The journey
From Guča brass to Bosnian sevdah, Albanian iso-polyphony to Macedonian čalgija — rhythms that refuse to be categorised.
The Balkans produced some of the most complex and emotionally powerful music in Europe — music that survived Ottoman occupation, Yugoslav collectivisation, the wars of the 1990s, and the global homogenisation of pop, still intact and still performed in the same ways it always was.
This tour is not a concert series. It is an immersion: live performances in small venues, evenings with musicians in their homes, an afternoon in a sevdah singer's living room in Sarajevo, a night at a brass band rehearsal in Central Serbia. Formal performances and informal encounters in equal measure.
The route moves through five countries and five distinct musical traditions, connecting them through the shared Balkan sensibility — the particular quality of melancholy and ecstasy that the region's music has always contained simultaneously.
Day by day
The itinerary
Serbia
Belgrade — Brass & Turbofolk
Belgrade: the city where Romani brass music from rural Serbia meets the electronic turbofolk of the 90s meets the jazz bars of Savamala. A welcome dinner in Skadarlija with live tamburica, followed by a late evening in the floating clubs on the Sava.
Central Serbia
Guča Spirit — The Source of the Brass
Guča is the spiritual home of Balkan brass music — the village in the Dragačevo hills that hosts the world's greatest trumpet festival every August. We visit out of season, which means the musicians are home. Private performance arranged with a local orkestar.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Sarajevo — Sevdah
Sevdah is Bosnia's equivalent of the Portuguese fado or the Spanish cante jondo — an art form born from Ottoman music, Jewish cantorial singing, and Slavic folk melody, expressing a longing that has no adequate translation. An afternoon visit to the Sevdah Art House, followed by an evening performance.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Mostar — The Music of the Bridge
Mostar's musical life centres on the old city: the kahvana where sevdah and traditional Bosnian music still coexist, the festivals that use the bridge as a stage. A day of exploration and an informal evening session with local musicians.
Kosovo
Prizren — Çifteli & Albanian Folk
Kosovo's musical tradition is distinct from Serbia's: the çifteli (a two-string lute), the lahuta (a one-string fiddle), polyphonic singing from the mountains. An evening with musicians from the Prizren folklore ensemble.
North Macedonia
Skopje — Čalgija & Roma Jazz
Macedonian čalgija is one of the most sophisticated folk music traditions in the Balkans — an art music hybrid of Turkish, Jewish, and Slavic elements, performed on clarinet, kanun, violin and percussion. An evening at a traditional kafana.
Albania
Gjirokastër — Iso-Polyphony
Albanian iso-polyphony is UNESCO Intangible Heritage: a polyphonic singing tradition in which a single held drone underpins multiple interlocking melodic lines. It is one of the oldest continuous musical traditions in Europe. An evening with the local folk ensemble.
North Macedonia
Ohrid — Farewell by the Lake
Final evening in Ohrid by the lake, with a farewell dinner and an impromptu session with whatever musicians your guide can find — which, in Ohrid, is never a problem.
