Balkan Brass World

- Ajde Braćo: The Ajde Braćo orchestra was formed in 2005. It was founded by young folk and jazz musicians from Hungary to tribute and bow in front of the music and rhythm of the south Serbian and Macedonian area. The band's songs originate from Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, Romanian, Serbian and Gypsy culture, keeping the traditions with all respect. Read more...

- Amsterdam Klezmer Band: The Amsterdam Klezmer Band (AKB) is an energetic and poetic stage-act consisting of 7 musicians that have charmed an international audience for over 10 years. Their music is a very lively and refreshing mix of Eastern European styles that transcends traditional Balkan and Klezmer music. Read more...

- Boban Marković Orchestra: The Boban Marković Orchestra has been the leading Balkan Brass Band in Serbia over the last 17 years. They are from Vladičin Han, Southern Serbia, which is obviously heard in their music. They have won several of the most important prizes ("Golden Trumpet", "First Trumpet" and "The Best Orchestra") at the Guča trumpet festival. Read more...

- The Bolting Brassicas Marching Band: The story of the Bolting Brassicas from tiny Lasqueti Island is not the story of your everyday Balkan Gypsy Klezmer Marching Brass Band from any remote community. Read more...

- Boris Kovač: Boris Kovač is a composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist from Novi Sad, capital of the multi ethnic region Vojvodina in former Yugoslavia. Read more...

- Fanfara Tirana: Fanfara Tirana is an absolute novelty among Balkan brass bands. Although brass instruments are not entirely unknown in Albania, there has never been the equivalent of the local village or small town brass bands playing local music for weddings and other festivities, which are part of the musical landscape of many of its neighbouring countries. Read more...

- Fanfare Ciocărlia: Fanfare Ciocărlia (alternate spelling Ciocârlia) is a popular twelve-piece Roma 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 visited Zece Prajini and convinced a number of the musicians there to assemble a touring band. Since their discovery by Ernst, who serves as their manager, they have played more than thousand concerts in more than 50 countries across the globe. Read more...

- Fanfare Shukar: Costicã Panþiru and 9 of his relatives (brothers, sons, sons-in-law…) form the Fanfara Sukar (Sukar Brass Band). Costicã is one of Romania's best known brass band leaders. Read more...

- Fanfare Zimbrul: Their tempo is breathtakingly fast, their instruments dented and beloved, and their music gets you off your feet: the up-to 13 person Romanian Gypsy brass band from Chetris (a tiny village having less than two hundred Gypsy inhabitants) is the number one address in their hometown for births, weddings and funerals. Read more...

- Haïdouti Orkestar: The original soundtrack of the greatest Balkan fêtes! Sound and image... Cast : some of the best traditional musicians in the Balkans - Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Rumania and Turkey - without forgetting the influence of the tsigane soul. Read more...

- Kumpania Algazarra: Their music is nomad, multilingual and universal. They're influenced by a kaleidoscopic sonority: Balkan furor, Arabic drifting, Latin warmth, Afro-Beat refinement, and explosions of Turbo folk and Ska.
The result of this variety of influences, brought together by a unique and original fusion process, is an energetic and contagious moment. Their lyrics invite to a reflection about the inhuman state of the world, and stimulate individual liberation. This musical project brings freshness and enriches the world music made in Portugal, extinguishing geographical and age limits. Read more...

- Max Pashm: The ‘Max Pashm’ sound is a unique blend of Klezmer, Balkan, Greek, Gypsy Punk with blistering electronic beats. A daring and perfect marriage fusing the old traditions with the new and cutting edge sounds of today and the future. Read more...

- Molotow Brass Orkestar: Six friends who happened to study music in Bern sat together and started to rediscover songs they knew from their childhood. Read more...

- Municipale Balcanica: Municipale Balcanica was founded in 2003 and, after substantial live activity, released their debut album "Fòua" in 2005 on the Italian Ethnoworld label. On their debut Municipale Balcanica mix Tzigane, Yiddish Klezmer and Eastern European sounds and the most radical and warm music from their homeland, Puglia, in southern Italy. The cd soon draws international attention. The prestigious journal International Folk World, assessed MB's 'Hava Nagila' as "one of the best interpretations heard among thousands of the last three decades." Read more...

- OffChestra: OffChestra is an orchestra formed by professional instrumentalists, which performs Albanian and Balkan music through the rhythms of blues, jazz and many other music elements of different musical genres from all around the world. Read more...

- Orkestar Slivovica: Take your normal brass marching band, embalm them in plum brandy, ship them to a Roma village in Serbia for a year, force them to watch every Emir Kusterica film 100 times, bring them back to Vancouver and set them loose on an underground rave party. Something like that. Read more...

- Orkestar Zirkonium: Orkestar Zirkonium is a Balkan-inspired mobile brass-and-drum band cast through an American lens. Their repertoire includes songs on loan from Eastern Europe's phenomenal brass band tradition, as well as a number of original compositions. Read more...

- Orkestra del Sol: Orkestra del Sol formed in 2004, playing music from far and wide – Bucharest, and Bogota, Havana and Helsinki - and performing at street festivals in Scotland. In the subsequent years their reputation for fast and furious brass-led dance music has taken them across the world to perform at street festivals, music festivals and reputable music venues. Read more...

- Robert Soko [Balkan Beats]: Robert Soko has been throwing parties in Berlin since 1993. He was the first to coin the term Balkan Beats to try and define the mix of music from the Balkans Serbian Gypsy brass, ska and ethno rock. Balkan Beats is folk melodies reinterpreted, given electronic beats and blended with western styles. Read more...

- Shukar Collective: Shukar Collective is a Romanian act, an electro-dance band, a world-music idea, an audio-visual project, a mix of generations of musicians, a re-arranging of traditional Romanian and Rroma sounds, or an eclectic mixture of spoons, wooden barrels, violins, accordions, bass, roots vocals, samples, sequencers, loops, scratches, turntables and beats. Read more...

- Sirba: Sirba don’t aspire to be your conventional band, they rather use tuba instead of double bass, and mandolin instead of accordion. Margareta Schiller-Kleemann on tuba, and Michael Kleemann on strings, are the foundation on which Barbara Keil relies for her soprano-saxophone, accompanied by Armin Tichai on percussion. Read more...

- Slavic Soul Party!: Fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, Gypsy accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz chops: Slavic Soul Party! is New York's official #1 brass band for BalkanSoul GypsyFunk. Ten people strong SSP! makes new music out of the unplanned results of immigration, proximity, and globalization by pumping a strong Balkan brass sound through the filter of life in New York. Read more...

- Soluna: Since 2006 Soluna works on a set of traditional songs from the Balkans, the southeast of Europe, in which the various influences of different cultures manifested a rich musical tradition. Read more...

- STriCat: STriCat is a balkan jazz trio from the Netherlands. Formed in 2006, its members are trumpet player Gijs Levelt, accordionist Theo van Tol and cymbalist Bokkie Vink. Their original and virtuosic blend of Romanian folk music and jazz appeals to both jazz and world music audiences. Read more...

- Süperstar Orkestar: Süperstar Orkestar is a wind-band from Stockholm, Sweden, with party music from Macedonia and Serbia on their repertoire. The orchestra was founded in 1997 and had its big breakthrough around the same time as Emir Kusturica's movie "Black cat - White cat" was shown in Sweden. The orchestra has a varied repertoare, featuring coceks, kolos and their own compositions. Read more...

- Trans-Siberian March Band: A band the likes of which you will certainly not have seen before, the Trans-Siberian March Band (TSMB) are a riot of colour and sound and have been described as “The Sex Pistols of Balkan Brass”. Read more...

- Zig Zag Orchestra: The Zig Zag Orchestra is a musical formation lead by the Albanian guitar player and composer, Dren Abazi. Each member of the orchestra is an experienced musician, involved in various bands and musical projects in Kosovo and abroad. Read more...