Biography

In a small town in Central Serbia called Guca, the "Festival of Brass Music" takes place since 1961. It's a competition to determine the best Brass musicians on Earth. Over 300.000 people a year grab the chance to listen to more than 30 bands. And Boban Markovic Orkestar used to be among the winners every time, receiving the "best orchestra" award in 2000 as well as "best trumpet" for the maestro himself in 2001 - his 5th personal win all in all. It was the first time ever that a musician got the highest mark from every jury member. Since then, Boban decided not to compete any more. He now leaves it at being the special guest in Guca, performing full time concerts - also a special honour, as brass bands at the festival mostly perform just three to four songs in a row rather than complete concerts.

The reason for Markovic's continuing success is evident: reinventing traditional brass music with injections and adaptations of sounds from around the globe, the reigning king of Balkan Brass is the best trumpeter in Serbia! With his music strongly influenced by the old traditions of the Roma - just listen to his version of the Jewish classic Hava Naguila and you'll understand - the band's repertoire includes Gypsy grooves, Èoèeks and other dances and tunes from the movies of Emir Kusturica as well as new material composed exclusively for the band. With his mix of archaic Jazz and light and sweet Balkan brass, Markovic became a king of the Balkans and is now one of the ultimate VIPs of the region. Always performing full power like a stadium Rock act, the band is a surefire highlight for your wedding and open-air-festival, music academy and classical concert alike.

Since Emir Kusturica's notorious Balkan film "Underground" (1995), the Serbian brass tradition - single-handedly kept alive by the Gypsies from the times of the Ottoman Empire through Tito's communist regime, right into Slobodan Milosevic's infamous reign - enjoys a powerful presence on the world music scene. In the movie, the blasting Gypsy Brass, more than helpful in creating the frantic, surreal atmosphere which the film is famous for, was among the key factors to make the film unforgettable. None other than Boban Markovic and his orchestra supplied the most impressive tunes of the soundtrack.

Boban Markovic Orkestar have played concerts all over Europe and the North American continent, including almost every relevant festival around, two smashing tours of the USA and Canada in 2002 and 2004, playing 18 concerts in 19 days plus three lectures/workshops, and a first off lecture for any at famous Julliard Academy in New York, showing they are ready to share their knowledge with colleagues everywhere. That applies even to Oasis - when Boban Markovic Orkestar played the World Music Stage in front of 15.000 people at "Pepsi Sziget" once, even Oasis had to wait a full 30 minutes for the crazy Serbs to let go of their thrilled audience. They waited and listened ...


Marko Markovic

Being the only son of Boban Markovic, the Muhammad Ali of Balkan brass, Marko had much to aspire to as a young trumpet slinger. Born 29 Feb 1988, he was given a trumpet as a toddler and started to receive lessons from Boban's father when he was 9. At 13 he was in the studio for the first time, joined Boban Markovic Orkestar at 14 and at 16 became lead soloist and started arranging for the band. Now he is the main actor in the forthcoming movie Love Fair in Guca - directed by Dusan Milic, produced by Emir Kusturica - starring as young Romeo, trumpet player, falling in love with a Serbian girl. Music and race intertwine in this dramatic Balkan epic.

Selected Discography

  2005 CD The Promise – Piranha CD PIR1901

  2003 CD Boban I Marko - Piranha CD PIR1790

  2002 CD Live in Belgrade - Piranha CD PIR1685

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  2001 "Bistra Reka" ( X Produkcio )

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  2000 "Millenium" ( X Produkcio )

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  2000 "Srce Cigansko" ( "Heart of Gypsi" ) ( X Produkcio )

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  1998 "Zlatna Truba" ("Golden Trumpet") ( PGP-RTS )

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  1997 "Hani Rumba" ( ITMM )

Members

The members are:

the guests are:

Jelena Markovic – vocals
Erol Demirov – saxophone, clarinet

Press Quotes

"Imgagine the rowdiest, fastest rendition of "Hava Nagila" you’ve ever heard, zip it up with wild brass playing that would make a New Orleans marching band stop and stare, and throw in percussion so thunderous it shakes a hall, and then you’ve got an idea why the Orkestar gets a crowd into a frenzy."
Boston Herald 09/2004

"The most noticable thing about Markovic’s music is the energy…"
The Boston Globe 09/2004

"Boban Markovic Orkestar is many things, perhaps most proudly one of the world’s killer wedding bands."
San Francisco Chronicle 09/2004

"The ability to to devise […] a range of emotion from a seemingly limited range of instrumentation is Markovic’s trademark."
Global Beat Fusion, 09/2004

"Boban’s boys sling some heady yet highly festive stuff – it’s full of captivating minor-key Gypsy/Rom melodies (sometimes evoking klezmer, mariachi, and Middle Eastern folk and classical), abrupt changes that would give Frank Zappa or XTC the willies, knotty unison horn-harmonies, breathtaking trumpet playing (pun intended), joyously manic tempos, and big brass beats."
Primetime 08/2004

"…a stunning blast of exuberance & virtuosity."
New York Times, 06/2004

"This is a feast für brass music fans!"
Doctor Rhythm 01/2004

"You want an 'Underground'-style party to oblivion? Riffs so fat they need a health warning? Slow, soulful numbers to make the hairs on your ams stand up? ‘Boban I Marko’ has got it all."
Songlines 02/2004

"The Boban Markovic Orkestar is undoubtedly the best Balkan gypsy brass band, famed for their contribution to the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica's "Underground". If they easily enrapture a live audience, they display equal ingenuity and exactitude when it comes to studio work. This album features 15-year-old Marko Markovic - son of the bandleader and, true to gypsy tradition, a young man deeply attached to his instrument ever since he took his first breath."
Worldmusicnet 04/2004

Tracks on "Boban I Marko" range from frantic flashy brass blasts and rapid rhythm changes to calmer, more reflective pieces. The brass players even make their instruments cry as do the best klezmer musicians.
Sing Out! 06/2004

"A fierce, feisty melancholy fills this music, with its affection for the joy and sadness of life."
Burrelle's 04/2004

"With nods to klezmer, jazz, Latin and deep-fried funk injected into the mix, the Boban Markovic Orkestar know where their music's been but they're hell-bent on sling-shotting it straight into the future."
Global Rhythm 06/2004

"Boban Markovic is Serbia's most celebrated trumpeter. Now the new secret weapon in his orkestar is his 15 year old son Marko."
fROOTS 06/2004

"...Markovic's wildly energetic compositions put all Sousa comparisons to the rest, as he and his dozent-strong band show listeners a honking good time."
Unte Weeder Miniapolis US 05-06/2004

"...it's as potent a reminder of just how much ass a marching band can kick."
Burrelle's 02/2004

"The big thrill of the summer was seeing Boban Markovic Orkestar live at Ashkenaz, […] they may well be the best brass band on the planet."
Muzikifan 2003

"An unbeatable Balkan dance party!"
Simon Broughton, Songlines 2003

"Supremely rich, varied & inventiven Serbian brass from a true musical thinker. File under stone cold classic."
Songlines 2003

"Check out Boban Markovic Orkestar"
LIVE at Strictly Mundial - 27th february 2003 - (video & interview):
www.mondomix.com/sm2003/jeudi/jeudi.htm

"There was a worthy ringer on the bill: the Boban Markovic Orkestar from Serbia. Its songs were pure propulsion: drumbeats as relentless as a machine and horn arrangements that could sound like a silver-toned chorale, a soul horn section or a choreographed brawl. Solos sprinted through the melee. It was dance music that was almost brutal in his gleeful efficiency."
The New York Times

"North American football marching bands at every level could learn a thing or three from Markovic and company. One could go on, as this is music whose endurance is both epic and assured. Consider son Marko's cameo trumpet appearance on 'Roditeljska Sreca', whose melancholy audacity offers resonant aural evidence that the Markovic musical legacy is in good hands, putting a new generation of horn players on planetary notice. 'Now dat's a trumpet!'"
Rootsworld

"Simultaneously bombastic and bitter-sweet, the brass band steamroller through arrangements of Serbian gypsy music along with a few oddities thrown in for good measure - like their rousing rendition of 'Hava Naguila'."
Radio Multikulti, Berlin

"Boban Markovic has won the prestigious Serbian Dragacevo Festival, and his remarkable instrumental knowledge has added new dimensions to Serbian brass band history."
passion-music.co.uk

Boban Markovic in CONCERT- what they say...

Copenhagen, DK
"Boban played an extraordinary hot concert, and the crowd was near ecstasy." Editor of Djembe Magazin

Moers festival, D
"Show was smashing yesterday and the boys just brilliant. I did not see a better live show from Boban yet." Lutz Engelhard

Växjö, S
"I want to tell you Boban and the group are doing great! They broke the record in Växjö last night...and tonight in Malmö things are going great!" Ken Day

Vienna, A
"We just had a smashing gig of Brotherhood of Brass feat. DJ Shantel in Vienna." Bojan Djordjevic