Balkan Brass Band
| Balkan brass music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Military music, Folk music |
| Cultural origins | 19th century Serbia |
| Typical instruments | Brass instruments |
| Subgenres | |
| Booty Balkan | |
Balkan brass, popularly known by the Serbian name Truba (Serbian Cyrillic: Труба, "trumpet"), is a distinctive style of music originating in 19th-century Serbia when trumpeters in the military transcribed folk music during harsh times. It is popular throughout the Balkans, especially Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The beats are usually fast and often accompanied by kolo, a dance. The performers each have their instrument of the orchestra and are called trubači (трубачи). Some of 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.
According to many scholars the music genre are imitations of the Mehter music of Ottoman Empire 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. Given the fact that Serbia was once under Ottoman rule, the Balkan brass band tradition is often descended from these bands.
The music's tradition stems from the First Serbian Uprising led by Karageorge in 1815 (Serbian revolution) when Serbs revolted against the occupying Ottoman Empire, eventually liberating Serbia. 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, the slava (family patron saint day), farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and during funerals of family members in the community. In 1831 the first official military band was formed by Prince Miloš in Belgrade for use in the Serbian Armed Forces. Roma have since adopted the tradition.
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Wikipedia