with it she had another record - nil points for West Germany, and hence 13th, last place [4].

Ms. 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 monarch Simeon Sakskoburggotski [5].