Balkan Brass Bands Overview:
Among other things, the Balkan nations (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and northern Greece) are the convergence point of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures that straddle Europe and Asia and the ethnicities that populate those faiths.
One of the most instantly engaging and unforgettable facets of Balkan music is the brass bands, another product of convergence. The Ottoman Turkish military's brass style, regimented but melodically strong and graceful, was translated into civilian terms by Balkan bands (often with a dozen or more members) that tailored it for entertainment purposes. Harmonic elements from Western Europe were added, and Balkan brass music evolved into a dizzying sonic experience unlike any other. Flugelhorns, tenor horns, saxophones, tubas, clarinets and more are employed (depending on the band and the country), creating a top, middle and bottom sound that shifts and sweeps above hyped-up, marching-style percussion.
Often played at breakneck tempos but sometimes dropping into passages that are slower and more emotive, close listening to Balkan brass reveals intricacies that obviously take considerable discipline and expertise to play. Nonetheless, the music frequently has an untamed, off-the-cuff quality that double dares you not to move some part of your body to its joyous, soaring strains. It's music that fires up Balkan weddings and celebrations of every kind. Music that can be easily described as funky, jazzy and rocking, though adjectives like "insane" can lovingly apply as well. And now that the days of state-controlled repertoires are gone, brass bands are free to go ever deeper into the realms of unrestricted musical expression, opening the way for improvised sections, inspired solos and fevered performances that are a shot in the arm to players and listeners alike.
With interest in world music on the rise, several Balkan brass groups have accordingly become known on a wider scale. These include Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia, a Gypsy ensemble with distinct jazz and Arabic tinges spicing their high-flying tunes, Macedonia's Maleshevski Melos, another band of Gypsies who take a more stately but no less stirring path, and the acclaimed Boban Markovic Orkestar, the stuff of horn heaven. Contributing also to the higher international profile of Balkan brass was the acclaimed 1995 movie Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica. The film, centered around Yugoslav resistance fighters who are led to believe World War Two is still going on years after the fact, took a surreal but dramatically potent look at longstanding postwar power struggles. Its brass-heavy score, composed by Goran Bregovic, balanced tragic and comic tones to remarkable effect.
While brass bands are hardly the entirety of everything the Balkans have to offer musically, Balkan brass band music is a highly intricate, stirring, tradition-gone-wild blend with mighty layers of sound that not only make the heart pound faster but reveal the soul alongside the heart. It's the soul of a region that knows the value of taking a break from seriousness every so often, at least long enough to throw a party where the horns are never less than first rate. Tom Orr .
