Music of Serbia

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Serbs and Serbia has a variety of traditional music, which is part of the wider Balkan tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.

History

Church music was performed throughout medieval Serbia by choirs or individual singers. The songs performed at the time were derived from the Octoechos (Osmoglasnik), a collection of religious songs dedicated to Jesus. Composers from this era include nun Jefimija, monks Kir Stefan the Serb, Isaiah the Serb, and Nikola the Serb, who together belong to the "Serbo-Byzantine school".

Aside from church music, the medieval era in Serbia included traditional music, about which little is known, and court music. During the Nemanjić dynasty era musicians played an important role at the royal court, and were known as sviralnici, glumci and praskavnici. The rulers known for the musical patronage included Emperor Stefan Dušan and Despot Đurađ Branković. Medieval musical instruments included horns, trumpets, lutes, psalteries, drums and cymbals. Traditional folk instruments include the gajde, kaval, dajre, diple, tamburitza, gusle, tapan (davul), sargija, ćemane (kemenche), zurla (zurna), and frula among others.

After the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, music was enriched with oriental influences. From Habsburg rule, Serbia was enriched by Western music.

Classical music

Composer and musicologist Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac is considered one of the most important founders of modern Serbian music.^[1] Born in 1856, Mokranjac taught music, collected Serbian traditional songs and did the first scholarly research on Serbian music. He was also the director of the first Serbian music school and one of the founders of the Union of Singing Societies. His most famous works are the Song Wreaths.

During the 19th and 20th centuries numerous bands, both military and civilian, contributed to the development of music culture in Belgrade and other Serbian cities and towns. Prior to Mokranjac's era, Serbia's representatives of the Romantic period were world-renowned violinist Dragomir Krancevic (1847–1929), pianist Sidonija Ilic, Pianist and composer Jovanka Stojković and opera singer Sofija Sedmakov who achieved success performing in opera houses of Germany in the 1890s. For example, the promenade concert tradition was first established by The Serbian Prince Band founded in 1831, and its first conductor was Joseph Shlezinger, who composed music for the band based on traditional Serbian songs. This was a period when the first choiral societies, then mostly sung in German and Italian language, were being organized. Later, the first Serbian language works for choirs were written by Kornelije Stanković.

The Serbian composers Petar Konjović, Stevan Hristić and Miloje Milojević, all born in the 1880s, were the most eminent composers of their generation. They maintained the national expression and modernized the romanticism into the direction of impressionism.

The best-known composers born around 1910 studied in Europe, mostly in Prague. Ljubica Marić, Stanojlo Rajicić, Milan Ristić took influence from Schoenberg, Hindemith and Haba, rejecting the "conservative" work of prior Serbian composers, seeing it as outdated and the wish for national expression was outside their interest.^[2]

Other famous classical Serbian composers include Isidor Bajić, Stanislav Binički, and Josif Marinković.

Serbian folk music

Old folk

The Serbian folk music is both rural (izvorna muzika) and urban (starogradska muzika) and includes a two-beat dance called kolo, which is a circle dance with almost no movement above the waist, accompanied by instrumental music made most often with an accordion, but also with other instruments: frula (traditional kind of a recorder), tamburica, or accordion. The Kolos usually last for about 5–13 minutes. Modern accordionists include Mirko Kodić and Ljubiša Pavković. Some kolos are similar to the Hungarian csárdás in that they are slow at the onset and gradually increase their speed until reaching a climax towards the end.

Famous performers of Serbian folk music are Predrag Gojković Cune, Predrag Živković Tozovac, Lepa Lukić, Vasilija Radojčić, Šaban Bajramović, Staniša Stošić and others. Yugoslav singer, actress and writer, Olivera Katarina, has performed music of various genres, varying from Serbian traditional to pop music, and in numerous languages. She held 72 consecutive concerts in Paris Olympia.

Novokomponovana

A local genre titled novokomponovana (newly composed) is a result of the urbanisation of folk music.^[3] In early times, it had a professional approach to performance, used accordion and clarinet and typically included love songs or other simple lyrics (though there had been royalist and anti-Communist lyrical themes persisting underground). Many of the genre's best-known performers have included Silvana Armenulić, Toma Zdravković and Lepa Lukić. In 70s and 80s many novokomponovana singers emerged: Jašar Ahmedovski (Ti pripadaš samo meni, Venčajte me sa njenom lepotom), Kemal Malovčić (Došao sam samo da te vidim), Snežana Đurišić (Kuće male krečene u belo, Kleo se, kleo), Miloš Bojanić (Oči zelene), Zorica Marković (Mirno spavaj nano, Lijte kiše), Mitar Mirić (Ne može nam niko ništa, Palim zadnju cigaretu), Nada Topčagić (Jutro je, O tebi se šapuće), Mile Kitić (Iz te čaše svi su pili, Kraljica trotoara), Šeki Turković (Dotkanuću, Poslednji boem), Ipče Ahmedovski (Da ti gužvam postelju, Varale me mnoge), Ljuba Aličić (Plačite sa mnom jesenje kiše, Ti ne ličiš ni na jednu), Marinko Rokvić (Ti za ljubav nisi rođena, Zanela me svetla velikoga grada) and others.

Serbian folk scene was not homogeneous nor uniformed. On one hand, following Western models, Vesna Zmijanac was creating a star-image, being sex-symbol, fashionista and gay icon as well. On the other hand, Era Ojdanić (Pauk, Mercedes, Rado, lepa rado, Oženjen sam, kao momak živim), Boro Drljača (Plači mala, plači, Stari vuk) and Vera Matović (Belu bluzu suza kvasi, Šta ti moja bluza smeta, Hajde, hajde, milovanje moje) have created folk subgenre, sort of rural folk, singing about works in field, domestic animals and themes from Serbian village. Louis was combining Serbian folk music with jazz. Due to her Dalmatian origin, Neda Ukraden (Zora je svanula, Vrati se s kišom, Ne zovi me u ponoć) was singing pop music, sometimes enriching it with folk ornaments. Almost 50 years after her debut, she has re-established her career with electro-dance songs (Da se nađemo na pola puta). Since his beginning in 70s, Šaban Šaulić was singing about women (Još ovu noć, Dođi da ostarimo zajedno, Kraljice moga srca), and managed to maintain a certain level of popularity next four decades, while as a confirmation of which comes his nickname - King of Folk Music. One of the best representatives of turbo-folk era would certainly be Mica Trofrtaljka (Drž' se ćeri čvrstog kursa, I labavi ume da zabavi, Davorike dajke, Uteraj mi kola u garažu) with her extremelly vulgar songs.

Recording company Južni Vetar (Southern Wind) reached the peak of popularity in (late) 80s with their famous quinto, consisting of Dragana Mirković, Sinan Sakić, Mile Kitić, Kemal Malovčić and Šemsa Suljaković (Pristajem na sve, Zar za mene nema sreće). After they fell apart due to personal disputes and disagreements, and after Dragana left the group, Južni vetar had made strong promotion for the debut of Indira Radić - new singer who was supposed to fill the place of the absent Yugoslavia It girl. Indira couldn't pull through, and the company sank into oblivion. Radić however made big success 15 years after.

Novokomponovana music is embodied in the career of Miroslav Ilić (Nije život jedna žena, Polomiću čaše od kristala, Pozdravi je, pozdravi), called Slavuj iz Mrčajevaca (Nightingale from Mrčajevci). With 25 albums, he is one of the best-selling performs in the history of Serbian recorder. The absolute record in sales is still held by Lepa Brena (Luda za tobom, Ti si moj greh, Robinja, Jugoslovenka, Uđi slobodno, Miki, Mićo, Mače moje, Hajde da se volimo, Golube, Udri Mujo, Hej, Šeki, Šeki, Čik pogodi...), not just another singer emerged in 80s. At that later stage of novokomponovana, this popular performer used more influences from pop music, oriental music, and other genres, which led to the emergence of turbo folk. She has sold around 40 million of records and held concerts all over Balkan, which makes her the most successful Serbian singer ever. Next to that, due to her enormous popularity, Brena is considered the symbol of former Yugoslavia, of Yugoslavian unity and power, and after the break of federation, of so-called yugo-nostalgia.

Turbo-folk

Turbo-folk (a term coined by rock musician Rambo Amadeus) music emerged during the Yugoslav wars and the breakup of Yugoslavia. Turbo-folk used Serbian folk music and "novokomponovana" as the basis, and added influences from rock, pop and electronic dance music. The last decade of 20th century witnessed birth and decay of various turbo-folk singers in Serbia. In the long list of those, notable mentions are Mira Škorić (Otkači, Ti si ko i ja), Nataša Đorđević (Da umrem od tuge, Zaboravi broj), Sanja Đorđević (Tebi i meni za prošle dane, Mutivoda, Crveni lak), Ivan Gavrilović (200 na sat), Maja Marijana (Moj dečko, Bio mi je dobar drug), Snežana Babić Sneki (Caki cale, Davorike dajke), Goca Božinovska (Okovi), Jasna Milenković Jami (Čokolada, Šibica, One stvari), Marina Živković (Ne idi od mene, Lavica), Branka Sovrlić (A tebe nema, Lido Lidija), Željko Šašić (Gori more), Medeni mesec (Eh, da nisi tako lepa, Nikad nikom nisam rek'o), Đorđe Đogani with his dance-oriented band Đogani Fantastico. Not lone but one of the most lauded singers of 90s was Baja Mali Knindža (in)famous for singing Chetnik songs, with nationalistic, xenophobic and chauvinistic lyrics (Nemoj sejo nikad za Turčina, Ne volim te Alija).

Most of them lost their popularity within the new millennium, while some succeeded in re-establishing themselves on the Serbian music scene. The record-label company was something these names had in common. Zam (Zabava miliona) used to be the production company which gathered almost every singing person in the country, after Južni Vetar has fallen apart. In 1998. the owners of Zam, Saša Popović and Lepa Brena has announced that the company would change the name into Grand Production, which was followed with the change of logo, exclusion of some singers and change of politics. Soon enough Grand took a monopoly on the Serbian music market, acquiring more media space with shows they used to broadcast on Tv Pink (Grand Show, Grand Parada, Midday Monday show...), Grand revija - official magazine of the company, Zvezde Granda - music competition similar to Idol and through Grand Music Festival. Tanja Savić and Slavica Ćukteraš are two female singers that have made their entire careers within Grand production.

Dragana Mirković remains the biggest turbo-folk star in the country, with her numerous hits (Sama, Plači zemljo, Pitaju me u mom kraju, Poslednje veče, Ne vraćam se starim ljubavima, Nisam ni metar od tebe). With her pink hair and very recognizable screen persona, Zorica Brunclik (Kada bi me pitali, Košava, Otkopčano jeleče, Ja znam, A tebe nema) could be considered Dragana's follow-up. Vesna Zmijanac, the previous wife of Zorica's husband, has preserved the fame she had in 80s with hit-songs like Jorgovani, Ja imam nekog a ti si sam, Malo po malo, Kunem ti se životom, Idem preko zemlje Srbije. Among the others, there are Halid Bešlić (Miljacka, Prvi poljubac, Put me zove), Ana Bekuta (Oluja, Imam jedan život, Kralj ponoći, Zlatiborske zore), Sinan Sakić (Ej, otkad sam se rodio, Delija momak, Prvi poljubac), Stojanka Novaković Stoja (Moje srce ostariti ne sme, Žena starija, Samo) and Nedeljko Bajić Baja (Ginem, ginem, Mini suknja, Zapisano u vremenu). The absolute record in sales of this kind of music is still held by Lepa Brena, who has sold around 40 million records and held concerts all over the Balkans. Next to that, due to her enormous popularity, Brena is considered the symbol of former Yugoslavia, of Yugoslav unity and power, and after the break of federation, of so-called Yugo-nostalgia.

Balkan brass

Brass bands, known as "trubači" (трубачи, the trumpeters) are extremely popular, especially in Central and Southern Serbia where Balkan Brass Band originated. The music has its tradition from the First Serbian Uprising. The trumpet was used as a military instrument to wake and gather soldiers and announce battles, the trumpet took on the role of entertainment during downtime, as soldiers used it to transpose popular folk songs. When the war ended and the soldiers returned to the rural life, the music entered civilian life and eventually became a music style, accompanying births, baptisms, weddings, slavas, farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and funerals. In 1831 the first official military band was formed by Prince Miloš Obrenović. Roma пеопле have adopted the tradition and enhanced the music, and today most of the best performers are Roma.

The best known Serbian Brass musicians are Fejat Sejdić, and Boban Marković and are also the biggest names in the world of modern brass band bandleaders. Guča trumpet festival is one of the most popular and biggest music festivals in Serbia^[4] is a 5-day annual festival with 300 000 visitors.

Popular music

Pop-folk

In the 2000s turbo-folk featured even more pop music elements, abandoning traditional influences of ethno or oriental motives of folk. With new changes, there comes the evolution of new genres, such as electronic. One person dominated scene is replaced with diverse performers who, at least for a year, succeed in holding the title of the star. New music and its performers were labeled as pop-folk (performers). First in line was Indira Radić who in 2003. has recorded a duet with Alen Islamović, once member of famous Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme. A strange duo turbo-folk and rock star welcomed the birth of another kind of music, with less accordion and buzuki and more of guitar, drums and bass. Successful career step, Radić followed with album Zmaj in 2004. and new songs, leaving turbo-folk epoch behind. The songs which helped her to gain the title of the best selling Serbian singer from 2003. till 2005. were Moj živote da l si živ, Zmaj, Bio si mi drag, Tetovaža, Nisam sumnjala, and later April, Živim da živim, Poželela, Zodiac. Recording gay love song, and filming music video with gay content, Radić gained the title of gay icon as well.

Viki Miljković, another turbo-folk performer, famous for her 90s lifestyle song Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Suzuki, has risen on the horizon with newer sound and songs like Mahi, mahi, Prazan stan, Ti muškarac. Many performers enjoyed popularity even bigger than from their turbo-folk stages. Among the best-established names of pop-folk there are Stojanka Novaković Stoja, Aco Pejović (Jelena, Poplava), Dženan Lončarević (Cvete beli), Saša Matić (Maskara, Ruzmarin) and his twin brother Dejan Matić (Nađi novu ljubav, Niko i neko), Tina Ivanović (Bunda od nerca). The biggest heights of her career Dara Bubamara has reached after 2009. and her top-selling album Zidovi. Bubamara's songs that have reached top-spots on Serbian charts are Zidovi, Ciao amore, Pali mali, Mami mami, Galama, Noć za nas, Opasan, Kraj i tačka, Karera. Bubamara has started singing in 90s, while she has rose to fame with turbo-folk hits Košava sa Dunava and Ja neću da ga vidim.

Since its birth, pop-folk scene is dominated by female singers - atrractive women, famous for their high-heeled, big-breasted, short-skirted appearances. However, Aca Lukas has slowly but successfully created his path to the image of the biggest Serbian male music star. Despite drugs addiction, gambling problems and many criminal involvements, such as weapon possession, he has made more than ten concerts in Belgrade, all of them visited by 15 to 25 thousands of people. His most popular songs are Lična karta, Dođi gore, Daleko si, Miris tamjana, Ne pitaj me, Šta učini crni gavrane, Zapišite mi broj, Kuda idu ljudi kao ja... On the other hand, the path of Seka Aleksić was anything but slow. Despite the failure of her debut album Idealno tvoja (2002) she has recorded another one, fully embracing Turkish melos. Soon enough she had song Crno i zlatno, the hit of the year, fighting then popular songs of Indira Radić. In the years to come, her success followed with albums Dođi i uzmi me (Iskoristi moje mane, Za ljubav mobilna, Baš mi se sviđa tvoja devojka, Svi tvoji milioni...), Kraljica - best-selling album of Serbia in 2007. (Kraljica, Aspirin, Boli stara ljubav, Poslednji let, Impulsi...) and Slučajni partneri (Rođena s vukovima, Ja nisam nešto slatko, Nije za mene, Ja tuđe usne ljubim...) and singles Soba 22, Mamurna, Chivas... She is often called The Princess of Pop-folk.

Finally, the biggest among already big stars is undoubtedly Svetlana Ražnatović "Ceca", who started her career in 1988 with the teen hit song Cvetak zanovetak. Songs Lepotan, Zabraniću srcu da te voli, Cipelice, Pustite me da ga vidim, Šta je to u tvoji venama, Zaboravi, Mesec, nebo, zvezdice and the biggest hit of her career, Kukavica, are among her early hits. She married Željko Ražnatović "Arkan", a controversial figure in Serbia during the Yugoslav wars, in a wedding that was broadcast on national television. Ja još spavam, Vazduh koji dišem, Volela sam, volela, Nije monotonija, Ljubav fatalna, Idi dok si mlad, Beograd, Da li to ljubav pravi do nas slabiće, Kad bi bio ranjen, Mrtvo more, Neodoljiv, neumoljiv, Usnule lepotice, Isuse, Doktor followed in this period during the wars. In 1997, the singer became a national brand (with PGP-RTS), with commercial success with album Maskarada and songs Maskarada, Nevaljala, Pogrešan broj, Vreteno, Nagovori, Kažem da te volim. In January 2001 her husband was shot dead in front of the Crowne Plaza Belgrade, which forced her to stop promoting her latest album. However, songs Dokaz, Crveno, Oproštajna večera found their way to the charts. In 2002 Ražnatović crowned her success with a concert at Marakana, with 80.000 visitors. She has successfully launched songs Zabranjeni grad, 39,2, Dragane moj, Tačno je, Bruka, Batali, Gore od ljubavi, Trula višnja, Prljavo, prljavo, Plan B, Pazi s kime spavaš, Vreme za ljubav ističe, Lepi grome moj, Pile (dedicated to her late husband), Manta, manta, Sve što imam i nemam, Igračka samoće, Šteta za mene. The 2013 album Poziv is her most successful album to date, all songs becoming hits. Since Marakana, she has held two concerts, both on Ušće (Belgrade) - one in 2006 with 120.000 visitors, the other one in 2013 with 150.000, setting the national record in amount of concert visitors. She is considered not only the biggest star of Serbia, and arguably of Balkan, but also one of the biggest music stars of Southern and Eastern Europe, being famous in countries from Greece to Russia. In addition to that, the total number of views on her Youtube channel is heading to half a billion.

Popular bands include Lexington, Allegro, Tropico, Miligram, Ministarke, Elitni odredi and Amadeus. Young singers Radmila Manojlović, Milan Stanković, Milica Pavlović, Sandra Afrika, and Milica Todorović have made their breakthrough on the Serbian pop-folk music scene.

Severina and Jelena Rozga, two biggest Croatian music stars enjoy immense popularity in Serbia as well.

Pop

Pioneers of pop music in Serbia are considered to have performed before and during the Second World War. The most prominent are Vojin Popović and Darko Kraljić. At the end of the 1950s Lola Novaković, Dušan Jakšić, and Đorđe Marjanović appeared on the music scene. The 1960s brought a new group of popular singers such as Miki Jevremović, Ljiljana Petrović, Radmila Karaklajić, Leo Martin, Sedmorica mladih and others.

In 70s and 80s pop music began to lose its popularity due to the growing interest in rock music. Despite that musicians who managed to make significant careers include: Zdravko Čolić, Maja Odžaklievska, Aska, Bebi Dol, Zana and others.

In the 1990s Serbian pop musicians combined pop music with popular genre in Europe of that time Eurodance. Popular musicians of this period are Tap 011, Dee Monk, Moby Dick.

In the 2000s pop music increased its popularity with musicians like Željko Joksimović, Vlado Georgiev, Željko Samardžić, Saša Kovačević, Aleksandra Kovač, Ana Stanić, Aleksandra Radović, Marija Šerifović, Jelena Tomašević, Emina Jahović, and others.

Marija Šerifović won the first place at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and Serbia was the host of the 2008 contest. Željko Joksimović took the second place at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Lane moje". In 2012 he came third with the song "Nije ljubav stvar".

Jelena Karleuša has received worldwide recognition and fame after American media started comparing her looks and style to Kim Kardashian, stating that her style has influenced Kim's. Karleuša's tenth studio album Diva is the fastest selling album in Serbian history, having sold over 200,000 copies within the first 24 hours.

Rock

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of which Serbia was a part, was not an Eastern Bloc country, but a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and as such, was far more open to western influences compared to the other socialist states. The western-influenced pop and rock music was socially accepted, the Yugoslav rock scene was well developed and covered in the media, which included numerous magazines, radio and TV shows. Paralleling the breakup of Yugoslavia due to civil war, its rock scene also ceased to exist. During the 1990s the popularity of rock music declined in Serbia, and although several major mainstream acts managed to sustain their popularity, an underground and independent music scene developed. The 2000s saw the revival of the mainstream scene.

The most notable Serbian rock acts include Bajaga i Instruktori, Đorđe Balašević, Disciplina Kičme, Ekatarina Velika, Električni Orgazam, Galija, Idoli, Kerber, Korni Grupa, Laboratorija Zvuka, Partibrejkers, Pekinška Patka, Piloti, Pop Mašina, Rambo Amadeus, Riblja Čorba, Smak, Šarlo Akrobata, YU Grupa, Van Gogh, and others.

Jazz

Jazz in Serbia appears in the 1920s when Markus Blam formed first jazz orchestra Studentski Micky Jazz. Jazz music was played mostly in salons and clubs, but it is also known that jazz orchestras toured in spas over the Serbia. This style of music has been present on the radio as well as in a specialized magazines. Radio Belgrade started to work in 1929, every night after 22:30 h Radio Jazz Orchestra played popular songs. First jazz society in Serbia was set up in 1953, but to the development of jazz the most contributed hosting famous musicians, among whom was Louis Armstrong in 1959 and 1960. The first Serbian musicians to rise to international fame were Mladen Guteša who worked for famous musicians such as Lee Konitz, Benny Goodman and others and Duško Gojković. These two entered The 1956 Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz of Leonard Feather. Other prominent names of Serbian jazz include Bora Roković who composed jazz suite The Human Piano, Mihailo Živanović, Branislav Kovačev, Branko Pejaković, Milan Lulić, Boris Jojić, Jovan Miković and others.^[5] Among the most popular singers of jazz and blues in Serbia was Šaban Bajramović known as King of Romani music. The magazine Time included him on the list of top 10 blues singers in the world.^[6] In 2015 artist Marko Louis recorded album, Shine on me” on English for global market. Vladan Mijatovic (Jazz pianist) is the young ambassador of the Serbian Jazz music in America.

Hip-hop

Serbian hip hop emerged in the early 1980s, with the birth of b-boy crews. The first Serbian Hip Hop record release was the Degout EP by The Master Scratch Band, which was released by Jugoton in 1984. But the Hip Hop Scene in Serbia was not open and popularized until the Demo of the Badvajzer (Budweiser) crew who became extremely popular in 1987.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, bands such as Green Kool Posse, Who Is The Best and Robin Hood came into being all together starting the first Hip Hop scene in Serbia and former Yugoslavia.

The music spread slowly until 1995, until Da li imaš pravo? by Gru was released, marking the beginning of the first wave of Serbian hip hop, which reached its peak in 1997-98, when many new groups started to break out from the underground: Ding Dong, Voodoo Popeye, Straight Jackin, Sunshine, Bad Copy, Belgrade Ghetto, CYA, 187.

In 2002 the Bassivity label was formed, which made Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian hip hop widely available in record stores. Their first release, V.I.P. - Ekipa Stigla, was one of the two albums which marked the beginning of the second wave of Serbian hip hop. The other was BSSST...Tišinčina by the Belgrade group Beogradski sindikat. In 2003 Marčelo's debut album De Facto, also released on the Bassivity label, came out to both public and critical acclaim, and he was branded as the voice of a new generation.

Etno music

The etno genre encompasses both vocal and non-vocal (instrumental) music. Instruments include bagpipes, flutes, horns, trumpets, lutes, psalteries, drums and cymbals such as: Frula (woodwind), Diple (dvojanka, woodwind), Gajde (bagpipe), Zurna (woodwind), Duduk (woodwind), Tambura (lute), Tamburitza (lute), Gusle (lute), Kaval (šupeljka, lute), Davul (tapan, goč, drum), Bouzouki (šargija, lute), Tarambuke (drum).

Balkanika, Balkanopolis, Dvig, Slobodan Trkulja, Belo Platno, Teodulija, Kulin Ban are known Serbian musical groups that use traditional Balkan musical instruments and perform traditional songs and songs based on traditional music elements.

Epic poetry

Sung epic poetry has been an integral part of Serbian and Balkan music for centuries. In the highlands of Serbia and Montenegro these long poems are typically accompanied on a one-string fiddle called the gusle, and concern themselves with themes from history and mythology.

Festivals

Exit is an award-winning summer music festival which is held at the Petrovaradin Fortress in the city of Novi Sad, officially proclaimed as the "Best Major European Festival" at the EU Festival Awards. Other festivals include Belgrade Beer Fest, Gitarijada, Nišville and Guča Trumpet Festival.

In the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak is an annually held brass band festival called Guča trumpet festival in the Dragačevo region of western Serbia with 600,000 visitors per year. Other popular festivals include Rock festivals Belgrade Beer Fest and Gitarijada, and Jazz festival Nišville. In the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak is an annually held brass band festival called Guča trumpet festival with 600,000 visitors per year.

See also

• Music of Southeastern Europe
• Music of Yugoslavia

References

• Burton, Kim. "Balkan Beats". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 273–276. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0

Further reading

• Roksanda Pejović (1995). "Medieval music". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko. 
• Nada Milošević-Đorđević (1995). "The oral tradition". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko. 
• Roksanda Pejović (1995). "Musical composition and performance from the Eighteenth century to the present". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Music of Serbia.

• Music of Serbia at DMOZ
• Project Rastko category (some text in English, RealAudio church choirs)
• The History Serbian Culture - Some facts about medieval Serbian music
• Serbian Cultural Association Opleanc - Descriptions of Serbian folk dance choreographies