Kocani Orkestar (Macedonia)

 

One of the most famous Gypsy Balkan brass bands in the world, popularised by the appearance in the Emir Kusturica's film „Dom za vesanje” („Time of the Gypsies”). The tradition of brass bands came to the Balkans long time ago with the influx of... Turkish military orchestras. Military coventionality of instruments like trumpets, clarinets, tubas and drums, which was taken over by Romas, living there in great numbers (the biggest aggregation in the world), was connected with performance lightness, fineness and infinite musical imagination. The bands with similar energy and genealogy, which has already performed at the Rozstaje Festival, are: Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania), Taraf de Haidouks (Romania – but in this case NOT a brass band) and Boban Markovic Orkestar (Serbia). The music of Kocani Orkestar due to geographic reasons sounds more southern than them and is desribed by the Macedonian inhabitants of Skopje, Kocani (where the band came from) and its surroundings as Roma oriental music. Kocani Orkestar is concerting with constant energy for many years and it doesn't matter if it's a three-day long wedding in the Balkan village or a big concert at Royal Albert Hall. They will play in Krakow and in Poland for the first time.

 

28.07.2006, 11:00 PM, Rotunda

29.07.2006, 9:00 PM, Main Square