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Serbia, Brass, Guca Trumpet Festival A touch of brass in Serbia

Each year, Guca’s streets fill with trumpets

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    Guča Trumpet Festival

    One of the oldest European states and – perhaps surprisingly – one of its most culturally diverse, Serbia is shaking off the shackles of being a pariah as it edges towards EU membership. While the country’s hotlist neighbours Croatia, Hungary and Romania teem with Euro-trippers, intrepid types are veering off-the-beaten-track to discover Serbia's lively, lovely and low-budget charms.

    The wildest music festival on Earth is one you likely do not even know exists. Held each year in early August (from 5 to 11 August 2013), hundreds of mostly Roma (gypsy) musicians cluster in Guča, a tiny, central Serbian village, to whip a crowd of more than 500,000 revellers into a frenzy of deranged brass music, whirling kola (circle dances) and booze-fuelled carousing. The festival even struck a chord with the visiting US jazz trumpeter Miles Davis , who reeled: "I didn't know you could play trumpet that way." (AFP/Getty Images)

Guča Trumpet Festival

One of the oldest European states and – perhaps surprisingly – one of its most culturally diverse, Serbia is shaking off the shackles of being a pariah as it edges towards EU membership. While the country’s hotlist neighbours Croatia, Hungary and Romania teem with Euro-trippers, intrepid types are veering off-the-beaten-track to discover Serbia's lively, lovely and low-budget charms.

The wildest music festival on Earth is one you likely do not even know exists. Held each year in early August (from 5 to 11 August 2013), hundreds of mostly Roma (gypsy) musicians cluster in Guča, a tiny, central Serbian village, to whip a crowd of more than 500,000 revellers into a frenzy of deranged brass music, whirling kola (circle dances) and booze-fuelled carousing. The festival even struck a chord with the visiting US jazz trumpeter Miles Davis , who reeled: "I didn't know you could play trumpet that way." (AFP/Getty Images)

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