Ansambel Tonija Verderberja

Ansambel Tonija Verderberja is a Slovenian narodnozabavna (folk-pop) ensemble from Stari trg ob Kolpi in Bela krajina, active since 1981. Its leader, Toni Verderber, has written all of its melodies but one, "Semiška gora", which is by Silvester Mihelčič. What sets the band apart is the tamburica: they added it to the usual trio of diatonic accordion, guitar and bass, which gave them a sound of their own among Slovenian folk ensembles.

Toni Verderber and Pavel Šterk had played together with Zdravko Gorjup in Ansambel Slap, founded in 1979, which soon fell apart as its members left for military service. In 1981 the two met again and started a new band, Toni singing lead and playing accordion and Pavel on bass guitar. With Zdravko still in the army, Toni asked Jože Kastelec to play rhythm guitar and sing second voice, and the two voices matched well. The name came by accident: for their first dance in Stari trg ob Kolpi the head of the local fire brigade wrote "Ansambel Tonija Verderberja" on the poster, and it stuck.

In 1984 they won the radio show "Kar znaš to veljaš" with their first original song. Toni had often played with the Sodevski tamburaši, liked how the tamburica sounded beside the accordion, and brought it into the band. Their first album, Vračam se domov, was recorded in 1986 with Silvester Mihelčič, and in 1987 they went to the Ptuj festival with Silvester Mihelčič junior and Borut Klobučar on tamburica. Klobučar stayed until 2003, when Toni's son Domen Verderber took over; keyboard player and third voice Dušan Vrlinič joined the same year, and double bassist Tomaž Zorko in 2011.

The lyrics come from Fanika Požek, Toni Gašperič, Ivan Sivec, Ivan Malavašič and Slavko Podboj. Gašperič alone wrote 43 of them, including "Pri nas Belokranjcih", "Gospodična", "Pisanice", "Teci, teci, Kolpa moja" and "Pobarvala sva liste", and he toured Canada, the United States and Switzerland with the band; their tours of North America were in 1997, 2001 and 2006.

The ensemble has released seventeen albums, from Vračam se domov (1986) and Pri nas Belokranjcih (1989) through Staro vino - star prijatelj, Gospodična, Teci, teci, Kolpa moja..., Čaša sreče and Kruh ponoči spi to Če imaš me res rad (2019). In September 2012 they marked thirty years with a concert at Križanke in Ljubljana, and in 2018 they recorded "Velika bela ptica" as a duet with singer Marjan Zgonc.