Introducing Atanas 

Atanas Dochev popularly called Nas, is a Bulgarian born percussionist. Atanas started as a singer at a younger age in Bulgaria where vocal music is very popular and rich. He was later exposed to classical music with the ultimate aim of getting study music. 

"I started when I was very young. I started learning Bulgarian music. The vocal side of Bulgarian music is very rich. So, that’s where I started. I started as a singer. I did that for about 6 or 7 years. I was a soloist and traveled all around Europe. My mum is also a singer. So I was exposed to music from an early age. Country music, pop music, etc. That sort of sank inside me a little bit. Then I started to learn classical music from the age of 11 or 12. in order to get to music school because you had to do that to get music school in Bulgaria where you can’t do pop music or something like that. From then about 4 years later at age 15, I decided to audition for the music school in London – Purcell Music School to do classical music." 

While studying music at Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester having previously studied at Purcell Music School in London, Atanas was captivated by World Music traditions which he was exposed to. This exposure was a major turning point in his career and informed his current interest and engagement in world music percussion instruments. He has since found world music percussion as a platform on which he is now most comfortable to musically express himself. 

"I auditioned in England about ten years ago at Purcell Music School in London. It's one of the specialist music school for young musicians in England. So, it was classical percussion first including Marimba, Xylophone, Orchestra percussion, etc. Then I auditioned for RNCM in 2013 and got accepted and continued for 4 years. I continued with classical percussion but halfway through my course, I got introduced to world percussion. That is ethno-percussion from Latin America, Africa, Brazil South America, India, etc. That opened a whole new world to me, so I started specialising in world percussion as well. Currently, World Percussion is my specialty." 

My Identity 

"Many years ago we did a research essay on Miles Davis. He’s like the Hamilton of Jazz. I found he was such a unique musician. In terms of such identity, I wish I become like that having such a unique identity. A lot of people say that when I play it's different because when I play I just play. I don’t really care. I just express myself. When I sit behind the percussion and the lights turn on me, that’s when I’m like just be myself because it's my comfort zone... I’ve been on stage since I I was 5, and I’m 26 now. That makes me 21 years on stage. I may not be so chatty when we sit for coffee or in a social setting, but on stage, I am my finest. Performance is who I am, it’s me, it’s my passion. Not being able to perform like in the current pandemic is hard for me. Performance is not like shining or projecting myself, it's just what I enjoy doing. Funnily enough, some of the best concerts I’ve had have had hardly any audience." 

Manchester Experience 

"I studied in London before coming to Manchester. From 2009 and 2013 I was in the music school there. I came to the UK as a 16-year-old. I was in London for 4 years. I had never been to Manchester before then. The first thing that struck me in Manchester, is that I found it to be very vibrant, friendly. This was something I didn’t see in London. Very friendly city. That inspired me to come to Manchester. When I came to Manchester I was exposed to various cultures. I started learning about the culture, how rich it was. I was exposed to a lot of various music. I lived in Fallowfield, Withington, and Rusholme. It was such a rich culture and all sorts of amazing music. Maybe that triggered my interest in world music as well as coming from Bulgaria where I was brought up with a different kind of music and now being exposed to people from all over the world in Manchester and accepting their music. This exposure laid a nice foundation for me to focus on world music." 

Atanas is very passionate about World Music and devotes his time to studying more of it with the intention of using it to further create new styles in his musical performances. 

"Even though I love my own music, I am also passionate about music from around the world. I have also invested my attention and passion to be educated about music from around the world to find similarities and locate my own within that to fulfil my own musical style. Coming from a country like Bulgaria, focusing on Bulgarian music could be narrow-minded. You were not told about music from other parts of the world. It was only about certain types of music back in the days you were not told about music from other parts of the world like salsa, Afro-Cuban, Indian, etc. It was halfway through my course that I found out about this other music and it was just like wow!. It opened up a new chapter in my life. It was like I l had lived in a cage all my life. It was like I want to learn this and that etc. So it totally took my mind into that aspect of other music. So world music diversity inspires me to learn more about people and music." 

"I have played in a few musical projects in. Just what you were talking about earlier on... I played in a band called Bethlehem Casuals: https://youtu.be/4fwOnWMaNv0 "It’s a music band, it’s alternative music band. It started from people from RNCM. It’s a 7 piece band – cello, saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals and percussion. I started to join the band, it was like a rock band. As I was learning about different world music I started adding rhythms that I have learnt from Salsa, Indian patterns or Bulgarian into the music. We found out that the cellist is from Wales and plays a she plays a lot of Folk music. All of a sudden I found out the whole project is like a mixture of Rock, Latin or like African music and a bit of Welsh. So coming back to the question “IF you play in Manchester?” ….Yeah, Bethlehem Casuals, we’ve been around for about five or six years. We played in Manchester International Festival, Manchester Jazz Festivals. We’ve done live shows with BBC…..So, quite a few projects, and my interest in that part, in that kind of music, ethno kind of music, I tried to incorporate into the styles we make (different rhythms) into the music we make……With that project, …..funny enough we also played at Bloomsbury Festival last year as well, which was quite an achievement. So, that is the project that I worked with. Touches on world music and ethno-music. I will send you some of the music….I’m sure you might enjoy some of the music….I must say that it’s very different music …...its very strange and very creative. It’s different, it’s different…….It’s good……….For me that is music. It's trying to push yourself and not restrict yourself…...must be that kind of music, or this kind of music. I find that very narrow. I think that music should be…... open ……..you can write anything….As a musician, you should be able to write anything".