Belgrade Favorite Tips by antistar

Favorite thing: I love the Gypsy music of the Balkans. And while most Serbians seem to hate it, it has strong roots here too. Boban Markovic is the king of Belgradian gypsy music, having appeared with his band as the gypsy trumpeters that follow the two gangsters throughout Underground, a cult Serbian movie with great music orchestrated by Bosnian-Serb Goran Bregovic. Bregovic is also great, but he's more likely to be seen in the US than Serbia these days.

Gypsy bands play in some restaurants, at one or two clubs, or at the station when a young man is leaving to join the army. The best place to listen to it, however, is probably at the Guca festival, in a small village a few hours from Belgrade. This is held once a year and attracts the best gypsy bands from the entire region. It's a festival I intend to travel to one year very soon.

If you want to listen to Gypsy music of the region try:

Goran Bregovic (Bosnian Serb), especially the soundtracks to Underground and Black Cat/White Cat;
Boban Markovic (Serbian);
Kocani Orkestar (Macedonia);
Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania);
Taraf de Haidouk (Romania).

Also check out anything by German DJ Shantel and the Bucovina Club. He creates amazing dance floor remixes of Balkan music, and became so popular that his small Frankfurt club got world recognition and started a perpetual world tour. Last time I the show was on tour, they were supporting Borat of Ali G fame.