#Djokovic,Troicki, Tipsarevic, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Jovanovski in Southern #California @ Indian Wells #Tennis Tournament http://bit.ly/htXYnX

Beautiful and interesting landmarks of #Serbia : Mt Tara #National #Park http://bit.ly/dGQ1aw

Serbian #tennis player Jelena #Jankovic is also (will be) a #California girl : http://bit.ly/hDKSEh

LA #Serb, Prof. Dr. Maja Mataric, recipient of 2011 #Presidential Award for Excellence in Sci/Math/Eng #Mentoring http://1.usa.gov/fRKA90

Did you know that the movie “The Rite” (2011) also stars #Serbian actress Marija Karan?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1161864/

LOS ANGELES — With a lineup combining a Serbian gypsy brass band, a classical string ensemble, Orthodox male choir, two Bulgarian female vocalists and an electric guitar, Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra’s two-night UCLA Live spectacle June 19 and 20 will be like nothing that’s been on the Royce Hall stage before.

Making their West Coast debut, the colorful composer/bandleader and his wide-reaching ensemble present a musical and visual feast that has had critics grasping for words to capture the full scope of the show. “A Balkan free-for-all” is how the Jerusalem Post described one five-encore performance. “Crammed to the brim with catharsis and joy,” raved Time Out Chicago. And Madrid’s El Pais raved that Bregovic creates “the most breathtaking music on the continent . . . . His art is exciting tight-rope walking . . . intense, vigorous, colorful, passionate, exotic, fascinating.”

Born in Sarajevo to a Serbian mother and Croatian father, Bregovic has been a musical cross-pollinator and creative iconoclast since forming his first rock band, White Buttons, during the Communist era of the former Yugoslavia. His first international splash came when he scored the 1989 Cannes award-winning film “Time of the Gypsies.” Based in Paris since 1992, he’s continued to strike a distinctly original path with film scores, concerts and recordings.

His “Tales from Weddings and Funerals” album, the core of the Royce Hall programs, expands on ideas developed for the 2002 film “Music for Weddings and Funerals,” in which he also starred. With Bregovic leading the way on guitar and vocals, the music first finds a way to blend seemingly at-odds Balkan traditions, and then reaches out to other, arguably kin traditions including reggae and tango. It’s a result of Bregovic’s deep embrace of Gypsy culture.

“Deep down, most of us would like to be a Gypsy,” he once told the Times of London. “It’s a metaphor for the part of the soul that wants to defy gravity.” In another interview, he explained, “All composers, from Bartok to Bono, draw from their own tradition. The difference is that I’m from a smaller tradition, which is why I sound so different.”

But Bregovic’s musical traditions are elevated by his immense artistic ambition. Courting controversy, in 2004 he took on a classic in “Karmen With a Happy End,” a Balkan revision of Bizet’s fiery opera “Carmen.” Incorporating both musical themes and story elements of the original into the sorrows-and-joys stew of his own native culture, he turned the tone — as the title indicates — from tragedy to celebration.

The title of his latest album is self-explanatory: “Alkohol” is a boisterous toast to romance, sensuality, friendship and community on one hand, and a lament of the alcoholism that tore apart his own family on the other. Subtitled “Slivovica & Champagne,” this collection is a, literally, spirited pan-European romp. Songs from “Alkohol,” which will be released May 19 on Wrasse Records, also will figure heavily in his concerts.

In live performance, the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra “had the audience eating out of their hands,” wrote the Daily Star of a concert in Lebanon. “Bregovic makes a music that runs the spectrum from ecstatic, robustly earthy dance music, to naughty pop tunes, to vocal and string arrangements ripe with sentimentality, to quiet, contemplative pieces that can approach a spiritual intensity…a lyrical, beautifully paced evening.”

The concert is expected to be 2 hours and 30 minutes with no intermission.

Ticket Information
Tickets for Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra on June 19 and 20 are available for $70, $54, $42 and $28. They can be purchased online at www.UCLALive.org, via phone at 310-825-2101, in person at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. UCLA students may purchase tickets in advance for $15. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are offered at the same price to all students with a valid ID one hour prior to show time.

Calendar Listing
World Music
Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra
June 19 and 20 at 8 p.m.
$70, $54, $42 and $28 ($15 UCLA students and student rush)
Composer-rock star-iconoclast Goran Bregovic brings his orchestra — with a lineup combining a Serbian gypsy brass band, a classical string ensemble, Orthodox male choir, two Bulgarian female vocalists and an electric guitar — to Royce Hall for two concerts of charismatic gypsy dance music.

On April 9, Sasha Vujacic invited children from a local Serbian Orthodox church to attend the Lakers vs. Nuggets game at the Staples Center. As one girl, Arianna, put it, ‘This was the best night of my life!’ For all of the children, it was an exciting night watching the Lakers and getting to meet Sasha personally after the game.

Jedan od rijetkih, preostalih rok sastava osamedesetih, Partibrejkers-i su nedavno poslije pet godina od njihovog zadnjeg projekta “Gramzivost i pohlepa” objavli novi CD “Sloboda ili nista” u izdanju PGP-RTS.

Partibrejkers-i su i na ovom CD ostali dosljedni svom muzickom opusu po kome su godinama prepoznatljivi i na cemu pravovjerno istrajavaju.

CD je ispunjen vise nego pozitivnom energijom koja kroz Canetove (Zoran Kostic) poruke o ljubavi, prijateljstvu i zivotu i Antonove (Nebojsa Antonijevic) fenomenalne gitarske rifove duhovno plijeni i podize.

Muzika i produkcija su minimalasticki, svedeni na gitare i bubnjeve, isto kao i tekstovi koji su bez puno metafora ali sa dubokom porukom.

Dvije mozda najbolje pjesme su “Biraj” i naslovna “Sloboda ili nista” mada kvalitet i ostalih pjesama sa ovog CD ce vas natjerati da ga dugo, dugo drzite u vasem CD plejeru preslusavajuci iznova ovaj interesantan material.

Partribrejkers – Sloboda ili Nista Sample

Ovaj novi projekat Partibrejker-a definitvno zasluzuje 4 od mogucih 5 zvjezdica.

By BalkanBoy

Makedonski pjevac Tose Proeski se nedavno oglasio novim CD “Igra bez granica” po istoimenoj pjesmi sa albuma u izdanju Hit Records i City Records-a (izdavac za Srbiju i Crnu Goru).

Tose je na ovom albumu saradjivao sa dvije grupe zagrebackih autora. Vecinu pjesama na albumu su uradili Antonia Sola kao tekstopisac i Miro Buljan kao autor muzike i aranzer. Melodicne pjesme u kojima preovladava ljubavna tematika su napravljene u malo cvrscim aranzmanima i kao rezultat toga nekoliko pjesama sa ovog CD su vec duze vremena vrlo popularne na prostorima ex-YU. Sa pjesmom “Vezi me za sebe” Tose je osvojio i Gran Prix na Hrvatskom Radijskom Festivalu 2007. Svakako najveci hit na ovom CD je pjesma ” Mjesecina ” uz ciji ritam i melodiju ce svako da uziva.

Na drugoj strani nekoliko pjesama na ovom CD je uradio i Miroslav Drljaca Rus (kompozitor ex ITD Band-a) u saradnji sa Niskom Bratosem (ex Crvena Jabuka). Ove pjesme su tematski prilicno drugacije sto ovom CD daje malo ozbiljniju notu. ” Jos i danas zamirise tresnja ” (u prijasnjem izvodjenju grupe ” Gazde ” iz Hrvatske) i ” Igra bez granica ” su pjesme koje donose drugacijeg ali nista losijeg Tosu Proeskog. Na kraju nisam siguran po kom osnovu se tu nasla i pjesma ” Nesanica ” iz filma Ivkova slava koja je eto dozivjela i verziju u izvodjenju Tose Proeskog.

Tose Proeski Mjesecina Sample

Sve u svemu jedan veoma dobar i ujednacen album sa dosta dobrih pjesama koje ce se dugo slusati.

Ocjena 3.5/5

By BalkanBoy