Serbia a call - film documentary by Dylan Harvey 2008

Princes amongs men - Journey with gypsy musicians by Garth Cartwright

READ ON LINE Princes amongst men

"Back in the early 90s," writes Garth Cartwright, "I chose the Taraf over techno, Esma over Oasis." In this excellent survey of Roma musicians in the Balkans, Cartwright interviews Esma, Taraf and about 20 other bands and musicians, talking his way into their houses and parties, quickly discovering that their crazed nights and chaotic lives make the Gallagher brothers look like innocent little things.

Taraf de Haïdouks are a Roma band, based in Romania, famous for their wild gigs. Taken to play in Switzerland by a Belgian entrepreneur, the Taraf suddenly found themselves thrust into international stardom. They performed for Johnny Depp, then toured with the Kronos Quartet, but couldn't adjust their style; unable to read music or even play the same tune twice, they would disappear on inspired improvisations, leaving Kronos far behind. When Cartwright visits the Taraf, one of them tries to sell him a violin. Another, dapperly dressed in designer clothes, shows off the home that he shares with his wife and two kids - a one-room shack, barely big enough to house a double bed and a wood stove.

Esma Redzepova Teodosievska is a Roma who is also Iraqi, Albanian, Macedonian, Jewish and Muslim. She's fluent in Romani, Macedonian, Serbian and Turkish. A professional singer from the age of 12, she performed for Tito, Gaddafi and Nehru, raised 47 adopted children, campaigns for political reform and has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize twice. According to Cartwright, she is also "amongst the 20th century's most potent singers, the raw, eerie beauty of her voice commensurate with the gospel cry and the imam's call to prayer".

Wherever Cartwright goes, whoever he meets, they seem to be united in their dislike of one person: Goran Bregovic. Through his work on Emir Kusturica's movies - Time of the Gypsies and Underground - Bregovic has been responsible for popularising Roma music. But the Gypsies feel cheated. Again and again, people complain that Kusturica has shown a fake picture of Gypsy life and Bregovic has stolen their music without giving anything in return. According to Cartwright, "Bregovic toured the west playing a pastiche that had critics too lazy to listen to Balkan music acclaim him as a composer of genius." More likely, Bregovic simply had the skills necessary for a commercially successful musician -contacts, business savvy, good cheekbones - whereas many of the Gypsies just play great music.

Cartwright plunges through Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania, pursuing tunes. To capture his passion, he uses a manic prose style, frothing with energy, swinging from panic and confusion to exuberance and complete loss of control. "Girls dance across the square, men stand on rooftops, the atmosphere is relaxed, easy, festive. And then the fires start. A tractor tyre's soaked in gasoline. Snap. Crackle. Pop. Booooooooom. Dense flame. Harsh fumes. Toxic smoke. On they come, the Gypsy zombies, wired on glue and rakija - Here we are now, entertain us! - feeling their way into the night ... "

Up to you, really, whether you find this exhilarating or infuriating. I like it, and I can't help admiring Cartwright's refusal to be objective. He is never cold or dispassionate. He's often drunk, sometimes stoned, occasionally out of control. Now and then he can do nothing but shake his head in astonishment. "Never underestimate the Balkans' ability to deliver the absurd." From most writers, this would seem like a confession of failure, perhaps even a lazy insult, resorting to tired generalisations about the Balkans. But Cartwright's honesty is disarmingly charming, and it's difficult to find anything patronising in someone who writes: "Believe: the band are good. Let me say that again: the band are good, damn, they're cooking!"

The least successful parts of the book are Cartwright's occasional diversions into historical or political analysis. He lacks the depth of knowledge, or even the language, for objective discussions of racism, the Holocaust or the EU's policies. He's far better when he sticks to his own experiences, avoiding generalisations. What distinguishes Cartwright is his style, his verve and his whole-hearted engagement with his subject. The final few pages list about 80 CDs and 20 films by and about Balkan Gypsies; having read the book, you'll find yourself rushing out to buy them.


***
Garth a dear and sympatic person with supprising understanding of gypsy phylosophy for someone from New Zeeland, has been my guest during the festival in Guca in 2002. He needed few days to figure out that half of Guca call me a devil and half of it makes an angel of me. 

Documentarni Film Tuzna Morava / Sad River Morava 2011

Autori filma Srboljub Pesic i Ilija Stankovic su tokom proljeca 2011 hitnom akcijom organizirali spustanje camcem niz tok Juzne Morave kada je regionalno nereseni problem organiziranog odvozenja djubreta pokazao svu velicinu  posle poplava na Jugu Srbije, Istoku Kosova i Sjeveru Makedonije odakle poticu rijeke u slivu Juzne Morave.

Uz pomoc specijalnih jedinica policije i vatrogasaca snimljena je ekoloska katastrofa koja je posle trenutnog prikazivanja na socijalnim mrezama izazvala bijes i lavinu negativnih komentara u Srbiji ali i u susednim zemljama Balkana u kojima je slicna situacija. Cinjenice da je snimateljska ekipa zadobila teske infekcije koze tokom snimanja bila je kap u casi odluke da se preduzme siroka kampanja u medijima. Uplasivsi se od cinjenice da su bukvalno svi stampani mediji i oko 600 web sajtova preneli link sa filmom a zatim i sve Tv stanice u Srbiji film prikazale po nekoliko puta, lokalni festival dokumentarnog filma (BeoDocs) film prikazivali pre svake oficijelne projekcije (176 puta), Srbijansko Ministarsto za Ekologiju hitno improvizira ogromnu akciju ciscenja toka Juzne Morave. Sakuplja se ogromna grupa muzicara (75) koja u roku od tri dana snima muzicku temu ovog filma i formira se mreza ekoloskih organizacija koje kroz suradnju na promociji problema, formiraju mrezu za uzbunjivanje EKOAlarmTV. 

Film je skolski primjer gradjanskog aktivizma kojim se moze spreciti dalje unistenje planete i pokrenuti pucanstvo u zajednicku akciju.

Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Bootlegs released in Serbia during the war and music piracy times 1990-2008

Gypsy Groovz Orchestra on International Music Compilations 2001-2010

First appearance of Gypsy Groovz

Ekrem Sajdic, Ninoslav Demirovic, Dzafer Kurtic trumpets Aca Raimovic, Srba Raimovic reeds Trajce Asanovic, Dragan Muslic, Aca Baterovic, Jemin Zecirovic, Branislav Sajdic tubas Siristar Kurtic, Nezet Asanovic, Goran Milosevic drums, percussion Special Guests: Dusko Goykovich solo trumpet, Ramesh Shotham Percussions lija Stankovic Project Design & Executive Producer

1. PROCVETALO NEBO (Blooming Sky ) 4:56 2. COCEK MAJKA (Mother Of The Chochek) 4:22 3. IGRA PROCISCENJA (Cleansing Dance) 2:46 4. REKA ZELJA (Water Of The Will) 5:35 5. COCEK SRECE (Chochek Of Happiness) 5:58 6. DANGUBA (The Poke) 4:20 7. MOLITVA (Prayer) 4:32 8. CIGANSKO VESELJE (Gypsy Groove Party) 4:40 9. COCEK STRASTI (Chochek Of Passion) 6:13 10. GRESNICA (Sinful Woman) 3:17 11. LJUBAVNI RITAM (Rhythm Of Love) 6:10 12. SRCU MOME RADOSTI (Joy To My Heart) 5:51  In Vranjska Banja, a Roman-Gypsy village of about 600 families, situated in the border region between Serbia and Kosovo, music is played from generation to generation in order to survive. These people's lives are shaped around music. Their song is a universal explanation of life, their only true passion, their way of remembering and keeping the families together. Gypsy Groovz, the orchestra of Vranjska Banja's Ekrem Sajdic, has been selected as the most authentic live band in the history of the "Golden Brass Summit", a music festival that has taken place in Guca/Serbia for 41 years, being called "Serbian Woodstock". Every year in August, hundreds of thousands of people meet in Guca for the biggest brass party in the world. Dozens of bands try to win the title of the "Golden Trumpet" that guarantees them the best-paid gigs and gypsy weddings in the following year. The clue in the selection of this particular band was the warmth of their music and its ability to transfer emotions into the eruption of positive feelings. The tunes on "Rivers Of Happiness" are played in a private or improvised style and represent the cheeriest rarity for the music gourmet. When recording this CD the fellows were in a very good mood for being able to incorporate live improvisations by Dusko Goykovich whom they met for the first time. Goykovich who had been dreaming about this for forty years was in a boyish mood and fresh as ever despite his seventy years. At the beginning both parties held back in mutual estimation but during the recording this changed into a creative explosion with laughter and cheering. An old bebop fox when it comes to improvisation, Goykovich very soon found his place in the music profile of the orchestra but stayed loyal to his own way of playing. In the music of Gypsy Groovz you can hear the historical relations to Indian ragas, Sufi trance music, Egyptian and Armenian melodies, Turkish, Bulgarian and Macedonian patterns, the temper of Spanish flamenco, Sardinian and Dalmatian melodic polyphony, Serbian and Romanian love for variation. Ramesh Shotham, the Indian percussion player from Madras, had never met Ekrem's orchestra before but immediately recognized their story and their music as his own - and added a touch of the ancient Gypsies' Indian roots. Vranjska Banja ist ein 600-Familien-Dorf der Roma im Grenzgebiet zwischen Kosovo und Serbien. Dort dreht sich alles um Musik: Sie bedeutet diesen Menschen seit Generationen Lebensphilosophie, Leidenschaft, Erinnerung, Überlebensstrategie und Zusammenhalt. Gypsy Groovz, Ekrem Sajdics Orchester aus Vranjska Banja, wurde vor kurzem zur authentischsten Live-Band in der Geschichte des "Golden Brass Summit" gewählt. Dieses Festival, auch "Serbisches Woodstock" genannt, findet seit über 40 Jahren im serbischen Guca statt. Dort kommen jedes Jahr im August Hunderttausende Menschen zur größten Brass Party der Welt zusammen. Dutzende von Bands versuchen dabei den Titel "Goldene Trompete" zu gewinnen, der für das folgende Jahr die bestbezahlten Engagements und Zigeunerhochzeiten sichert. Warum wurden die Gypsy Groovz dort ganz besonders ausgezeichnet? Der Grund ist die Wärme ihrer Musik – ihre Fähigkeit, im Hörer positive Gefühle zu wecken und zum Vibrieren zu bringen. Die Stücke auf "Rivers Of Happiness" sind in einem lockeren, improvisierten Stil gespielt und stellen daher eine wertvolle Rarität dar. Bei der Aufnahme der CD waren die Musiker in ausnehmend guter Laune, arbeiteten sie doch zum ersten Mal mit dem weltberühmten Jazz-Trompeter Dusko Goykovich zusammen, der live zu ihrer Musik solierte. Von einem solchen Projekt hatte Goykovich seit 40 Jahren geträumt – und war dementsprechend trotz seiner 70 Jahre in einer jungenhaften und unternehmungslustigen Stimmung. Im Lauf der Aufnahme kam es zur kreativen Explosion, untermalt von Gelächter und Jubel. Aus der Musik der Gypsy Groovz hört man die historische Verwandtschaft der Roma-Tradition zu indischen Ragas, zur Trance-Musik der Sufis, zu ägyptischen und armenischen Melodien, türkischen, bulgarischen und mazedonischen Rhythmen, zur Stimmung des spanischen Flamenco, zur sardischen und dalmatinischen Polyphonie, zur serbischen und rumänischen Variationslust. Ramesh Shotham, der indische Perkussionist aus Madras, hatte Ekrems Orchester nie zuvor gehört, aber erkannte in ihrer Geschichte und Musik seine eigene. Und gab einen Schuss indischer Gypsy-Roots hinzu. ON LINE SHOP: Enja Records Munich

The choice of the World Music Don Chicho

World Ballads

Network medien 2009
Compilation by Christian Scholze

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GYPSY GROOVZ ORCHESTRA: : By the creek of the hot water

Ballads are a peaceful oasis in today’s noisy world.

We are plagued by the sound of all kinds of engines. On television we hear excited dialogues conducted in a limited vocabulary, advertise-ments in a loud, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle command tone; on the radio the same poorly-balanced old hits or else a constant background noise whose absence we only begin to really notice on a peaceful island or in the desert.

Ballads are an invitation to dream, smooch, doze, fantasize, reflect, to drift through landscapes, to indulge ideas and sometimes to enjoy a small festival of idleness.

Ballads can deeply move us, can stir that sensual goose-pimple feeling. Music and emotion: a delicate topic. None of the explanations as to why music moves us, more or less, is really appo-site.

Much research has meantime been done on the subject – be that neuro-physiological studies linking musical-syntactical processes with emotional appraisals in the orbitofrontal cortex, or analyses from a biochemical, psychobiological, behaviourist viewpoint. The findings are not very satisfying. Little wonder! It’s impossible to reduce this complex phenomenon to individual quantifiable variables. Let us keep this wonderful secret!

In an essay on “Music and Emotion” (in Bruhn, Kopiez, Lehmann Musikpsychologie, Reinbek 2008) in which he evaluates the dif-ferent research approaches and findings, Gunter Kreutz comes to the following astonishing con-clusion:

“It is to be assumed that music has its greatest impact when it succeeds in getting people to gather in peaceful communities and behave considerately towards one another.”

30 years of Netwok Medien Frankfurt, Germany

Fiesta Balkanica

Network Medien 2009
Compilation by Christian Scholze

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GYPSY GROOVZ ORCHESTRA: HOT WATER FESTIVAL VI

In the Balkan countries you are unlikely to come upon concert situations where a silent audience sits devoutly listening to the music.

Here, festivals and concerts have a dynamic of their very own: musicians and audience quickly interact and mutually rouse each others spirits. Sometimes this can result in wild ecstasy, irrespective of whether it is in a larger concert hall or a more intimate circle of friends or family.

The experience can even take on a sacred aspect, fading out everyday life. In the course of it, direct physical contact among members of the audience and between audience and musicians increases. Donations of money to the musicians are altogether customary, be it out of respect, gratitude and admiration, be it in a state of intoxicated delight.

I have often witnessed musicians playing in front of a great pile of banknotes or trumpeters having to interrupt their solo to remove banknotes from the instrument’s opening.

Politico-cultural laws aimed at preserving the purity of local traditions have no chance in the Balkan countries. Musicians, indeed music, are not interested in political delineations and wrangling; on the contrary, intercultural influences and cross-border sessions are common.

The Winner of the prize Deutche Schalllatten Kritik 2002

Golden Brass Summit / Fanfares en délire

                     Network Medien Frankfurt 2002

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Every summer, the town of Guca in Serbia hosts an amazing and utterly unique brass festival in which as many as four hundred brass bands – regional winners chosen from twice that number in previous heats – compete for the coveted prize of the Golden Trumpet. The festival attracts crowds of 500,000 and seals the fortunes of the winners – at least until the next competition comes around – because the best are in huge demand to play at the biggest weddings and other major celebrations. Most of the prizes are carried away by the virtuoso Gypsy musicians.

Golden Brass Summit is a retrospective survey of the finest work of the past forty years, selected from some 1300 recordings in the archives of the House of Culture in Guca. Many of these recordings have never been published before. This double CD is an anthology of musical styles ranging from emotive ballads with imaginative solo passages to the irresistible sound of the exhilarating Gypsy dance “Cocek”. The album also includes some of the music that can be heard on the fringes of the festival: polyphonic singing, accordion, violin and flute – and young trumpet players who can hardly be seen behind their instrument. This is a musical rarity that will enthral not only lovers of brass bands and unusual Balkan rhythms. Featuring Boban Markovic, Dusan Radetic, Fejat Sejdic, Milan Nikolic, Nani Ajdinovic, Ljubisa Stamenkovic, Jovica Ajdarevic, Bakija Bakic, Slobodan Salijevic, Milovan Babic, Durmis Ismailovic, Ekrem Sajdic, Meka Ajdinoic, Sinisa Stankovic – all with their “orkestars” and Milicia Stosic, Paganke, Spasoje Jovic, Vica Choir, Ferus Mustafov, Budimir Ilic, Aca Novkovic.

The best voted World Music band on the planet in Music Magazine Songlines 2010

 Gypsy Groovz Orchestra goes Tutti Mundi

              On the night-train for lovers and thieves 

                                           Netwok Medien Frankfurt 2009

                 

Watching the fantastic footage of the Guca Festival (Network Medien DVD FiestaMania) – especially the rip-roaring jam sessions on the fringe of the official performances – festival organiser Ilija Stankovic and Network Medien producer Christian Scholze came up with the idea of creating a space where the energy and exuberance of these powerful musical get-togethers could be given free rein beyond the framework of the actual competition.

So here, on the one hand, was a festival organiser who had always wanted to bring a greater sense of togetherness to the diversity of the Guca competition and, on the other, a record company chief constantly in search of new boundaries to cross. Two men with one shared dream – and it came true. Ekrem Sajdic, the leading authority and oldest band leader among the trumpet players of Guca, was no less enthusiastic. For him, the enormous sensual power of the musical spirit is something that cannot be captured in a sound-proofed studio. He has always felt that music is far more than just a sequence of sounds: it is an expression of life itself. All three felt that it was time to counter the ubiquitous clichés of bland common-time rhythms by showcasing some of the deeper-rooted ancient rituals of Balkan music – the only way to convey and understand the true emotional depth and passion of this culture.

In the impoverished south of Serbia, music is a way of defying the hardships of life. Following Ekrem’s first CD, it is to be hoped that the attention of an international audience will be drawn to the difficult situation in this crisis-ridden region. The musicians are not playing for fame and fortune; they are playing, in these utterly magical recordings, against ignorance and forgetting.

It all happened in the little village of Vranjska Banja near the border with Kosovo. Practically everyone here is a musician, and no matter where you are, you can almost always hear music coming from at least three different directions. So choosing the musicians for this project was no easy task. At first, a few band leaders were invited to play with Ekrem’s band, but then everybody wanted to come along and join in. More and more complete ensembles kept turning up with their instruments. Nothing, not even snowbound roads and plummeting temperatures, could keep them at home.

The session was held in a nineteenth century hotel – the only building big enough to accommodate so many musicians. The dining room was turned into a recording studio. Resourceful local women rustled up meals for us and the tradesmen renovating the hotel downed tools to share their slivovitz with us. Outside, the shells of cluster bombs still lay scattered. Inside, the spirits of ancient Serbian kings seemed to come alive and enjoy the warm atmosphere. This is one building that is actually heated by the nearby thermal springs – a source of alternative energy still being largely wasted in spite of urgent calls, and even protests, for it to be harnessed. But here, in a thick cloud of cigarette smoke, among mountains of empty bottles, there is little room for political correctness. Local restaurants support our musical project with copious quantities of cevapcici and other delicacies, and the smell of pickled cabbage wafts around the recording sessions. Even the hotel bar stays open to keep us supplied with drinks while we work late into the night. The moon and Saturn are in the right constellation. Proud to be among the chosen ones, the musicians refuse to accept any further payment once the budget has run out – a humbling gesture in a region with more than 50% unemployment. The project takes on a dynamic of its own as the whole place embraces this remarkable musical experience. The musicians are completely devoted to the task. They play as though their lives depended on it. When it proves unfeasible to repeat individual recordings, new ideas start coming thick and fast: little musical flourishes woven into witty and tantalising passages brighten the room with myriad tonal hues. Everyone senses that something extraordinary is happening. Participants and visitors alike stay for days and nights on end. We are fuelled by a constant stream of Turkish coffee. Gypsy women send their children back and forth to bring us cakes, toothbrushes, clean clothes – and the world outside is all but forgotten.

“Hot Water Festival”, recorded in two sessions, is probably the longest piece in the history of Gypsy music: a 35-minute marathon weaving together the most unlikely combination of melodies that are nevertheless rooted in one and the same ancient tradition. This musical epiphany proves yet again just how brilliantly the Gypsies can mediate between different cultures. Even the politicians present were rendered speechless – completely carried away by this musical catharsis in which rhythms and melodies are brought together with an unfettered freedom that is quite simply irresistible. National animosities are swept aside with an ease that no politician or paper treaty could ever achieve. This is the kind of universal freedom that everyone can understand and celebrate. The rousing Hot Water Festival track in all its complex virtuosity is embedded among heart-rending ballads, creating a contrast that mirrors the extremes of the Balkan soul: ecstastic joy and plaintive yearning.

Admittedly, the recording process was something of a risk, because the musicians did not know which artists would be joining them and it was not always easy for them to set aside their musical rivalry. Time and again, they called for specific directions so that they could show off their skills with even greater virtuosity. A freely improvised jam session on this scale was unfamiliar territory. At first, there were ideas of where they should be heading, but in the end, the journey itself became the destination. Everything seemed to start out quite simply, with the occasional sudden solo or ecstatic outburst, fading into a gentle lament. But, quite unforeseeably, a musical atmosphere built up that was charged with excitement in this alternation between psychedelic trance, free improvisation and age-old tradition. An exhilarating, impassioned outpouring of ideas welled into an ocean of brass sounds on which the old hotel and all those in it sailed away from the murky shores of reality to a world where the universal truth of human kinship reigns. The test recordings, when nobody except Ekrem Sajdic had any idea what might come of it all, were pure dynamite. Not one of the tracks on this album had to be recorded a second time. 

All the constraints of strict musical arrangements were abandoned; the pleasingly idiosyncratic little “imperfections” of Roma music were embraced and there was a real sense of questing for originality and edginess. This was music that went beyond the bounds of the traditional Guca Festival. Nobody was fighting for first place in a solo performance. Bass and tenor tubas shared their solos. Everyone was working together to get the best musical sound and there was no competition for the Golden Trumpet. Freestyle took precedence over rules and regulations.

Encouraged and exhilarated, we posted this musical party on the web. Many musicians from all over the world suddenly felt inspired to send us their own suggestions and ideas. First there was a group of ten Rastafarians from Trinidad, headed by Gerald and David Achee from New York. Then we heard from Gurdial Singh Namdhari, a Punjabi sitar player. A group from Persepolis got in touch, as did a frame-drum percussionist from Haifa, and Irish and American musicians sent in their own recordings. Various instrumentalists from Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina rounded off this collection of recordings from no fewer than fifteen countries.

Finally, senior politicians from Vranje invited us to a “First Hot Springs Jam Session “, as an antidote to Serbia’s social crises, as a sign and a call to harness the sustainable natural energy of the thermal springs instead of destroying the region’s forests. Thanks to all those people whose boundless imagination and energy made us feel like one big musical family!

This music is not for those who steal our hearts, for – in the bigger scheme of things – this planet needs us all as lovers.

Gypsy Groovz Orchestra - participating orchestras:

Ekrem & Gypsy groovz, Elvis Ajdinovic Orchestra, Nenad Mladenovic Orchestra, Slobodan Salijevic Orchestra, Bakija Bakic Orchestra, Aleksandar Avdic Orchestra all from Serbia, Vilage Drummers od Freedom / Trinidad

Soloist Personnel: Ekrem Sajdic , Elvis Ajdinovic, Bozidar Nikolic , Milan Nikolic Dzafer Kurtic, Ninoslav Cerimovic , Nezat Becirovic , Samir Ajdinovic , (trumpets) Hrvoje Cokaric (trombone); Danijel Demirovic , Srbestijan Ajdinovic , Ivica Mustafovic , Backo Dragic (tuba); Nenad Pejkovic , Petar Maric (accordion); Aca Raimovic, Fabian Demirovic (clarinet); Srba Raimovic, Momcilo Krstic (alto saxophone); Srdjan Ajdinovic, Trajce Bakic, Dragan Zecirovic (bass drum) Dejan Spasic (double bass);; Nebojsa Selistarevic , Tahir Kurtic (acoustic guitar); Dr. Srdjan Tomic (balalaika); Goran Spasic (saz); Dawoud Kringle (sitar, dilruba); Gurdial Singh Namdhari (sitar); Maestro Belca, Miroslav Selistarevic , Melanija Cica Stankovic (violin); Dabdoub Hatumi (frame drum); David Achee, Gerald Achee (percussion).

Music Arrangements and Production: Ilija Stankovic, Sound Engineers: Aleksandar Buzadzic; Marko Jovanovic.Audio Mixer: Radu Marinescu.Liner Note Author: Ilija Stankovic.Recording information: RES Media Novi Sad; Underground Belgrade, Serbia.Photographers: Dragoljub Zamurovic, Prammer Herwig ; Ilija Stankovic; Gigi Markovic .Translator: Isabelle Jue. 

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The history of the biggest brass band festival on the world

Fiesta Mania DVD (86:14) 

Network Medien Frankfurt 2009

An of four films “Golden Brass Summit” FiestaMania! – an authentic documentary life project filmed for eight years by Producer Ilija Stankovic who already produced Anthology 40 years of Golden Brass Summit previously released on Network Medien 2001. After years of focused work on Balkan brass music he followed brass bands by all their means and lived with them, awaiting for the rare bright moments to happen’. 72 fascinating video cameras and all kinds of modern TV production technology, captured over 500 hours of video material and tried to see everything what author validate as important: from group mass scene of 400 musicians to an individual lonely plays of the single and rare acts. No scene was pre arranged for a camera, no dialog was written. Everything is 100% authentic as it is but in the vision of the author – how it is supposed to be if Serbia would not be the source of the negative vibrations that recently, over the past 20 years resulted with the war. So, alone camera man was in search of the spiritual beauty but at the same time author produced 14 big concerts that were filmed as Serbian Woodstock – an events of collective catharsis of the biggest brass festival in the world that has been seen in full program by at least 60 million TV viewers.

This film does not have words because words would be needless to explain this phenomenon of the positive energy where the people from all around the world come for the pilgrimage to get new energy for the rest of their life. This is the film about a phenomenon that has to be felt, not explained, that does not need scientific approaches because music in the full meaning of this sense speaks itself as universal language that is understandable to everyone. If it is up to the musicians and Author of this festival there would be no war in former Yugoslavia . This is the film of respect of all the people who played on this festival who were brought back into the film to play with their own bands again and stay remembered forever. This is the film of one apatrid who lost his birth country had never found a new one. This is the film of the one who learned that all the people on this planet are equal and have a right to share its beauty as brass bands in this film show that music has no borders. This is the film that shows that we have all this beauty in ourselves if we have enough strength to eliminate the fears of coexistence, therefore captured authentic video have an unlimited positive remembrance on the most beautiful in ourselves.

Table of content:

1.0. FiestaMania! (54:03)

a Film of Ilija Stanković

Fejat Sejdić, retired but the most adored trumpet player asks the God: “to take his life but not the trumpet”. He adores trumpet because he is alive and cannot play anymore. He won the biggest amount of prizes in Guča but he stayed music happy spectator in Guča all his life.

Appearances: Bakija Bakic, Mića Petrović, Ekrem Sajdić, Ekrem Mamutović, Shaban Bajramović

1.1. “Chaje Shukarije” (Legendary Fejat Sejdić, Mića Petrović and Bakija Bakić feature first ever musical duel in Guča during “The Midnight Concert”, Ekrem Mamutović Orchestra against Ekrem & Gypsy groovz, live recording 2002, filmed 2001.-2009) Mr. Fejat Sejdić calls the memory on Mr. Mića Petrović, Mr. Bakija Bakić, Mr. Šaban Bajramović and Ekrem Mamutović, the deceased musicians who formed the spirit of the festival in Guča. Esma Redjepova, who also appears in this, sung this song for the first time in the age of 16 and it was symbolically starting the age of Jamm Session in Guča.

1.2. “Sa Ovčara i Kablara” – Opening ceremony by 400 trumpets and Boban Marković Orchestra presenting the best trumpet plyers in Guča, live 2001The hymn that everybody loveGuča festival for. The moment of the release of the huge energy concentrated in 400 trumpets and shot guns from the middle age, announce the festival opening.

1.3. “Reke želja” – “Waters of will” Ekrem & Gypsy groovz feat. Duško Gojković, Live recording 2001, filmed 2001 -2008

Non declared hymn of Golden Brass Summit which is known as Indian Raga prey. Ekrem & Gypsy Groovz present you the Fiesta itself. You are brought and left in the streets of burning party and left to the waves of music from all directions, day and night, no rest.

1.4. Coreography “Dance of Vranje” Dancing Group “Aluminijum” Podgorica, Montenegro, filmed 2002 

Symbolic appearance of Montenegro dance group with the South Serbian dance today when Montenegro seeks another directions. This act stays for the long memory.

Old man saying on the streets of Guča, Old man is a the regular visitor of Golden Brass Summit for 48 years. Translation of his saying is the only what this film has to say.

1.5. Bakija Bakić Orchestra “Medley” meets Chicago street drumers, recordings from 1989-2002, filmed 2001-2008

The most successful orchestra of Bakija Bakić plays in three generation. Only for this film Bakija Bakić came from another world invited by the authors, to play with his family and comrades. Coincidentally the rhythms of Chicago street drummers played what Bakija wanted

.

1.6. “Djelem, Djelem” Elvis Ajdinović Orchestra dancing with Vranjska Banja.

Filmed during four St. George's Days of spiritual cleaning ) (2001-2008) on the South of Serbia. The kids took a main role and the adults became a kids.

1.7. “Hava Nagila” Mića Petrović Orchestra plays with deceased leader of the band Mića Petrović, to celebrate all the Golden Trumpets of his son Dejan Petrović won after father’s death.

“Ulična parada”/ “Steet parade” & “Čoček Sunca” / “Chochek of the Sun” Fascinating performer with hurricane in his lungs, Mr. Elvis Ajdinović plays breath taking theme. The most beautiful girls, full of magic, make the breath stays away for a while. The deepest trance music in Guča. Elvis Ajdinović Orchestra filmed 2001 – 2006

1.8. “Street brass clash in Guča”: Ekrem & Gypsy Groovz – Brass of Roma – Italy Unprepared musical clash on the steets of Guča makes new definitions of a party time. Italians were amazing partners and Ekrem's band made themselves joy jumping with the instruments being on the edge of flying. and “Zajko Kokorajko” live act 2003 of Slobodan Salijević Orchestra has been illustrated with the scetches from the concert in famous “Porgy & Bess” Jazz Club in Vienna. Sequence filmed 2001 -2008

1.9. “Under my umbrella” singing of Unknown street singers with the fascinating symbolism of the poetic message translated into 20 languages reachable in DVD Menu.

Jam with “Jazz Chochek” of Bojan Krstić Orchestra and “Kalashnikov”, Slobodan Salijević Orchestra who present the spiritual dimension of Fiesta during Golden Brass Summit in Guča. recorded 2003, filmed 2002-2008

1.10. “Timočki Džumbus”, Orchestra Timočani

performs Romanian style kolo danced by whole Guča. The fastest kolo dance ever played live. Unique style of playing trumpets. Impossible technique for any educated musician to play as once 36 hours did Orchestra Timočani . Film remembers all kinds of dancing styles brought in by all different cultures and by all the generations. filmed 2001-2004

1.11. “Mesečina” / “Moonlight”, the reality of live concert in Guča filmed with 26 cameras with own master tapes and Elvis Ajdinović Orchestra who found himself as a Giant between Giants making the atmosphere on the stadium exploding in the ecstasy. live 2003

1.12. “Let my heart rejoice”: End credits with “Dajte srcu mome radosti” shows all the most beautifull photos in the 49 years long festival history. of Ekrem & Gypsy Groovz featuring Duško Gojković recording 2001 filmed 2001-2004 photos produced from 1965-2004

2.0. Chochek of Happiness (11:23)

A film by 

Marko Novaković.

The story of the rare happiness to be found on this world. The story of the Gypsy mahala on the South of Serbia where Ekrem & Gypsy Groovz play for right for protection of the nature. The material filmed over the eight years (2001-2009) makes children grow in the film and concludes with one's wedding. 

A film shows the ecological catastrophe of that region where geothermal springs are political taboo theme while people must burn the forests for heating. A Musical positive orientated protest for hot water.

3.0. KoloMagico! (14:40)

a film by

Ilija Stanković

Magic dance that makes people unite their energy by dancing and holding each other’s hands. United energy of spirit in a changed caledioscope of an author’s musical sunglasses makes the whole thing look a bit different. Everybody dance and make the spectator think that to dance a KoloMagico! is really not a bad idea. They dance “Better than Ajax”, as one Dutch said into the camera.

4. Dajte srcu mome radosti – Let my heart rejoice (6:18)

A film by Ilija Stanković

The film about founder of the Golden Brass Summit 1961, Prof. Nikola Stojić who as a poet / sculptor makes an eyes that are watching world’s destruction and sees that burning churches of all religions do not bring us any further.

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