Get Your Drink On: Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra with "Sljivovica"

Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans. The Boban Marković Orchestra has been one of the leading Balkan brass bands in Serbia over the last 17 years. They have won several of the most important prizes ("Golden Trumpet", "First Trumpet" and "The Best Orchestra") at the Guča trumpet festival, called "Dragačevski Sabor" which has been held every August in Central Serbia's town of Guča since 1961. Boban Marković's son, Marko, has played with the band since 2002. Marko was said to practice ten hours a day before joining with the band. During the two years he spent touring with the band, Marko became the main soloist and arranger of the renamed Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra at age 17. This song, Sljivovica, can be found on the Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra's 2013 album Gipsy Manifesto. The song celebrates the national drink of Serbia.

I Dub Thee Balkan: La Cherga and "Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix)"

La Cherga, a group of Yugoslavian ex-pats based in Graz, Austria bring's us the random tune for today called Rembetiko. The song is remixed by Shazalakazoo, a two member electronic act from Belgrade, Serbia. La Cherga is a live sound system that fuses traditional Balkan brass and accordion seamlessly with dub. Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix) can be found on La Cherga's 2010 album Fake No More Remixes. It can also be found on the Balkan Club Night #2 compilation CD (2011).

Serbian Dance Party: Milan Nikolić and "Milioni"

How about some dance music for today's random tune? Milioni is by Milan Nikolić and the Balkan Beat Orchestra. Milan Nikolić (not to be confused with the soccer player) is a Serbian accordionist who was Serbia's 2009 entry in the Eurovision song contest, making it to the second semifinal. You can find Milioni on the compilation CD The Balkan Club Night #2 (2011).

Gypsy Hop: Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra with "Sljivovica"

I have waxed poetic in the past on my surprise and delight at the emergence of Balkan brass band music, especially in dance-able club music. Today's song is another example of this, but with a twist. Hip hop, until I started listening to it in a world music wrapper, was not a really big attraction for me. Hip hop lost my interest when it seemed to become, at least in the popular songs, hedonistic and glorifying violence instead of highlighting up front the social and economic issues of the communities from whence it sprung. Thankfully, hip hop seems to have gone through that adolescence and, while it now has pop success there is also a new focus on issues of substance.

With hip hop in foreign languages, I could listen to the beat and the rhymes without understanding the language and I found that I actually liked that. There is a great quality to hip hop, to me at least, in that you don't need to understand the language to appreciate the artistry. Hip hop in French sounds great. Hip hop in German has a fun quality to it. Today's song gives us hip hop in Serbian - and while I might seem like a hypocrite because the song is about a plum brandy and it appears, from the video, that it is promoting some of that hedonistic qualities that drove me away in the first place, I love the use of it with the brass band sound. So yeah, if I close my eyes and listen to the song, and I don't understand the language, I like the new sound it brings.

Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans. The Boban Marković Orchestra has been one of the leading Balkan brass bands in Serbia over the last 17 years. They have won several of the most important prizes ("Golden Trumpet", "First Trumpet" and "The Best Orchestra") at the Guča trumpet festival, called "Dragačevski Sabor" which has been held every August in Central Serbia's town of Guča since 1961. Boban Marković's son, Marko, has played with the band since 2002. Marko was said to practice ten hours a day before joining with the band. During the two years he spent touring with the band, Marko became the main soloist and arranger of the renamed Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra at age 17. Sljivovica can be found on the Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra's 2013 album Gipsy Manifesto.

Serbing Up the Beats: Shazalakazoo and "A Fistful of Deutschmarks"

I've got a short post for you today because I am traveling and don't have a lot of time to put together a well-crafted essay. One of the joys of learning more about world music has been to hear music that I never thought I'd like presented in ways that really amaze me. Balkan music has been one of those discoveries. I always thought that Balkan music, especially with its focus on brass instrumentation and what I considered ponderous pacing, was something that just didn't interest me. At least, that's what my limited impression of Balkan music was like. However, some of the new music combining electronic manipulation of the music and my own discovery process in learning more about Balkan music and the rich folk traditions that it comes from has changed my mind. There is a lot of action and liveliness in what is coming out of the Balkans, and especially in getting people up and moving to the beats.

Today's song is one indication of what I'm talking about. A Fistful of Deutschmarks is an electronic and Balkan-brass number with a club beat. The group that put this together, Shazalakazoo, is a duo from Belgrade, Serbia, and they mix bass music with what they describe as Balkan aromas and naturally identical aromas of Latin American, Africa and the Middle East, creating a blend of music they call "folkstep." Shazalakazoo has been around since 1998, and recording since 2005. A Fistful of Deutschmarks can be found on the compilation A Balkan Club Night, Vol. 2, released in 2011.