Slobodan Trkulja

Slobodan Trkulja
Slobodan Trkulja in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Slobodan Trkulja
Born	(1977-05-29) May 29, 1977 (age 40) Odžaci, Serbia
Genres	Modern Balkan tradition, arena rock, orchestral, avantgard pop, rock, Byzantine chants, pop,
Instruments	Clarinet Bagpipes Diple Double flute () Kaval Flute Acoustic Guitar Tenor Saxophone Drum Kit Armenian Duduk Ocarina Alto Saxophone Soprano Saxophone
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Balkanopolis CMT
Associated acts	David Rhodes, John Giblin, Tony Levin and Metropole Orchestra (NL) Byzantium choir of St. Archangel Gabriel Monastery in Kovilj, Serbia,

Slobodan Trkulja (born May 29, 1977) is a Serbian multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer in traditional and Byzantium style. Trkulja is one of the first artists who composed, performed, and popularized Balkan Traditional Music with a modern approach in arrangements. He is the founder of the Modern Balkan Tradition music genre, although he is most famous for his collaboration with Metropole Orchestra from Netherlands in 2008. Aside from playing 13 instruments, Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad called him "one of the most beautiful male voices of the Balkan." He had no formal music training until 1997, but attended a public high school in Sremski Karlovci. Slobodan moved to Netherlands in 1997, and returned to Serbia in 2008, where he has been since.

Trkulja was born in Odžaci on May 29, 1977. At the age of 10 he taught himself to play the clarinet. After clarinet, Slobodan learned to play dozen more instruments in the next eight years. At the age of 14, he started playing in the professional folk ensemble Kolo in Belgrade. In less than a year he was announced the best instrumentalist at the "Festival of Music Societies of Vojvodina". He spent the next four years focusing on his high school education and performing with Kolo. In 1998 Slobodan went to Amsterdam, where he studied at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Saxophone Department, an instrument which he had played less than a year and a half at that point. In 1999, right before the NATO bombing of Serbia, he returned to his homeland and postponed his education until the end of the war. Trkulja continued with his studies in February 2000. In 2004 he graduated, and three years later he received his Master’s Degree of Arts with honors and an award for his MA concert.