Trumpets galore at Serbia's Guca fest

27/08/2009

Drawn to brass music and beer, visitors from the region and around the world flocked to western Serbia.

By Bojana Milovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 27/08/09 Photos by Nikola Barbutov

Visitors from as far as Uganda gathered for this year's trumpet fest.

The Guca Trumpet Festival, a four-day event, attracted roughly 500,000 visitors earlier this month. Known also as the Dragacevo Assembly, it is held annually near Cacak, in western Serbia.

This year, around 1,200 trumpet players gathered for the event, together with 22 senior brass orchestras, ten youth and five junior orchestras.

While it remains comparatively unknown outside the region, it is gaining a stronger international profile, as over 150 foreign and around 200 domestic journalists covered the event.

Most visitors hail from Serbia and other former Yugoslav republics -- Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro -- but according to organisers, this year's event drew enthusiasts from as far away as Belgium, France, Italy, Uganda and China.

"A friend of mine, originally from Serbia, told me about this festival," said Linda from Belgium.

Music lovers consumed around a million litres of beer and 2,000kg of roast lamb and pork.

"I couldn't believe that the atmosphere here is so good and vibrant. I like everything -- the music, the food and the drinks," she said as she tapped her foot to the rhythm of the trumpets.

"We encountered no problems. We feared the swine flu, incidents and fights among such a large number of people, but nothing ruined the good time everyone had in Guca," Adam Tadic, director of the cultural centre, told Southeast European Times .

The Ekrem Mamutovic band from Vranje won at this year's festival, and will represent Serbia in the 2010 Guca brass band world contest.

Dejan Petrovic, from the village of Duboko, won the award for best trumpet player, as well as the 2009 Golden Trumpet.

Lucani Mayor Slobodan Jolovic sent official invitations to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama for the 50th Guca festival next year.

Tadic said that, although visits by such high-ranking officials seem unrealistic, the arrival of Putin and Obama is not utterly impossible.

"This year, the Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Konuzin and the US Embassy Charge d'Affairs Jennifer Brush visited Guca, whose visits may be a prelude for Putin and Obama's visits next year," said Tadic.

The festival traces its origins to bands that were active in the Guca area during the 19th century, playing at local celebrations. As people gathered to express their love of music through the distinctive sound of brass instruments, a more formalised event emerged.