Balkan Brass Band
Encyclopedia
Balkan Brass Band or Chochek is a distinctive style of music originating in 19th century Serbia
when trumpeters in the military
transposed folk music
during harsh times. It is popular throughout the Balkans
, especially Serbia
, Macedonia
and Bulgaria
. The beats
are usually fast and accompanied by kolo (dance)
. The performers each have their instrument of the orchestra
and are called trubači (трубачи). The best known examples of acclaimed music in this style are from Goran Bregović
and Boban Marković Orkestar
. The Serbian film maker
Emir Kusturica
has, through his films (Black Cat, White Cat
), made the style popular in the international community outside the Balkans.
The biggest brass band
event in the world the Guča Trumpet Festival
is a 5-day annual festival with 300,000 visitors, in Guča
, Serbia
.
which then evolved in modern Ottoman military bands in 19th century. The eastern melancholic soul of the music is from the oriental melodies which can be seen still today in Turkish clarinet solos. The music's tradition stems from the First Serbian Uprising
led by Karageorge (Serbian revolution
) when Serbs
rebelled against the occupying Ottoman Empire, eventually liberating Serbia after 345 years (Serbian Despotate
was conquered by June 20, 1459). The trumpet
was used as a military instrument to wake and gather soldiers and announce battles, the trumpet took on the role of entertainment during downtime, as soldiers used it to transpose popular folk songs. When the war ended, the soldiers returned to the rural life; the music entered civilian life and eventually became a common musical style, accompanying births, baptisms, weddings, Slava
s (family patron saint day), farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and also departing this world. In 1831 the first official military band was formed by Prince Miloš
.
Roma have adopted the tradition and enhanced the music.
such as flugelhorns
, trumpets
, alto horn
s, helicon
s, euphoniums
, tenor horns, tubas
, baritone horns
and sometimes trombones
. Percussion is provided by snare drum
and bass drum
s, traditionally davuls
(also known as tapan or goč) carried by the performers.
The music is usually instrumental although sometimes accompanied with singing. Common song forms include the čoček
and the Kolo
.
featuring soundtracks by Goran Bregovic
, it soon spread to European dancefloors spearheaded by DJ Robert Soko's "Balkan Beats" parties in Berlin, Germany.
Traditional bands from the Balkans like the Boban Marković Orkestar
and from Romania as Fanfare Ciocărlia
garnered worldwide attention while new bands like New York-based Balkan Beat Box
or the Amsterdam Klezmer Band fused the Balkan sound with other genres like Klezmer
or Ska
. DJs and producers, most prominently Shantel
from Germany, successfully mixed Balkan Brass with electronic beats.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
when trumpeters in the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
transposed folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
during harsh times. It is popular throughout the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, especially Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. The beats
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
are usually fast and accompanied by kolo (dance)
Kolo (dance)
Kolo , is a collective folk dance, danced primarily by people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. It is performed amongst groups of people holding each other's having their hands around each other's waists...
. The performers each have their instrument of the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
and are called trubači (трубачи). The best known examples of acclaimed music in this style are from Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
and Boban Marković Orkestar
Boban Markovic
Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader from Vladičin Han, frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans...
. The Serbian film maker
Cinema of Serbia
The Cinema of Serbia comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of Serbia or by Serbian filmmakers abroad.Serbia has been home to many internationally acclaimed films and directors.-Serbian theatre and cinema:Serbia has a well-established theatrical tradition with many...
Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
has, through his films (Black Cat, White Cat
Black Cat, White Cat
Black Cat, White Cat is a 1998 Yugoslav romantic comedy film directed by Emir Kusturica. It won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival....
), made the style popular in the international community outside the Balkans.
The biggest brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
event in the world the Guča Trumpet Festival
Guca trumpet festival
The Guča trumpet festival, also known as the Dragačevo Assembly , is an annual brass band festival held in the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak , in the Dragačevo region of western Serbia. Guča is a three-hour bus journey from Belgrade....
is a 5-day annual festival with 300,000 visitors, in Guča
Guca
Guča is a small town in Serbia. It is situated in the Lučani municipality, Moravica District. The population of the town is 2,022 people. Guča is a three-hour bus journey from Belgrade...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
History
According to many scholars Balkan Brass Bands are imitations of Mehter music of Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
which then evolved in modern Ottoman military bands in 19th century. The eastern melancholic soul of the music is from the oriental melodies which can be seen still today in Turkish clarinet solos. The music's tradition stems from the First Serbian Uprising
First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...
led by Karageorge (Serbian revolution
Serbian revolution
Serbian revolution or Revolutionary Serbia refers to the national and social revolution of the Serbian people taking place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman province into a constitutional monarchy and a modern nation-state...
) when Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
rebelled against the occupying Ottoman Empire, eventually liberating Serbia after 345 years (Serbian Despotate
Serbian Despotate
The Serbian Despotate was a Serbian state, the last to be conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of the medieval Serbian state, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and Moravian Serbia survived for 70 more years,...
was conquered by June 20, 1459). The trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
was used as a military instrument to wake and gather soldiers and announce battles, the trumpet took on the role of entertainment during downtime, as soldiers used it to transpose popular folk songs. When the war ended, the soldiers returned to the rural life; the music entered civilian life and eventually became a common musical style, accompanying births, baptisms, weddings, Slava
Slava
The Slava , also called Krsna Slava and Krsno ime , is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the ritual celebration and veneration of a family's own patron saint. The family celebrates the Slava annually on the patron saint's feast day...
s (family patron saint day), farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and also departing this world. In 1831 the first official military band was formed by Prince Miloš
Miloš Obrenovic I, Prince of Serbia
Miloš Obrenović was Prince of Serbia from 1815 to 1839, and again from 1858 to 1860. He participated in the First Serbian Uprising, led Serbs in the Second Serbian Uprising, and founded the House of Obrenović...
.
Roma have adopted the tradition and enhanced the music.
Instrumentation
A brass band is primarily made up of a large number of musicians playing brass instrumentsBrass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
such as flugelhorns
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
, trumpets
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, alto horn
Alto horn
The alto horn is a brass instrument pitched in E...
s, helicon
Helicon
Mount Helicon is a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece, celebrated in Greek mythology. With an elevation of , it is located just off the Gulf of Corinth.-Greek mythology:...
s, euphoniums
Euphonium
The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
, tenor horns, tubas
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, baritone horns
Baritone horn
The baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...
and sometimes trombones
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
. Percussion is provided by snare drum
Snare
Snare may refer to:* Snare trap, a kind of trap used for capturing animals* Snare drum* SNARE , a family of proteins involved in vesicle fusion* The Snares, a group of islands approximately 200 kilometres south of New Zealand...
and bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
s, traditionally davuls
Davul
The davul or tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. It has many names depending on the country and region.-Names:Some names of davuls include:*tupan *davul...
(also known as tapan or goč) carried by the performers.
The music is usually instrumental although sometimes accompanied with singing. Common song forms include the čoček
Cocek
Čoček is a musical genre and dance that emerged in the Balkans during the early 19th century...
and the Kolo
Kolo (dance)
Kolo , is a collective folk dance, danced primarily by people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. It is performed amongst groups of people holding each other's having their hands around each other's waists...
.
Modern styles
Balkan Brass music has had a major impact on the world music scene. Introduced to western audiences through the films of Emir KusturicaEmir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
featuring soundtracks by Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
, it soon spread to European dancefloors spearheaded by DJ Robert Soko's "Balkan Beats" parties in Berlin, Germany.
Traditional bands from the Balkans like the Boban Marković Orkestar
Boban Markovic
Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader from Vladičin Han, frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans...
and from Romania as Fanfare Ciocărlia
Fanfare Ciocarlia
Fanfare Ciocărlia is a popular twelve-piece Romani brass band from the northeastern Romanian village of Zece Prăjini. The band began as a loose assemblage of part-time musicians playing at local weddings and baptisms. In October 1996, the German sound engineer and record producer Henry Ernst...
garnered worldwide attention while new bands like New York-based Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box is an Israeli musical group founded by Tamir Muskat, Ori Kaplan of Firewater and Big Lazy, and Tomer Yosef . As a musical project they often cooperate with a host of other musicians both in the studio as well as live...
or the Amsterdam Klezmer Band fused the Balkan sound with other genres like Klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
or Ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
. DJs and producers, most prominently Shantel
Shantel
Shantel, real name Stefan Hantel , is a German DJ and producer of Bukovina German Romanian descent, known for his work with gypsy brass orchestras, DJing and remixing traditional Balkan music with electronic beats...
from Germany, successfully mixed Balkan Brass with electronic beats.
Festivals
- Guča trumpet festivalGuca trumpet festivalThe Guča trumpet festival, also known as the Dragačevo Assembly , is an annual brass band festival held in the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak , in the Dragačevo region of western Serbia. Guča is a three-hour bus journey from Belgrade....
, largest trumpet festival in the world, every year for five days. - Balkan Trafik, a yearly three-day Balkan Brass festival in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium. - Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, a yearly two-day festival in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Balkan brass band music in the cinema
- Time of the GypsiesTime of the GypsiesTime of the Gypsies is a 1988 Yugoslav film by Serbian director Emir Kusturica. Filmed in Romani and Serbian, Time of the Gypsies tells the story of a young Romani man with magical powers who is tricked into engaging in petty crime...
(Dom za vešanje), 1988, Emir KusturicaEmir KusturicaEmir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films... - Underground, 1995, Emir Kusturica
- Black Cat, White CatBlack Cat, White CatBlack Cat, White Cat is a 1998 Yugoslav romantic comedy film directed by Emir Kusturica. It won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival....
, 1998, Emir Kusturica - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, 2006
- Trumpets' RepublicTrumpets' RepublicTrumpets’ Republic is a documentary film directed by Stefano Missio.-Synopsis:This is a film documentary on Serbia, and the horns and brass....
, 2006, Stefano MissioStefano MissioStefano Missio is an Italian filmmakerHe has made various documentaries among which When Italy was not a poor country, about Italy in the 1960s narrated by Joris Ivens and Scusi, dov'è il Nord Est? produced by Fandango and On Line Productions for Arte and broadcast in Italy by Tele+...
and Alessandro Gori - Guca!, 2006, Dusan Milic
Notable Balkan brass bands
- Boban MarkovićBoban MarkovicBoban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader from Vladičin Han, frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans...
- Zeljko BebekŽeljko BebekŽelimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
- Goran BregovićGoran BregovicGoran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
- Orkestar Zirkonium, Seattle
- Kocani OrkestarKocani OrkestarKočani orkestar also credited under the names: Kocani orkestar, Kocani Orchestra, Kochani orkestar and Kochani Orchestra is a Macedonian Romani brass band from Kočani, Macedonia led by Naat Veliov .Kočani orkestar are among the funkiest exponents of the Balkan brass band style which is found across...
- Fanfare CiocărliaFanfare CiocarliaFanfare Ciocărlia is a popular twelve-piece Romani brass band from the northeastern Romanian village of Zece Prăjini. The band began as a loose assemblage of part-time musicians playing at local weddings and baptisms. In October 1996, the German sound engineer and record producer Henry Ernst...
- Zlatne Uste
- Slavic Soul Party!
- Raya Brass Band
- Fejat Sejdić
- Aistaguca (UK)