Every January, NY Balkan music scene pioneers the Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band organize the Golden Festival
- a massive two-night grassroots Balkan and East European music and
dance festival at the Good Shepherd School, 620 Isham Street in the
Inwood section of Upper Manhattan.
The Golden Festival is New York's largest Balkan music event, with multiple stages, Balkan & Middle Eastern refreshments, Balkan arts vendors, as well as beautiful Balkan textiles on display. From international stars to local musicians, modern Balkan stylists to folk traditionalists, over 40 bands provide hours of ecstatic listening, dancing and partying. (via Zlatne Uste's website)
The Golden Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary this Friday and Saturday, and tickets are available here.
For those who won't be able to attend but want to live vicariously, Rob Weisberg's Transpacific Sound Paradise program will broadcast live on WFMU this Saturday from 6pm until midnite (NY time).
The TSP broadcast will take place from one of the festival's three stages, the "Kafana" stage (Kafana is Serbo-Croatian for "cafe"; and the broadcast hq will once again be conveniently located right next to the beer line!).
To get an idea of what's in store, enjoy a few highlights from last year's Transpacific Sound Paradise broadcast (at right) -- click "i" to learn more about each artist and recording. >> More live recordings from last year's Golden Festival >> More info about the 2010 Golden Festival (schedule, tickets, map) |
Fans of Balkan and Gypsy brass bands may be interested in http://www.balkanbrassworld.com, a website dedicated to... well, you guessed it. Bands are invited to send in their bio's, pics, links, news, etc. so we can feature them on the website.
If any members of Zlatne Uste are reading this: I once got an e-mail from someone related to the band, asking to be featured on the site, but they never responded to my reply...
best wishes,
Marco (the Weirdomusic/WM Recordings guy)
Posted by: BalkanBrass | January 14, 2010 at 04:58 PM