Atanas Vandûlchev – gandûdulka

Pazardzhishko horo
Bavna pesen (za Marin Cherkovski)
Syuita
Paydushko horo
Krivo horo
Sitno zhensko horo

Svatbarska rûchenitsa
Na trapeza
Gaydarsko horo
Kyustendilsko horo
Svatovski melodii
Kraydunavsko horo

One can rightly assert that Atanas Vûlchev is a born musician. Already as a very young child he received his first lessons in folk music at his home: his grandfather was a kaval player, his father an excellent gûdulka player, his uncle a gaydar, while his aunt was a renowned singer of folk songs. He began to play the gûdulka while still a youth, on an instrument constructed specially for him, and very soon his attraction for it became so strong that he never parted with it. At first he could only "grind" over the strings, but this initial period was quickly overcome and before the age of nine he played in front of large audiences. His first contact with the microphone of Radio Varna dates back to that early period in his career, when he played the only melody which he had mastered: Momiche malûk dyavolo.

He learned most of the folk songs from his father and from relatives in his native village ... at weddings ... from other musicians and singers!

At the age of 16 he became a member of the Folklore Orchestra of the Sofia Radio. Boris Petrov, the conductor of that orchestra taught him to read the notes. Later on, for a short period of time he played with the Ensemble of the Labor Corps and ever since 1959 he is the concert master of the Folk Instruments Orchestra of the Sofia Radio.

In 1958, together with other popular musicians, he founded the Atanas Vûlchev Instrumental Group, which was composed of a kaval, gayda, tambura, gûdulka, and tûpan.

At the moment Atanas Vûlchev is one of the most renowned gûdulka players in the land. He has a perfect command of the instrument. His exceptional skill and virtuosity, as well as his finger and bow technique have helped him to spread his repertoire over a very wide diapason. His slow melodies are distinguished for their width, while his warm and richly nuanced tone (playing of positions and flageolets) helps him to perform melisms in a very distinct and an exceptionally precise manner. With his rapid horo melodies, Atanas Vûlchev demonstrates an exceptional technique, every separate tone played on his gûdulka fading away fluently and with an unequalled preciseness, notwithstanding the duration of the particular frequency of melody. With his exceptional musicality and very varied repertoire, coupled with an individual performer's originality, Atanas Vûlchev is one of the most pronounced disseminators of Bulgarian instrumental folk music, both at home and far beyond the frontiers of the land. Atanas Vûlchev plays Bulgarian folk music from all the musical and folklore regions of the land, wherever the gûdulka is being played, but he has an underlined preference for the Thracian folk songs and music. The numerous TV spectators, radio listeners and owners of recordings are among his ardent admirers.

As an individual performer and participant in small instrumental groups and ensembles, he has contributed greatly to popularize Bulgarian instrumental folk music in Sudan, Tunisia, DDR, BRD, the United States of America, Switzerland, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Finland and elsewhere.

The Atanas Vûlchev Group (with a renovated staff) was awarded a laureatship and a gold medal at the 1968 Ninth World Youth Festival, which was held in Sofia. As an individual performer he won a silver medal at this same festival. At a Folk Music Competition which was held in Tunisia in 1971, Vûlchev was awarded a first prize, while at a Bratislava competition during that same year, at which sixty different national radio stations participated, he was distinguished with the Golden Baton prize.

Apart from his regular musical activity Atanas Vûlchev conducted for a short period of time the choir of the Lenin State Metallurgical Plant in Pernik and the choir of the Transport Workers' Union in Sofia. While conducting the latter he was awarded a gold medal during the Fourth Republican Festival which was held in Burgas. - Vergili Atanasov