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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two-night UCLA Live spectacle June 19 and 20 will be like nothing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on the Royce Hall stage before.<\/p>\n
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. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Balkan free-for-all\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is how the Jerusalem Post described one five-encore performance. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Crammed to the brim with catharsis and joy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d raved Time Out Chicago. And Madrid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s El Pais raved that Bregovic creates \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the most breathtaking music on the continent . . . . His art is exciting tight-rope walking . . . intense, vigorous, colorful, passionate, exotic, fascinating.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Time of the Gypsies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Based in Paris since 1992, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued to strike a distinctly original path with film scores, concerts and recordings. <\/p>\n
His \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tales from Weddings and Funerals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d album, the core of the Royce Hall programs, expands on ideas developed for the 2002 film \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Music for Weddings and Funerals,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a result of Bregovic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deep embrace of Gypsy culture.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Deep down, most of us would like to be a Gypsy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he once told the Times of London. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a metaphor for the part of the soul that wants to defy gravity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In another interview, he explained, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All composers, from Bartok to Bono, draw from their own tradition. The difference is that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m from a smaller tradition, which is why I sound so different.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
But Bregovic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s musical traditions are elevated by his immense artistic ambition. Courting controversy, in 2004 he took on a classic in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Karmen With a Happy End,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a Balkan revision of Bizet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fiery opera \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carmen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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. <\/p>\n
The title of his latest album is self-explanatory: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alkohol\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Slivovica & Champagne,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d this collection is a, literally, spirited pan-European romp. Songs from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alkohol,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which will be released May 19 on Wrasse Records, also will figure heavily in his concerts.<\/p>\n
In live performance, the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had the audience eating out of their hands,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wrote the Daily Star of a concert in Lebanon. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bregovic 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6a lyrical, beautifully paced evening.”<\/p>\n
The concert is expected to be 2 hours and 30 minutes with no intermission. <\/p>\n
Ticket Information
\nTickets 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. <\/p>\n
Calendar Listing
\nWorld Music
\nGoran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra
\nJune 19 and 20 at 8 p.m.
\n$70, $54, $42 and $28 ($15 UCLA students and student rush)
\nComposer-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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two-night UCLA Live spectacle June 19 and 20 will be like nothing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on the Royce Hall stage before. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-serbs-blog-muzika"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.laserbs.com\/blogovi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}