Asparuh Leshnikov – Ari album art and single cover
![Ari album, 1974 [More info on Discogs]](https://original.fontsinuse.com/fontsinuse.com/use-images/N230/230820/230820.jpeg)
Ari album, 1974 [More info on Discogs]
Asparuh “Ari” Leshnikov (Аспарух Лешников, 1897–1978) was a Bulgarian tenor and pop singer. In the interwar period, he rose to fame as a member of the Berlin-based vocal group Comedian Harmonists.
In 1974, Bulgarian state label Balkanton released a compilation of his hits, titled А́ри (Ari). For the sleeve typography, the unknown designer selected Arnold Böcklin. Most of the required Cyrillic capitals are repurposed letters from the typeface’s Latin alphabet. The У (U) appears to be a custom creation. So is Н (En) – Arnold Böcklin’s H follows the minuscule construction. Л (El) is a Latin A minus the crossbar. An upside-down M serves as Ш (Sha).
In 1980, Balkanton issued a 7″ record with two songs written by Milo Bassan (Мильо Басан, 1900–1983) and sung by Leshnikov. Again, the display typeface is Arnold Böcklin, this time in mixed case. Here the first letter in Leshnikov’s name was made by turning a V upside down. The same was done with a lowercase v for л. The letter ь is derived from b, Б is probably a combination of parts from B and H, н and в are custom made, and ш is an upside-down m.
![“Нощта заспива, пустей кръчмата” / “Пуста черна чужбина изпълнява” single, 1980 [More info on Discogs]](https://original.fontsinuse.com/fontsinuse.com/use-images/N230/230822/230822.jpeg)
“Нощта заспива, пустей кръчмата” / “Пуста черна чужбина изпълнява” single, 1980 [More info on Discogs]
1 Comment on “Asparuh Leshnikov – Ari album art and single cover”
So they made an N out of the P.