Balkan Festival Bansko 2017: 3rd and 4th September 2017
Dino Merlin: Coming to Bansko Bohemi Festival 2017
The Bohemi Festival is now a regular treat held in the Bansko central square. This year it is on the 3rd and 5th September. Balkan music, tasty food and a friendly relaxed vibe. I have grown to like this festival more and more. Like all other Bansko festivals this summer, it is completely free. You can’t get fairer than that!
The star of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dino Merlin (wikipedia link), comes to Bansko we will hear not only evergreen songs such as “Jorgoni” (“Jorgovani”), “Messechina” (Mjesecina), “Something good has to happen” (“Nesto ljepo treba da se desi”) and others, as well as songs from his latest album “Hotel Nacional” (2014).
BOHEMIA – THE BEST OF BALKAN SOUL! 3rd to 4th of September, central city square. Bansko, free entrance!
In 2015 ZELKO JOKSIMOVIC, CAROLINA GOCHEVA, IVO PAPAZOV – IBRYAMA, GADJO DILO and many others cam to Bohemi festival in Bansko. 2017 is set to be every bit as good.
Colourful, peppery and very noisy is the typical Balkan man! His blood boils in irregular rhythm at the unique folk music which has gathered all the love and sorrow of the Balkan’s crossroad soul.
The Serbian master of soulful ballads, Zelko Joksimovic is back as is the Bulgarian virtuoso clarinettist Ivo Papazov. Watch out for Macedonian pop diva Carolina Gocheva, Serbian trumpeters of “Barca Brass Band”, the mind-boggling Greeks from “Baildsa”, the unique Gadjo Dilo, exclusive Bulgarian instrumental ensemble “Bulgari” and the inimitable “Banski starcheta”
Zelko Joksimovic is known for hits like: “Ljubavi”, “Lane moje” and “Nije ljubav stvar” and with his nickname: “The Master of The Balkan Ballads”.
In his music are woven traditional folk instruments, pop ballad sounds and heart-warming temperament. It is these characteristics that make him the most popular and talented singer and composer in Serbia.
The clarinet player Ivo Papazov, Ibryama, is the “Sun of the clarinet”. In his music is collected everything that can make a person dream. There’s passion, lyricism and wild waves of colourful sounds. BBC Radio says, and I quote, “Thanks to him, the world knows that our jazz is great. He is a cult.”
Among the male staff stands out a Balkan flower – pop diva Gocheva Carolina. The Macedonian girl has behind her five studio albums and has worked with some of the most popular Balkan artists, such as: Vlatko Stefanovski, Mladen Maekovich, Vesna Malinova. Her voice has been described as “magical and multi-layered” and her timbre fits all tastes.
Part of the festival programme are the boys from Baildsa. The name of the Greek band comes from the Turkish word “bayılmak”, which translated means “faint”, “quench”. In their music are collected all the tones that can satiate the Balkan thirst-Eastern sound, ethnic rhythms, brass section, punk and funk music.
The music of Gadjo Dilo is a typical Balkan one – easily distinguished from any other in the world by melody and method of implementation. The unique flavour of the group is due to a desire to maintain the style “Manouche gypsy jazz” alive. They themselves say they have most strongly been influenced by “the one of a kind jazz musician Django Reinhardt”.
The life and artistic journey of Django, along with the jazz from the 30s and 40s are the real inspiration for the band’s first studio album.”Manouche de grec” dedicate “their love for Django” and the passion for Greek songs from that era. The excitement from the exceptional genre encourages them to create a unique music that touches people’s hearts.
“Barca Brass Band” are well known in their country. They created the orchestra in 1998 in the city of Knjazevac, Serbia. In the first years of participation as a band, they won one first place and two second place prizes at the biggest festival of brass music in the festival of the village of Guca, which coincidentally bears the slogan “Madness, produced in Serbia”. From there on the musician has won numerous awards, the largest of which is the first prize in Guca in 2012.
The nine musicians play in all genres, but their main repertoire is music from the Balkans.There are numerous attendances that the band has made in various festivals in Serbia, Greece, Italy, Turkey, England, Germany, Austria, China and others. They take part of a major project in the composition of “SANJA ILIC-BALKANIKA”. They also have a great musical experience with many guest singers and instrumentalists, and their original sounds used are by a number of Serbian composers for the premieres of their new works.
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