Boban I Marko Markovic Orchestra

(Serbia)

website / facebook / twitter

Boban Markovic is the King of Gypsy trumpet. His first appearance, at London’s The Barbican in 2003, found him selling out the main hall and turning that formal concert theatre into a raging dance club.

`A stunning blast of exuberance & virtuosity’ The New York Times
`Boban Markovic has got it all…a true musical thinker….An unbeatable Balkan dance party’ Songlines
‘Boban’s the master blaster of funky Gypsy jazz’ The Independent

Boban has gone on to win The Golden Trumpet award at Serbia’s annual Guca Brass Band Festival more times than any other musician. He took to trumpet and by fifteen was a professional musician. By his mid-twenties he was amongst Yugoslavia’s finest. By his mid-thirties he was the King of Balkan brass, a trumpet player whose fame meant he existed as a single name celebrity.

Balkan brass offers wild adventures in sound, Gypsy grooves so strong in spirit and technique they remind us that in the West jazz is now ‘lifestyle’ and funk has dissolved into formula. Thing is, Balkan brass is no mere replication of Western forms, instead it’s a sound shaped by the cultural clashes thrown up in the lands where Europe meets Asia, an indigenous Balkan blues given beautiful symmetry by the genius of Gypsy musicians.

Indeed, Miles Davis, guest at a 1980s Yugoslav Jazz Festival, said when played a recording of the young Boban “I didn’t know they could make a trumpet sound like that!”

Boban has contributed to the soundtracks of (and appeared in) Emir Kusturica’s award winning films Underground and Arizona Dream.

Boban’s signed to Piranha Records (Berlin) where he has released 3 acclaimed albums: Live In Belgrade, Boban I Marco and The Promise (produced by Ben Mandelson). Across Europe and North America Boban Markovic is recognised as a trumpet master, a man who drags notes out of his instrument others can’t find while leading a 12-piece band who create a carnival of sound.

DISCOGRAPHY
Gypsy Manisfesto (Piranha)
Golden Horns (Piranha)
Covek I Truba (Piranha)
Delva (Piranha)
Go Marko Go (Piranha)

Comments are closed.